The post reported two events yesterday Arson of several cars and a raid on the Apple shop

ARSONISTS set fire to six vans and a car in an early-morning attack in York.Residents in the Layerthorpe area reported hearing a series of explosions, as the blazes raged in the Hallfield Road area.The arsonists struck at about 1.50am today at Horwell Brothers, on Mansfield Street, where a Vauxhall Corsa was burnt out, and at a compound on the neighbouring Ebor Industrial Estate, on Hallfield Road, where six vans belonging to Carillion Energy Services were set alight. Four of the vans were completely destroyed.Police say the explosions were as a result of the diesel tanks catching fire. They are treating the incidents as suspicious and are appealing for witnesses.Detective Constable Sinead McConigley, of York CID, said: “We believe that these fires were a deliberate act and are appealing for the public to help us identify who is responsible.

“I urge anyone who saw any suspicious people or vehicles in the area at the time of the incidents to contact the police or Crimestoppers immediately.

“Arson is a serious crime which can be extremely dangerous.

“Fortunately, nobody was hurt on this occasion but fires can be lethal and incidents like these cannot be tolerated.”

Two crews from York fire station attended to tackle the fires.

Also

Updated: THIEVES stole £14,000 of Apple computers and gadgets in a lightning raid on a shop in York.

The group of four smashed their way into the Stormfront store in Coney Street at 4.40am yesterday, and stole demonstration iPads, computers and two 27-inch display screens. They took just 60 seconds to seize their haul and get away.

James Collard, sales director for Stormfront retail, said CCTV footage from hidden cameras in the store had been handed to the police, and said the gang had looked well prepared for the theft.

“They were very organised. They knew what they were doing,” he said.

“Three of them forced their way into the showroom. They were wearing scarves round their lower faces, gloves, and they were all wearing dark clothing.”

Mr Collard said the three men each targeted a different side of the showroom, and grabbed 14 items from around the store, worth a total of about £14,000, before making their escape.

The thieves also dropped and damaged two computers during the raid, one of which, an iMac, was broken beyond repair.

Mr Collard said the thieves did not steal any retail equipment, only demonstrations items, which are fitted with a “locked down” version of the usual operating system.

He said: “They are all locked into demonstration mode, which they will struggle to get out of. We put software on there specifically to stop this.

The store, which opened in Coney Street in April, was closed yesterday morning but had reopened by 12.30pm. A group of people were also seen on CCTV outside the store after the theft took place, and one individual ran after the thieves as they made off with the equipment.

A 25-year-old man from York accused of attempting to hack into Facebook has been released on conditional bail. Glenn Mangham, of Cornlands Road in York, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday morning charged with five counts under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 of attempting to “penetrate Facebook’s security”. The alleged hack is not believed to be connected to the spate of recent attacks on websites by the computer hacking groups Anonymous and LulzSec. Between 17 April and 9 May he is accused of downloading a computer program “to secure unauthorised access” to Facebook; of attempting to hack into Facebook’s “Mailman” server; of using PHP script to secure access to another Facebook server, dubbed “Phabricator”; of sharing a PHP script intended to hack into that Facebook server; and of securing “repeated” access to another Facebook server. It is not known what data Mangham is accused of accessing. The information commissioner’s office, which investigates potential data breaches of this kind, said that Facebook had not reported any incident over this period. Mangham, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and grey tie, was ordered not to access the internet as part of strict bail conditions before a committal hearing on 28 September. He was arrested by the Met police at his home in York on 2 June. Evans told Mangham’s parents that these are “serious allegations”. He added: “These conditions are to minimise the risk of him going on the internet.” Later in court he said: “The court feels it will be safer if there was no access to the internet which will reduce the temptation for your son to go on to Facebook.” A spokeswoman for Facebook said: “While no user data was compromised, we have been working with Scotland Yard and the FBI as we take any attempt to hack our internal systems extremely seriously.”

Again demonstrators gathered outside a York city centre fashion store in a protest over large companies in the UK avoiding tax. The group, including members of York Stop The Cuts, gathered outside Top Shop in Coppergate on Saturday afternoon in a protest against the store’s parent company, the Arcadia Group, allegedly avoiding paying millions in tax to the UK government. One protester, who asked to be referred to as Graham, 26, said he had been forcibly removed from the store after asking to speak to the manager and handing out leaflets to customers. The manger of the store declined to comment.

The campaign is hitting businesses hard in York, may it carry on

Protesters chanted “This is what democracy looks like,” and: “No ifs, no buts, no public service cuts”, as well as slogans berating Chancellor George Osborne, as police officers were called into the chamber.

After about five minutes of protest, when the council’s Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors left the chamber, the campaigners were coaxed down.

Before the meeting began, about 50 protesters joined a demonstration organised by the York Stop The Cuts group outside the Guildhall as police flanked the entrance to the building.

