The latest cases to be heard at Harrogate Magistrates Court between March 30 and April 6

The following were heard at North Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court on March 30:

Simon James Wilson, 47, received another suspended prison sentence after an offence of obstructing a police officer put him in breach of a similar court order imposed in August last year for possessing a hammer in a pub beer garden. Wilson wilfully obstructed the police constable at his home in of Hookstone Avenue, Harrogate, on March 11. There was no separate penalty for this offence, but it did put him in breach of the original suspended sentence for possessing an offensive weapon, namely a pick-style roofing hammer in the beer garden of Oatlands Working Men’s Club in Coronation Grove, Harrogate, on July 9 last year. The 26-week jail sentence for the breach was suspended for two years.

Robert Mariusz Sobita, 52, of Bower Street, Harrogate, received a 12-month community order for nuisance communications. Sobita, a Polish national, admitted using a public electronic communications network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another. The offence occurred in January at his flat in Bower Street. As part of the order, he must complete a six-month alcohol-treatment programme and up to 30 days’ rehabilitation activity. He was ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £114 surcharge to fund victim services.

Claire Watson, 53, of Frogmire Road, Knaresborough, received a 12-month motoring ban for drug-driving. She was in a Vauxhall Corsa which was stopped in Stockwell Avenue, Knaresborough, on December 14, 2022. A blood test revealed she was over the specified limit for Benzoylecgonine, a cocaine breakdown product. Watson was fined £80 and was ordered to pay £85 costs, along with a £32 surcharge.

The following were heard at North Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court on March 31:

Robyn Gascoyne, 53, of York Place, Harrogate, was fined £660 and had six points added to her licence for failing to identify the driver in an alleged motoring offence. Gascoyne was found guilty of failing to give Derbyshire Police information relating to the identification of a driver of a Mini Cooper which was allegedly involved in a road-traffic offence in April last year. She was ordered to pay £300 costs and a £66 surcharge.

Former Harrogate police officer Joseph McCabe, 27, received a six-month suspended jail sentence for sexually assaulting a named woman. McCabe, of Kingsley Park Road, Harrogate, was a serving police constable when he sexually assaulted the woman at a property in North Yorkshire in August 2021. The custodial sentence, which was suspended for two years, was imposed because the offence was so serious and the former officer had shown “no remorse”. He was ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for seven years and complete a 100-day alcohol-abstinence course. In addition, he was ordered to complete up to 20 days’ rehabilitation activity and partake of a 43-day sexual-offending group programme. He was also subjected to a three-restraining order banning him from contacting the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons. He was ordered to pay £620 costs and a £128 statutory surcharge.

The following were heard at North Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court on April 5:

Martin John Jackson, 54, of Topcliffe Road, Topcliffe, was fined £121 and had three points added to his licence for speeding in the A19 at Easingwold. He broke a 50mph speed limit on the Easingwold Bypass on March 19 last year. He was ordered to pay £90 costs and a £34 surcharge.

Andrew Hunter, 41, of Bower Street, Harrogate, was fined £50 for failing to comply with the requirements of his post-custodial supervision. Hunter breached the order by failing to turn up for a probation appointment in February following his release from prison.

The following were heard at North Yorkshire Magistrates’ Court on April 6:

Stacey Biannca Reed, 35, was fined £120 for possessing heroin. She was caught with the Class A drug at her home in Warren Place, Harrogate, on May 11 last year. She was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £34 surcharge.

Tyria Roberta Szilagyi, 22, of Chatsworth Grove, Boroughbridge, received an 18-month motoring ban for drink-driving. She was stopped on North Park Road, Harrogate, on October 20 last year when a blood test revealed she was almost twice the legal alcohol limit. She was fined £323 and ordered to pay £85 costs, along with a statutory surcharge of £129. There was no separate penalty for driving without a licence.

Wendy Wilkinson, 36, of Bower Street, Harrogate, was fined £120 for possessing heroin. She was caught with the Class A drug in Warren Place, Harrogate, on May 11, 2022. She was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £34 surcharge.

Kurt Brook, 29, of Bramham Drive, Harrogate, was fined £233 for damaging the dashboard of a Peugeot 206 belonging to a named woman. The offence occurred in Church Street, Knaresborough, on August 3 last year. Brook was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £93 surcharge.

James Ashley Gibb, 34, of Ripon Road, Harrogate, received a six-month jail sentence for assaulting three police officers. The incident occurred in Ripon Market Place on October 28 last year. The prison sentence was imposed because it was a “deliberate attack” on two public servants, there were “different kinds of assaults including biting, kicking and (the) threat of spitting” and it was committed while Gibb was on probation. He was ordered to pay two of the officers £100 each in compensation and ordered to pay the other £75. Gibb, who has previous convictions, received a 12-month conditional discharge for a separate offence of threatening behaviour during the same incident. He was given an additional four-month jail sentence for a separate offence of threatening behaviour in Station Parade, Harrogate, on January 14 last year. However, this sentence will run concurrently with the jail term for the assaults on the police officers.