Serious assault in a Doncaster village left man in hospital: police column

We had been called out after a man was seriously assaulted there. An ambulance was called out and the injured man was taken to hospital for treatment.

The investigation is still ongoing and restricts what I can say. But it is clear that an altercation occurred between two groups of people which later led to property being damaged and the assault on a male. If you were a witness to any of the incidents, please contact us on 101 and quote incident 704 of March 23.

Our officers spent several hours preserving the scene while the investigation went on, and following the incident we have being had officers on reassurance patrol in Armthorpe.

During part of the last month, we have been involved in work to support Operation Sceptre, the national campaign supported by South Yorkshire Police, aiming to reduce knife crime.

We conducted extensive high visibility patrols, offered reassurance to parents collecting children at local schools and completed several land searches without recovering any knives. We also visited a number of schools.

The team was also involved in a stop and search operation at Lindholme Prison to prevent drugs and other items being smuggled in by visitors. Five people were refused entry after traces of drugs were found in swabs taken in their cars. No drugs were recovered.

I now turn to some other specific local issues in communities. In Thorne, burglaries have increased slightly with five actual or attempted residential burglaries recorded since 25 February.

In Moorends, although we have seen a fall in burglaries, sheds, garages and outhouses continue to be attacked.

One person has been released under investigation for one offence which occurred in February and we will continue with patrols to identify any other offenders. We also raided a house on Wilkinson Avenue earlier this month which led to 160 plants being recovered and one male being arrested for cannabis cultivation.

We have conducted a number of speeding operations in both areas over the past month following complaints from local residents. In operations on Whitegates, Church Balk, Marshland Road and Haynes Road, we recorded the speed of 368 vehicles. Just 14 were over the speed limit. We also assisted St Leger Homes in evicting a tenant from an address on Richmond Road, Moorends.

At our community engagement meeting in Armthorpe issues of parking on Tranmoor Lane at school opening/closing times, ASB and speeding vehicles, particularly during the evenings were raised.

Stainforth, residents may be interested to hear that following the road collision in March 2017 in which a pedestrian, Susan Gravel, was killed, Jerry James Smith, 19 and formerly of Thorne, has now been charged with causing death by dangerous driving. He is currently remanded and the case will be heard later this year.

We are still wanting to hear from anyone with information about an incident at Whitegates Caravan Park in Dunscroft earlier this month which led to the death of a 52-year-old woman. Costica Mihai, of St Catherine’s Avenue, Balby, has since been charged with murder. If you have information, please call 101 quoting incident 500 of 22 March 2019.

Burglaries in Hatfield ward were relatively low until two weeks ago when we recorded three actual and two attempted residential burglaries in Hatfield and three in Dunscroft. A suspect has been identified.

We also ran speeding operations on Cemetery Road, Hatfield, Broadway at Dunscroft, Station Road and Kirton Lane at Stainforth. A total of 75 of 322 vehicles we checked were speeding. In the Askern and Norton ward, PCSOs have carried out patrols at Campsall Country Park, Warren House Park and Clay Pond for off road bikers.

They also visited schools, including Moss Road, Askern Spa and Little Moor schools due to complaints about parking at school closing time.

Officers ran speed checks on Moss Road, Askern at the request of local residents. All but one were on or under the speed limit. One vehicle, travelling at 37mph, was stopped and found to be uninsured. The vehicle was seized and the 41 year old male driver was dealt with for the motoring offences.

On Tuesday March 19, Andrew Allen, aged 42, of Lowlands Walk, Askern, pleaded guilty to two shop thefts and a commercial burglary, all in Askern. Doncaster magistrates sentenced him to a 12 month community order, a rehabilitation order, fine and compensation costs.

Readers can meet me at one of our community engagement meetings at Armthorpe Community Centre at 7pm on April 23, and at Moorends Miners Welfare at 7.15pm on April 25; or via our engagement event on our Facebook page, Doncaster East NHP, on April 25 from 5.30pm until 6.45pm.