Ripon man jailed for attacking police in Harrogate

A Ripon man has been jailed for attacking three police officers at Harrogate Police Station.

Benjamin Donnelly, 36, admitted the offences when he appeared before magistrates in York yesterday.

He was jailed for 16 weeks because of the seriousness of the offences and his previous record.

Donnelly, of Somerset Row, pleaded guilty to assaulting the officers on Friday last week.

He also admitted assaulting a custody worker at the police station on Beckwith Head Road and was fined £300.

Following the case, a spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Police said:

“Assaults against police officers, staff and other emergency services will never be tolerated. We have a robust process in place for investigating offences and bringing those responsible to justice.

“If you assault an emergency services worker, you will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law, which will frequently end in a prison sentence. That’s how serious this offence is.”

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Impartiality concerns over crime commissioner’s plan to share office with Harrogate police

Crime commissioner Zoë Metcalfe plans to relocate her office to Harrogate Police Station — triggering impartiality concerns.

Ms Metcalfe’s office said today the move could save £80,000 a year. But there are concerns working alongside police officers could compromise her duty to hold the chief constable to account on behalf of the public.

The Office of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner is currently based at Granby Road, Harrogate. According to its website it employs 32 staff.

Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

The crime commissioner’s current office at Granby Road, Harrogate.

A spokesperson for the office said:

“We are considering how best to meet the Office of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s future office accommodation needs and our current, and most favoured option is co-location in Harrogate with the police and fire services.

“The commissioner recognises that the public expect police and fire buildings to be used efficiently, especially at a time of strain on public finances.

“No detailed plans have been finalised but we expect to save approximately £80,000 per year by changing our office arrangements. Like many progressive organisations, the Commissioner’s team has a strong commitment to flexible, agile working and our office accommodation needs have changed in recent years.”

A whistleblower, who alerted the Stray Ferret to the news, said:

“The PFCC and staff should be impartial and not mixing and befriending staff they may have to investigate.”

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The commissioner’s spokesperson also said police could share space with firefighters at Harrogate Fire Station on Skipton Road:

“Proposals for neighbourhood policing teams to have access to spare office space at the fire station on Skipton Road have been under consideration separately, for a much longer period of time. 

“The commissioner, chief constable and chief fire officer have asked for a specialist estates recommendation which makes the most efficient and effective use of the police and fire station buildings in Harrogate for our teams. Once this report is completed, we will make further announcements.”

Harrogate Police Station is based at Beckwith Head Road.

 

 

 

Lack of custody cells ‘hitting police responses’

The absence of police custody facilities in parts of North Yorkshire is taking teams of officers out of action for up to four hours at a time while they drive detainees around, a meeting has heard.

Members of the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel have asked commissioner Zoe Metcalfe to provide a report amid concerns over the length of time it takes officers across the north of North Yorkshire to travel with those arrested to custody suites in Harrogate and Scarborough, due to the closure of cells in Richmond and Northallerton.

Custody suites are areas within police stations where people are taken when they are arrested.

The issue has been repeatedly raised as a concern by community leaders, particularly following outbreaks of antisocial behaviour as pandemic lockdown restrictions were eased.

Councillors had claimed the distances involved in arresting people is serving as a deterrent to functional policing in parts of the county.

Panel member Martin Walker, a former judge, told Ms Metcalfe he had received various reports that police officers were “not arresting people that perhaps they should” because of the length of time it was taking to travel to custody suites. He added:

“I can’t see there’s any other reason for doing it than saving money.”

The meeting heard the Northallerton custody suite had been closed since the town’s police station moved into the police and fire service’s headquarters at the former Rural Payments Agency offices.

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Conservative councillor Peter Wilkinson said the commissioner at the time, Julia Mulligan, had promised a report into the effectiveness of the closure and gave reassurances that Darlington and Northallerton police stations would be used for custody when required.

He said it had since emerged that the force was using Harrogate’s custody facilities, which took up to four hours’ of officers time. Cllr Wilkinson said:

“This is having a detrimental effect on response times in Hambleton.”

£15m savings

In response, Ms Metcalfe said when the decision to close Northallerton’s custody suite was made in 2017 the force estimated the average cost of building custody facilities was £15m.

She said she would monitor and review the situation with the chief constable, but the demand for custody facilities in the Northallerton area, similarly to Ripon, did not support a custody suite.

Mrs Metcalfe said the force had instead invested heavily in creating “voluntary interview suites” across the county.

She said a government inspection of the force’s custody system earlier had raised no concerns about the transporting of detainees to custody suites. Ms Metcalfe said:

“I do hope this provides members with some assurance that these arrangements have been based on extensive assessments and the recent inspection.”

“The public quite rightly expect the police to maximise its assets to use public money effectively.

“Offenders are only brought into custody when it is a necessity and proportionate to do so.”

Man jailed for biting police officer in Harrogate

A notorious thug has been jailed for biting a police officer following a disturbance in Harrogate town centre.