Tuesday 11th January 2011 saw the Easingwold Library closure make its way on to local television with a five minute piece broadcast on BBC Look North (North East & Cumbria, from Newcastle). It was the usual impartial BBC presenting all sides of the argument and with no NYCC representatives to defend their decision. Local author Mike Pannett is the figurehead of the save the Easingwold Library Campaign with many in the community helping to promote this worthy cause. It was originally reported in the Tiser on the 27th November 2010 that a rumour was circulating that Easingwold Library was to close. Since then we have had numerous letters and articles relating to this closure. If you wish to help you need to contact North Yorkshire Libraries on tel: 01609 533800 to find out how to register your opposition to this closure.Unfortunately when we launched our Make Your Vote Count Campaign (Opposition to paid parking in Hambleton) in October 2010 we were unaware of the Library shutting in 2011 otherwise we would have included it our campaign. However, the Make Your Vote Count campaign is just as applicable to this cause as to the parking issue. We contacted NYCC in November 2010 for a statement about the closure and as of Wednesday 12th January 2011 we are still waiting. In fact not only are NYCC extremely quiet on this subject but none of our elected NYCC Councillors (to find your councillor go to: http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=10227) have contacted us here at the Tiser to explain this decision which I am sure they knew all about long before it became official. Yes we have a recession, yes we need to control spending but NYCC have had two full years to lay the ground rules on spending. The NY Times (NYCC Council Newspaper) which costs £67,000 per issue is still being produced (two years after the recession started). The farce which is the Easingwold Market Place Improvement Scheme is still going ahead (£200,000) and that doesn’t include the hundreds of thousands of pounds spent in the past decade on this scheme. Let us not forget that NYCC has nearly £20 million in the bank (reported in the regional media in December, excluding current annual budget) languishing for what reason? NYCC seem to be cutting services before looking at cost saving measures, which would not affect services.Any competent small business owner could easily reduce expenditure without redundancies or cutting services. Measures taken could be: no more fact finding tours, overnight stays, team building exercises, social engineering courses, have statutory sick pay, have statutory maternity/paternity pay and leave. Use low tax, high fuel efficient vehicles if needed otherwise conference calls for meetings. Mobile phones/laptops only for those that need them. Make 65 the retirement age for all. These suggestions have not even touched upon salaries or pensions, which, if there are to be cuts to these, should be made to start with at the top end and not the bottom end of the wage structure. Local politics as we have seen in the past year or so do matter so make sure that you vote and hold those in power accountable, otherwise the Library closing might only be the start.Editor

Libraries are a right, we have the right to free information and books, this crass government is dismantling all the things that we have fought for over the years, decent pension age free NHS free Librarys, they are all be taken away, and lets get this straight, its nothing to do with the state of the economy, this is political and spiteful politics, taxing the banks and rich who only pay 2% Tax  would reduce the deficit instantly. Love Libraries hate Condems

Among shops targeted on Sunday by the group included Bhs, Burton’s, Dorothy Perkins, Boots and Vodaphone. The protesters claim the companies legally use tax law loopholes to avoid paying British taxes. The peaceful demonstrations were timed to coincide with similar protests in other cities

and for those students heading down to London,  have a great day and dont get nicked.

Check out York Stop The Cuts right to work Campaign. Keep up to date with demonstrations against the cuts, picketing of Vodaphone and building solidarity in York

Here

Sky News reports on another bent policeman, oiling the way for family members

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been investigating allegations against North Yorkshire Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell and his deputy, Adam Briggs.

It is alleged that they tried to help relatives get a foot on the career ladder at the first stage of the recruitment process.

The commission’s findings were sent to North Yorkshire police authority’s professional standards sub-committee.

This has now recommended that the chief constable should appear before a hearing for gross misconduct and his deputy should attend a misconduct meeting.

The IPCC has agreed with those recommendations

Two members of police staff have been dismissed from the force after facing a disciplinary hearing over allegations they had used their position to by-pass the recruitment process for their own gain.

The watchdog said a police constable was given a final written warning after a misconduct meeting in relation to the matter.

“The IPCC will not be in a position to publish its findings from the investigations until all misconduct matters are concluded,” a spokesman added.

In Sheffield, around 1,000 students gathered in the city centre, many from schools as well as the two universities.

There were reports of pupils walking out of a number of secondary schools before gathering at Sheffield University Students’ Union.

Many in the crowd appeared to be of school age, some as young as 13 or 14.

A line of police guarded the front of the Victorian town hall as the crowd chanted and waved placards. There were also demonstrations in Leeds.

The protest has been dubbed Day X, with parents, teachers and trade unionists invited to join students.

Many of the rallies have been organised by the Education Activist Network and the campaign group Youth Fight For Jobs.

well done to all the kids that came out

Residents in Selby who have not returned their electoral information will cost the council thousands of pounds this year.

Selby District Council has reported that a record number of registration forms have not been returned, and council workers employed to collect them have been verbally abused by householders.

Martin Connor, returning officer and chief executive of the district council said: “We’re disappointed that canvassers have reported back to us that they’re subject to verbal abuse when knocking on some doors in the district.

“This canvass is our legal duty and is costing the council, and therefore taxpayers, money.

“We’re all under pressure to save money at the moment and we want to ensure that the resources we do have can be used effectively. We expect staff working on our behalf to be treated with respect and dignity at all times.”

Every household in the Selby district was sent a registration form in August, asking them to check their electoral details and update them if necessary, to ensure they could vote in future elections, including the district council elections and the national referendum for electoral reform in May.

By law, if the information is not returned, the council must visit each property in person, which a spokeswoman for the council said could cost thousands of pounds.

The canvass ensures the council has the correct details for anyone who has moved home, or who may have been registered at a different address in the past.

Anyone who has not completed their details and no longer has their form should phone Selby District Council’s electoral services department on 01757 292006, or download the registration form at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk