Girls aged 13 and 14 admit setting fire to bins in Harrogate

Two girls aged 13 and 14 have admitted setting commercial bins on fire in Harrogate town centre.

The girls, who are both from Harrogate, cannot be named for legal reasons.

They pleaded guilty to arson on a Biffa bin worth £600 belonging to Primark on Oxford Place on May 23.

They also admitted the same charge relating to a bin worth £600 belonging to Harrogate Borough Council on May 26.

The 13-year-old is the same girl who admitted in June being drunk in Ripon and attacking three police officers.

They appeared before North Yorkshire Youth Court in Harrogate on Friday, where they were referred to a youth offender panel for 12 months.

They were also ordered to pay £50 compensation.

The older girl also pleaded guilty to separate charges of causing actual bodily harm on June 19 and assaulting a police officer three days later.

She was ordered to pay £200 compensation plus £85 court costs and a £26 surcharge to fund victim services.

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Harrogate girl, 13, charged with drunken assault on police

A 13-year-old girl from Harrogate has been charged with assaulting three police officers.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is also accused of being drunk and disorderly on the same day.

North Yorkshire Youth Court, sitting in Harrogate, heard on Friday that the teenager assaulted a police constable and a police community support officer in Ripon Market Place, where the girl was said to be drunk, on March 24.

She is also charged with assaulting another police constable twice on the same day at Harrogate police station on Beckwith Head Road.

In a separate case also heard on Friday, the same girl was accused of using threatening behaviour against a male in Harrogate’s Victoria Shopping Centre on April 3 this year.

Both cases were adjourned until June 26.

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Former Coach and Horses landlord John Nelson admits breaching driving ban

The former landlord of the Coach and Horses pub in Harrogate has admitted breaching a driving ban issued for driving while under the influence of drugs.

John Nelson, who held the licence at the Coach and Horses for 33 years until last summer, appeared at Harrogate Justice Centre today.

He pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and driving without insurance on Burn Bridge Lane in Burn Bridge on July 13.

The court adjourned the case for another hearing on August 27.

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Nelson was banned from driving for 18 months on May 7 after police pulled him over with cocaine in his system and Class A drugs in his jacket.

He had 30 micrograms of cocaine per litre of blood in his system. The legal limit is 10 micrograms. Officers also found three bottles of methadone in his car.

Nelson lost his pub licence after North Yorkshire Police found customers drinking outside the Coach and Horses and not observing social distancing during the weekend of May 30, 2020.

Customers of the pub launched a petition to grant the licence to his daughter Samantha Nelson, which Harrogate Borough Council did in October last year.

Ms Nelson said she would refurbish and reopen the pub but it remains closed.

 

Employee stole from Harrogate garden centre for more than a year

A former employee of a garden centre in Harrogate who stole cash from it for more than a year has been ordered to pay back a sum of money.

Michael Stuart, 64, of Swarcliffe Road, Harrogate, took cash from Crimple Hall on Leeds Road in Pannal between July 2019 and October 2020.

North Yorkshire Magistrates Court, sitting at Harrogate Justice Centre last week, ordered Stuart to pay £500 in compensation to Graham Watson, the managing director of Crimple Hall.

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The court also gave Stuart until June 2022 to complete 100 hours of supervised unpaid work.

Crimple Hall condemned its former employee in posts on its social media channels.

The posts said:

“Please meet a Mr Michael Stuart a once trusted and well-paid employee who repaid that benevolence by systematically stealing over a long period of time from Crimple Hall garden centre.”

The company also tweeted that it was taking action to reclaim money that had been stolen.

 

Arrest warrant for former Coach and Horses landlord

A court in Harrogate has issued an arrest warrant for the former landlord of the Coach and Horses pub.

John Nelson, who held the pub’s licence for 33 years until last summer, was due for a hearing at the Harrogate Justice Centre today.

Police arrested Mr Nelson on October 30, the day after the council gave his daughter the licence, on Leeds Road and tested him for drugs.

The test found that he had 30 micrograms of cocaine per litre of blood in his system. Officers also found three bottles of methadone in his car.

As a result, officers charged him with drug driving and with possession of a class A drug.

