police Archives - Page 8 of 32

Cow found wandering around Harrogate’s Valley Gardens

People enjoying the sunny weather in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens today were shocked to stumble across a wandering cow.

Lucy Emma Renshaw-Martin was one of many dog walkers going about their morning routine at about 8.30am when she saw the beast.

It was casually ambling around the central section, appearing to head in the direction of the Magnesia Well Tea Room.

The cow heads towards the tea room.

Lucy managed to photograph the cow from distance and later got a more close-up image when she was safely behind the barriers on Valley Road.

She told the Stray Ferret she had no idea how the cow, which appears to be a Holstein or Friesian, ended up in the 17-acre gardens, which are not particularly close to any fields.

She said:

“The police were there but just herding it around from what I saw.

“It’s not every day you see a cow on your morning dog walk.”

Do you know more about the cow and how it ended up in Valley Gardens? If so email us at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Police were dispatched to help.

North Yorkshire Police pledge bank holiday blitz on motorbikes

Motorcyclists in North Yorkshire will be targeted this bank holiday weekend as part of a police operation.

North Yorkshire Police will use a H2 Kawasaki Ninja unmarked motorbike equipped with cameras to gather evidence for prosecutions.

It will also deploy several marked and unmarked police bikes and cars and speed camera vans on key routes across the county.

The force said the “engagement and enforcement” was part of a National Police Chiefs’ Council operation on motorcycle safety this weekend.

It said the main priority was to reduce the number of road casualties.

Motorcyclists represent almost a quarter of fatal or serious injury collisions in the UK, despite making up three per cent of vehicles on the roads.

Many bikers take to the county’s vast road network for days out over the bank holiday.

Superintendent Alex Butterfield said:

“Everyone has the right to travel on the road safely. We believe that no one should be killed or seriously injured as a consequence of using our road network and we will continue to work together to prevent harm and make our communities safer.”

North Yorkshire released this video about the weekend campaign.

Burglars break into home in Burn Bridge

Burglars made off with a number of expensive items after breaking into a home in Burn Bridge.

Police in Harrogate today appealed for information about the crime, which took place at a house on Westminster Crescent.

A North Yorkshire Police statement said:

“Between 9:30am on Thursday 17 August and 3pm on Sunday 20 August somebody entered the property and stole a number of high-value items.”

The statement urged anyone who saw anything suspicious or has information about the incident to email Jonathan.Cleary@northyorkshire.police.uk or dial 101, select option 2, and ask for PC Jonathan Cleary.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12230156838.

Police warn of spate of ‘shoddy’ rip-off builders in Ripon

Police have warned people in Ripon to beware of shoddy builders turning up on their doorsteps offering to carry out work.

A Ripon police post on the North Yorkshire Community Messaging website on Saturday said it and trading standards had received a number of reports recently of poor workmanship.

It said:

“Would-be builders have turned up on spec at people’s homes offering to replace guttering, point chimneys, repair roofing etc.

“Work carried out has been found to be sub-standard and shoddy but has been charged at a premium rate.”

Police urged people to be cautious of employing unknown door-to-door tradesmen.

Ripon man jailed for two crazy police chases

A man high on cocaine rammed his car into a police vehicle, ripping off its registration plate, during a death-defying chase through Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon.

Craig Harper, 34, reversed his Vauxhall Astra into the police car, causing the two vehicles to become “wedged” together, York Crown Court heard.

He then stepped on the accelerator, moving the car back and forth, which caused the front of the police vehicle to lift up and its registration plate to fly off.

Prosecutor Beatrice Allsop said that Harper — who was 16 times over the specified limit for cocaine — was on bail at the time and banned from driving, having been arrested and charged with dangerous and drug-driving following a previous police chase on New Year’s Eve 2022.

That first chase occurred in the early hours of December 31 when two traffic officers on the A59 Harrogate Road in Knaresborough were radioed by a colleague telling them that a man in a VW Golf had failed to stop for officers in Harrogate.

They drove to the location in Bogs Lane and saw the Volkswagen driving towards them with its light off. Three males were inside the car which sped towards the A59 towards Knaresborough.

Harper went along Bogs Lane.

Harper took a roundabout on the A61 the wrong way then headed towards Ripley, South Stainley and Ripon.

Ms Allsop said the conditions were so wet there were “large areas of standing water” on the road. Harper lost control on one of these pools of water and veered across the centre white lines before careering off the road and “rebounding” back into the carriageway.

Undeterred, he stepped on the gas again, heading towards Ripon at speeds of up to 75mph while cutting corners, driving on the wrong side of the road, speeding round blind bends and at one stage narrowly avoiding an oncoming vehicle.