Adam Snowdon, 31, was arrested following a drunken incident in Parliament Street and brought into Harrogate Police Station, where he bit one officer and allegedly assaulted two others.

He was charged with affray and assaulting three police officers. 

He initially denied all allegations but admitted affray on the day of trial. 

Snowdon, of Lupton Close, Glasshouses, was tried by a jury on three allegations of assaulting a police officer.

At York Crown Court yesterday (Monday, September 12), he was found guilty of one count of assaulting a policeman but not guilty of attacking the two others.

The substantive charge on which he was found guilty was biting a named officer at the police station on Beckwith Head Road on May 1. 

Prosecutor Ben Whittingham said that Snowdon was on a community order at the time for previous offences, including violence against police officers. 

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Defence barrister Allan Armbrister said Snowdon was “very much a loner” who desperately needed help after years of mental-health issues. 

He said Snowdon had not yet received that professional help and would now “lose that chance” due to the inevitable jail sentence for his “awful behaviour” in the town centre in May.

He added that Snowdon had recently become a father but any hopes of family life were now “completely lost” because his now-ex partner didn’t want “anything more to do with him”.

Snowdon, who was no stranger to prison, had been diagnosed with behavioural problems as a child.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said he had “taken a chance” with Snowdon when he gave him a community order earlier this year, but jail was now the only option because of his “bad” record for violence.

He said although Snowdon didn’t start the violence in the town centre, it was a “prolonged incident thereafter, on a busy street where people are fed up with…drunken violence”. 

Jailing Snowdon for 19 months, the judge said he would reserve all future cases involving the Harrogate man to himself and would “come down on you like a tonne of bricks if you cause trouble in North Yorkshire’s towns and cities”.

Snowdon will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Harrogate woman sentenced for assaulting three police officers

An 18-year-old has been sentenced in court for assaulting three police officers in Harrogate.

Emily Harris-Jones, of Beech Street in Starbeck, appeared before Harrogate Magistrates Court and was charged with assaulting two emergency workers on July 9, 2022.

She assaulted one police constable on the street before beating the same officer at Harrogate Police Station.

Harris-Jones also assaulted another named officer at the station on the same date.

She was also charged with the same offence against a police officer at Dragon Service Station, Skipton Road, on June 29 this year.

The court found all four offences were aggravated by being committed against emergency workers carrying out their duties.

Magistrates sentenced her to 10 weeks in prison for each count, to be served concurrently, suspended for 18 months. She was ordered to undergo treatment for alcohol dependency.

The court also imposed compensation totalling £200, a victim surcharge of £154 and £170 in court costs.

Magistrates said they took into account Harris-Jones’ guilty plea when imposing the sentence.

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Harrogate girl, 13, admits drunken attack on police officers

A 13-year-old girl from Harrogate has pleaded guilty to being drunk in public and attacking three police officers.

The girl, who who cannot be named for legal reasons, was referred to North Yorkshire Youth Justice Service for seven months.

The organisation provides a range of services to reduce crime and help young people stay out of trouble.

North Yorkshire Youth Court, sitting in Harrogate on Friday, heard that the girl was drunk and disorderly in Ripon Market Place on March 24.

She assaulted two police officers there and another one at Harrogate police station on the same day.

The girl pleaded guilty to all the charges as well as to a separate public order offence in Harrogate on April 3.

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Harrogate police officer charged with sexual assault

A Harrogate police officer is to appear in court this week charged with sexual assault.

Joseph McCabe, of Kingsley Park Road, Starbeck, will appear at York Magistrates Court on Thursday.

He is accused of touching without consent at Scotch Corner Services, near Richmond, in August last year.

The 27-year-old officer is a serving North Yorkshire Police officer based at Harrogate police station.

He is currently suspended from duty.

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Harrogate police begin two-week gun amnesty

Police are urging people in the Harrogate district to hand in any weapons, including guns, knives and tasers, during a two-week amnesty.

Anyone with weapons can surrender them at Harrogate police station, at Beckwith Head Road, anonymously without the threat of prosecution.

The amnesty, which starts tomorrow and ends on May 29, is part of a national campaign to tackle serious crime.

A North Yorkshire Police press release today said some people may be unaware that firearms kept at home for years are illegal. Others are legally held but no longer required and some are used to cause harm. The press release said:

“The surrender gives people the chance to dispose of firearms or ammunition by simply taking them to a local police station and handing them over.”

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The amnesty includes: illegally-held guns and ammunition, imitation firearms and air guns, tasers, stun guns and CS gas.

Police stations in Harrogate, York, Scarborough, Malton, Skipton, Selby, Northallerton and Richmond are taking part in the surrender.

Knife amnesty

In addition to the firearms surrender, Operation Sceptre will run from May 16 to 22.

As part of this coordinated week of activity, which aims to keep knives off the street, knives can also be disposed at Harrogate police station.

Assistant Chief Constable Elliot Foskett, said:

“I want people to take advantage of this campaign and know they are disposing of a potentially dangerous item in the safest way possible, without getting into any trouble.

“It’s a chance to do the right thing and a chance to potentially save a life”.