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Mr Nelson, 65, was due to enter a plea at court today but failed to show. So the court has now put out a warrant for his arrest.

If he does not hand himself in at a police station then officers will attempt to find and arrest him.

He lost his licence after North Yorkshire Police found customers drinking outside the Coach and Horses and not observing social distancing over the weekend of May 30.

Customers of the pub launched a petition to grant the licence to his daughter Samantha Nelson, which the council did in October last year.

She said she would refurbish and reopen but there has been no movement at the pub ever since. The Stray Ferret has made several enquiries but has received no reply.

Court orders Harrogate builder James Moss to pay £11,000

A court has ordered Harrogate builder James Moss to pay £11,495 to a woman who was unhappy about the quality of his work.

The Harrogate Justice Centre held a virtual hearing yesterday with claimant Anna McIntyre, which Mr Moss failed to attend.

District judge Helen Wood said at the hearing:

“I understand that you have limited your claim to £10,000 to get this small claims court hearing and that it would cost £22,705 to put this right.

“I have no difficulty giving you what you have asked for. As well as the £10,000 for your claim I can give you £745 for your court fees and £750 for your expert fees.

“The company has filed a counter claim without any supporting documents so I am striking that out.”

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The judge added enforcement of the claim was “a different matter”.

In a separate case last month, Harrogate Justice Centre adjourned another civil claim against Mr Moss after he told the court he was self-isolating.

Karen Macgillvray-Fallis claimed £9,996 through the small claims court, which is close to the maximum threshold of £10,000.

The court said Ms Macgillvray-Fallis’s case would be held in January but it has yet to be heard.

Harrogate builder James Moss in court

A judge has adjourned a civil claim against Harrogate builder James Moss, after he told the court he was self-isolating.

Karen Macgillvray-Fallis says she paid Mr Moss over £30,000 to convert a garage in Burton Leonard into a living space for her mother-in-law, but she was not happy with the quality of the work.

Ms Macgillvray-Fallis is claiming £9,996 through the small claims court, which is close to the maximum threshold of £10,000.

At Harrogate Justice Centre, Judge Ross attempted to proceed with the case against Mr Moss via a hybrid hearing, which would involve him defending himself via telephone.

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Ms Macgillvray-Fallis is suing James Moss, trading as Yorkshire Outdoor Design, but Mr Moss told the judge he was only an employee of the company, whose sole director was his wife, Paula Moss.

He also claimed that building control signed the work off, which Ms Macgillvray-Fallis disputed.

However, as proceedings continued Mr Moss repeatedly told the judge that the telephone line was poor and he was unable to hear what was going on in the court, which forced Judge Ross to adjourn the case until January.

Harrogate courts reopen to backlog in cases

Harrogate Justice Centre has reopened today for the first time since lockdown to deal with a backlog in cases.

The centre, which encompasses both the Magistrates and County courts, is opening with social distancing guidelines in place.

From Monday to Wednesday this week it will solely deal with family law matters before it moves onto criminal matters on Thursday.

Ministry of Justice (MOJ) officials have assessed Harrogate Justice Centre and approved it to hold socially-distanced hearings.

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The Harrogate Justice Centre has put out stickers to mark where people can queue at a safe distance and blocked off the waiting area outside.

Around 159 courts and tribunals service locations have remained open throughout the pandemic and close to 100 more have reopened since the start of April.

Stickers for socially distanced queues outside the court.

There is a major backlog in cases which has been made worse by the lockdown. There were 483,678 cases waiting in Magistrates courts and 40,526 cases waiting in Crown courts in May according to the Criminal Bar Association (CBA).

But Caroline Goodwin QC, who is chair of the CBA, said that the courts estate is “on its knees” and has been for a long time.

“It is pretty low really to suggest that the backlog which we know is a pre COVID-19 issue and practically has nothing to do with COVID-19 is in fact due to COVID-19. What we are facing is a culmination of mismanagement and years of starving the system of investment. We are not blind.”

The MOJ has also started to identify suitable venues to house so-called ‘Nightingale’ courts.

These would use public spaces, such as civic centres or university moot courts, to allow traditional court buildings to manage more work while maintaining social distancing.

Currently, Harrogate Justice Centre is not aware of any ‘Nightingale’ courts planned in its area.