He then revved up to about 80mph in a restricted speed zone and overtook a line of cars near a bend as he bombed down the A61 and into Ripon.

He sped down Harrogate Road, a 30mph zone, at double the speed limit and into Ripon town centre, shooting through red lights and going the wrong way around a roundabout. He then sped down a one-way street near Ripon Cathedral, shot through red lights again and went down another one-way street in the wrong direction.

He then turned into North Street and sped out of the town and through a village where police tried to box him in.

Harper’s vehicle was brought to a stop next to a grass verge. Officers ran over to the vehicle, but Harper put up a struggle as they tried to restrain him.

He was arrested and taken into custody where a drug-drive test revealed he had a “shockingly high” 800mcg of cocaine per litre of blood, the specified limit being 50mcg.

Ms Allsop said the chase, through towns and villages including Masham, lasted over 20 minutes.

Back causing ‘mayhem’

Harper admitted dangerous and drug driving and was bailed and given an interim motoring ban, but on May 2 he was back out on the roads in a different car but causing the same “mayhem”.

Ms Allsop said two patrol officers in an unmarked police car in Leeds spotted him driving a Vauxhall Astra.

They followed the vehicle after Harper, who had a male passenger, turned onto Lady Pit Lane and then into St Francis Close, where he stopped the car and reversed “at speed” towards the police vehicle. The Astra collided with the front offside of the police car, causing it to “jolt and shake”.

Ms Allsop added:

“The Astra became wedged onto the front of the police vehicle.

“Officers shouted at him, telling him to turn the engine off. They could tell he was under the influence of (substances) as his eyes were glazed and vacant.

“He was trying to free the (Astra) from the police vehicle by going forward and into reverse. At one point, (the Astra) lifted the front end of the police vehicle.

“He managed to free the car by driving forward at speed, causing the wheels to spin. Part of the police registration plate flew off.”

Once free from the police vehicle, Harper turned right into a cul-de-sac and came to a dead end. He put the car into reverse again as officers caught up with him and rammed the Astra into the police vehicle.

The Astra again collided with the front offside of the police car. The officer got out of the vehicle and ran to the driver’s side of the Astra.

Harper tried to escape but police smashed the driver’s window with a baton, opened the door and tried to drag him out, but the engine was still running and he was still trying to drive away.

They finally took him to ground after using reasonable force and cuffed Harper who refused a roadside breath test. He was taken into custody at a police station in Leeds and again refused to have a toxicology test.

Harper, of Holbeck Close, was charged with dangerous driving, causing over £1,600 of damage to the police vehicle, driving while disqualified and failing to provide a specimen for analysis. He admitted this second set of offences and appeared for sentence via video link yesterday after being remanded in custody.

61 previous convictions

The court heard he had 61 previous convictions for over 100 offences including driving while over the limit for drink and drugs, driving while disqualified and aggravated vehicle-taking. At the time of his latest offences, he was on a community order for assaulting an emergency worker.

Defence barrister Matthew Stewart said the father-of-three started abusing drugs after losing his job and was now on benefits.

Judge Simon Hickey told Harper he had caused “mayhem” on the county’s roads and described his criminal record as “shocking”.

Harper was jailed for two years and two months and slapped with a five-year driving ban.

Woman treated for shock after crash near Ripon

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has been in action twice in our area today, once for a road traffic accident and once to rescue an injured women.

At just after 8am, crews from Ripon and Harrogate were called to a two-car road collision on Studley Road in Ripon.

One car had driven into the back of the other, and one of the drivers, who were both women aged about 20, was treated by fire crew for shock before an ambulance arrived at the scene.

Later in the day, at 2.46pm, police asked Harrogate fire crew to gain entry to a locked premises on Stanhope Drive, off Knaresborough Road in Harrogate, as they had concerns for the occupant.

Firefighters broke into the building using a lock-extractor and found that the occupant had fallen and suffered a broken arm.

The fire crew administered oxygen therapy and left the unnamed 64-year-old woman in the care of the police, awaiting an ambulance.

BMW sales manager ‘unfairly dismissed’ after ‘grave mistake’ at Harrogate garage

The sales manager of BMW dealership near Harrogate was unfairly dismissed after selling a car against money laundering guidance, a tribunal has found.

James Dent was employed as head of sales at Stratstone BMW in Pannal until last September, when he was dismissed without notice from his job.

It followed the sale of a vehicle on September 1, which a tribunal in Leeds heard was one of the busiest trading days of the year, when new registrations were released.

A report from the tribunal, published yesterday, found Mr Dent had been asked not to hand over a new car to a customer on the “red list”, which indicated a third party was paying for the vehicle.

The list had been compiled after the company was contacted by police the previous day in relation to another buyer who was involved in criminal activity.

