The crimes committed in town’s kebab shops

There’s a saying that a pint and a fight are the ingredients to a great British night out, but an investigation has unearthed the shocking crimes committed in Scarborough’s pizza shops and curry houses by rowdy revellers after they’ve sank one too many.
St Thomas Street is one f the 'kebab crime' hotspots - with one woman attacked with a doner there after a night on the tiles.St Thomas Street is one f the 'kebab crime' hotspots - with one woman attacked with a doner there after a night on the tiles.
St Thomas Street is one f the 'kebab crime' hotspots - with one woman attacked with a doner there after a night on the tiles.

Scarborough’s ‘kebab crimes’ include bloody beatings, callous charity box thefts and staff being racially abused.

And in one incident, a woman was attacked with a doner kebab.

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Our probe found out that 19 crimes were committed in takeaways, restaurants and chippys over the past 12 months.

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CCTV and a heavy late-night police presence have helped officers nab the majority of offenders, but North Yorkshire Police have now revealed details of the takeaway offenders still on the loose.

The force still wants the public’s help in solving a handful of crimes, which include:

• A shocking charity box theft, in which someone swiped a Help for Heroes collection tin from the front counter of a Hanover Road restaurant between Friday 5 and Saturday September 6 last year.

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• A staff member being racially abused by a customer in the small hours of September 22 in a St Thomas Street restaurant.

• A nasty assault outside a Castle Road restaurant in the early hours of May 10.

• A wallet theft from a St Thomas Street eatery just after midnight on December 14.

But information, obtained under the Freedom of Information act, has highlighted some of the violence spilling into the town’s takeaways from its dancefloors.

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The disclosure states one assault was so vicious, the victim was left with a fractured cheek, broken nose and an eye injury.

Another victim was left bloodied after being beaten up, while last September, a 26-year-old woman had a doner kebab smeared in her face at Express Pizza - before her attacker fled the scene in a taxi.

It’s not known if any offender was charged, however in almost half of the cases, police helped bring a suspect before the courts.

One takeaway worker was subjected to unprintable racial abuse last year. His abuser was charged and convicted in court.

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“Once people touch alcohol, they can become monsters,” he said.

“They have no respect for anybody, and they look down on people who work in takeaways and restaurants like they are dogs.

“It’s a hard job because of the abuse.”

While he said the police do a good job in protecting Scarborough’s late-night economy workforce, he said he would welcome more police on the beat.

The majority of takeaway crime was either theft or public order , although over a quarter involved violence.

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One person was arrested for urinating in public inside an eatery.

Pizza and kebab shops were the most common spot for takeaway crimes, although a pair of offences took place in one of Scarborough’s famous fish and chip shops.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: “We take all reports of crime very seriously.

“We would urge anyone who has information about any crime, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to report it to us via the 101 number.”

The figures obtained were for the period between June 2014 and May 2015.