Sniffer dog Thor collars hotel vandal

Scott Chapman, 38, of no fixed address, appeared at York Magistrates’ Court and admitted a charge of criminal damage to a fire door at The Sidings in Shipton-by-Beningbrough.

Sotiris Monoyiou, owner of The Sidings, said he was working in the restaurant on Friday when two customers reported seeing a man outside the hotel wearing a balaclava.

He said: “I watched him on our CCTV for 15 minutes and saw him walking round the grounds and taking pictures, but I thought he was a trainspotter.

The next thing, I answered the phone and heard a woman shouting and screaming, saying there was a guy in the rooms who was shouting and screaming at her.

“She saw him at the bottom of the carriage; he’d broken in from the outside. She heard the bang and saw him with a metal stick and he was screaming at her, so she ran away.

“He ran outside over the fence over the railway lines. It’s a good job there wasn’t a train coming he would have been killed.”

Mr Monoyiou phoned police, who sent dog handlers and sniffer dog Thor, who followed a scent from the cracked fire escape door, across the railway tracks, and through a field and nearby trees.

He said: “I think they caught him by Beningbrough Hall. I watched them walk the dog into the forest he went through.

Then they came and said they had him, and I said good job.

I’m very happy with how the police and the dog worked, he’s a clever dog.”

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Sotiris Monoyiou, owner of The Sidings restaurant at Shipton-by-Beningbrough, where the incident occurred

A posting on the North Yorkshire Police facebook page followed the incident, with a picture of Thor and a message of congratulations.

It said: “PD Thor earned his tea today. Tracks offender from damage to restaurant across railway and fields before locating him. Well done team! Now looking very pleased with himself.”

Chapman appeared before magistrates again on Monday, where he was remanded in custody pending a pre-sentence report. He is due to be sentenced on March 30.