The tribunal was told a third-party funder was also seen as a risk for re-sale – when another garage which sells the car on at an inflated price. If the Harrogate dealership was found to have sold in these circumstances, it could lose its franchise with BMW and Mini, the hearing was told.

After an investigation, Mr Dent was told by Stratstone’s national franchise director for BMW and Mini, Anthony Partington, in a letter dated September 16, that he had been dismissed.

In the tribunal report, Judge Knowles wrote:

“The letter is effectively dismissal for decisions which place the respondent at risk of being knowingly involved with money laundering and also knowingly selling to resellers, exposing the franchise to possible penalties and his inability to follow a simple instruction from his regional director.”

The court heard Mr Dent had argued he was following a similar sale he had witnessed, when the regional sales director had effectively sold a car to a third party against company policy.

However, the tribunal found there were some differences between the two cases, including that the third party paying for the car was present during the transaction, though someone else collected the keys.

In his case, Mr Dent had not sought approval from a senior director before handing over the keys to someone when a third party, who was not present, was paying for the car.

‘Grave mistake’

Judge Knowles wrote:

“The claimant did not underestimate that he had done something seriously wrong. He described it as a wrong judgment on something that was high priority. He acknowledged that he overlooked the fact that they were not delivering the car to the paying customer.

“The claimant’s concluding comments were ‘I’d like to make it plain that I have not set out to deliberately contravene the company’s policy or risk myself or the company. I have made a grave mistake… but I’ve had a busy stressful day and I’ve made a poor judgement in the heat of the moment’.

“The claimant explained some circumstances in mitigation, that he had been busy that day, and that he had dealt with an extremely aggressive customer earlier who had been unhappy with the cleanliness of his new vehicle. He says his mind was elsewhere.”

The judge found there was no dispute between Mr Dent or his employer over whether the transaction had taken place on September 1.

However, what was disputed was the way in which the investigation was carried out.

Mr Partington’s letter made reference to other matters coming to light which showed “huge potential risk” to Stratstone, a trading name of Pendragon PLC.

Judge Knowles found these other matters had not been shared with Mr Dent during the disciplinary process and were not detailed in the dismissal letter.

‘Conscious decision’

In the letter, Mr Partington concluded:

“Finally, I can clearly see in the hearing, and throughout the relationship I have had with you, that the decisions made here are very unlikely to have been made for personal gain, or to knowingly de-fraud or compromise the business.

“Your attitude and approach has always proved to be professional and your commitment to the business is clear.”

Yet when Mr Dent appealed the decision and was unsuccessful, he was found to have “made a conscious decision to not follow clear instruction from your leader, and allowed the business to be put at risk by acting above your authority”.

The tribunal report also found the investigation into the regional sales director’s transaction, cited by Mr Dent as another example of a similar sale, had not been fully investigated.

Leeds Employment Tribunal at City Exchange in Leeds City Centre

Mr Dent said the real reason for his dismissal was because of the risk to the Harrogate garage of being known to have sold cars that were being paid for by third parties.

However, in response Stratstone BMW told the tribunal Mr Dent had been fully aware of the risk of releasing the car to the man in question, having helped to identify potential suspect transactions for that day.

The company said Mr Dent “acted contrary to clear management instructions” not to release the car, and accepted doing so warranted “some level of disciplinary action”, even dismissal.

Judge Knowles agreed that Mr Dent had handed the car over in contravention of the instructions he had been given.

Yet the report also found there was no evidence this was “deliberate” and that this had only been suggested following his appeal rather than as part of the disciplinary process.

It also found the “wider issues” had only been mentioned after the appeal, in the letter confirming Mr Dent’s dismissal, and no such issues had been put to him.

‘Hurdles to be cleared’

Concluding, Judge Knowles said that while the process of the dismissal had been unfair, Mr Dent’s actions meant he had been “wholly to blame for his dismissal”.

The judge therefore found Mr Dent had been unfairly dismissed, but had not been wrongly dismissed, and was not due any compensation in lieu of notice.

The report also said:

“Worryingly the anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing policy and related security processes seem to have been treated by both [Mr Dent] and the [regional sales director] simply as hurdles to be cleared. This makes the policy somewhat of a false dawn.

“I suspect that this… will be an uncomfortable read for the board and its audit and risk sub-committee who have clearly sponsored and approved the policy.”

Five traffic lights stolen at roadworks in Knaresborough

Five sets of traffic lights have been stolen from one of the busiest junctions in Knaresborough.

The lights were taken from the junction of York Place and King James Road, close to King James’s School.

Northern Gas Networks is carrying out roadworks at the junction. Work is due to end on Friday next week.

The theft of the lights was not reported to police until at least 14 hours after it happened.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said:

“The theft of five temporary traffic lights in Knaresborough was reported at 2.38pm on Monday.

“It happened on King James Road and York Place between 11am on Sunday, July 30 and midnight.”

The Stray Ferret asked how much the lights were worth. The spokesperson replied “thousands of pounds”.

Councillor Matt Walker, a Liberal Democrat who represents Knaresborough West on North Yorkshire Council, said the theft was both unusual and unwelcome. He added:

“It has caused disruption, delays and additional costs to the works.

“I am working with officers on how repeat occurrences can be prevented and a reduction in the town’s vandalism and anti-social behaviour.”

Anyone with information can contact the police by dialling 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The police reference number is NYP-31072023-0313.

Vandalism causes extended closure of Ripon playground

A children’s playground at Quarry Moor Park in Ripon will remain closed for the foreseeable future because of ongoing vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

The decision to maintain the closure was taken by councillors in private session at Monday evening’s Ripon City Council meeting and confirmed in a statement on the council’s Facebook page.

It said that the council “regretfully resolved not to reinstate the playground at Quarry Moor at the present time”.

It added:

“Unfortunately the site is being vandalised almost daily. We are working with North Yorkshire Police who are responding to the regular reports of anti-social behaviour when they occur.

“Until we can plan a way forward with our partners that includes measures that impact on the behaviour at the site we are unable to commit funds to the playground.”

The statement added:

“We appreciate that this is caused by a small minority and that it is affecting our residents using the site. We are actively seeking solutions to the issue (and) will provide a further update as soon as possible.”

Quarry Moor is funded by an annual grant from the city council and the budget for 2023-24 is £15,000.

The playground has remained closed since a vandal attack In March and this followed a six-month closure from September 2021 due to a rat infestation which was eradicated after rubbish bins were removed from the site.

Jail for drug dealers caught outside Harrogate’s Valley Gardens

Two drug dealers arrested outside Harrogate’s Valley Gardens have been jailed.

Plain clothed county lines drugs officers from North Yorkshire Police were on patrol in Valley Gardens in October 2020, when they came across Ishmaal Mahmood and Ifaaq Mahmood in a Volkswagen Jetta parked on Valley Drive.

According to police, Ishmaal Mahmood, 25, of Stonegate Chase, Harehills, Leeds, appeared to try and delete messages from the phone he was using as officers tried to speak with him.

He and Ifaaq Mahmood, 28, of Leeds at the time, were detained for a search under the Misuse of Drugs Act after what police described as “implausible and inconsistent reasons for being in Harrogate”.

Drugs recovered from the car

Both pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply and possessing MDMA with intent to supply.

Ishmaal was jailed for three years and four months and Ifaaq was jailed for one year and eight months. In 2020, Ishmaal was previously sentenced to seven months in jail for possessing a knife linked to the same incident.

‘I’ve got a knife on me’

Ishmaal Mahmood said to one of the officers outside Valley Gardens “I’ve got a knife on me” and was found to be in possession of a curved hunting knife.

On searching the vehicle, a blue latex glove containing multiple snap bags containing white and brown powder, believed to be cocaine and MDMA, were recovered. Both were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs. Ishmaal was also arrested for possession of the knife.

Addresses linked to both were searched and at the address of Ishmaal officers found a small amount of cannabis, further weapons and a large amount of deal bags.

Drug analysis on the suspected class A drugs seized from the vehicle confirmed the drugs as 32 individual wraps including 28 cocaine and 4 MDMA. This has a street value of approximately £1,500.

Forensic analysis of the drugs and phone analysis ultimately linked both men to the supply of cocaine and MDMA in the Harrogate area. It also showed Ishmaal was occasionally acting as a recruiter and trying to set up his own drug line.

The seized hunting knife

The pair were sentenced for the drug offences at York Crown Court yesterday,

Investigating officer, PC Michael Haydock from the county lines Operation Expedite team in Harrogate, said:

“Ishmaal and Ifaaq Mahmood were working together for a county line with the sole objective of selling highly dangerous and addictive drugs on the streets of Harrogate.

“They have done this freely and for their own gain, without the slightest bit of thought or consideration for the wider implications of their actions.

“Furthermore, they were on our streets in possession of a knife which had the potential to cause devastating injuries or worse. There is no place for this and both have received all that they deserve. Hopefully the pair have now seen the error of their ways and similarly, anyone who believes they can commit drug crime in North Yorkshire can expect to face the consequences.”

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Back causing ‘mayhem’

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61 previous convictions

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‘Grave mistake’

‘Conscious decision’

‘Hurdles to be cleared’

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‘I’ve got a knife on me’

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