Former Harrogate solicitor who rammed car into wife’s home breaches restraining order

Richard Wade-Smith, 66, had only been on the restraining order for four days when he went to his wife Susan Shepherd’s home in Harrogate, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Kelly Sherif said that at about 8.15am on September 19, Ms Shepherd heard a knock at her door.

“She looked out of the landing (and) saw (Wade-Smith) stood at the door,” added Ms Sherif.

She answered, but then saw him walking away towards Wetherby Road.

“At about 10.30am she heard another knock and heard a voice say, ‘Suzie’,” said Ms Sherif.

“She recognised the voice and looked through the spyglass in the front door and saw (Wade-Smith) stood there.”

Mrs Shepherd went to the door, but Wade-Smith walked off again and went to the neighbouring property.

When his neighbour answered the door and told him he shouldn’t be there because of the restraining order, Wade-Smith told her he had “nowhere to go”.

The neighbour called police, but Wade-Smith ended up in hospital “due to his alcohol issues and not taking his medication”.

He was ultimately arrested and charged with harassment in breach of a restraining order and remanded in custody. He admitted the offence and appeared for sentence via video link today (October 11).

Ms Shepherd, 63, said she was now virtually housebound and “sits inside the house with the curtains closed” because she was “too scared to venture outside in case I saw him” and was fearful about what Wade-Smith might do next.

She added: “I knew that when he was released (from custody) he wouldn’t abide by any (court) order.”

Wade-Smith, currently homeless, was first arrested on Boxing Day last year after ramming his Nissan Qashqai into the former marital home.

He was twice the drink-drive limit at the time of the incident which followed months of marital discord in which he falsely accused Ms Shepherd of being unfaithful and forced her to flee the house.

The former “high-powered” lawyer waged an unrelenting harassment campaign against Ms Shepherd which culminated in the shocking incident in the early hours of December 26 when she was awoken by a terrible “smashing” noise.

She initially thought it was an “explosion” but then heard an engine revving and locked herself inside a bedroom.

She called police and it was only when officers arrived that she dared venture outside her semi-detached home in leafy Slingsby Walk.

To her horror, she realised it was Wade-Smith who had rammed his car into her front door.

Wade-Smith, a Cambridge law graduate, was charged with harassment causing fear of violence, damaging property and drink-driving.

He admitted the matters but was spared jail at the Crown Court in September so the authorities could find him emergency accommodation at a hostel in Harrogate.

Instead, a judge gave him a three-year community order with rehabilitation to help “rebuild your life” and prevent him becoming homeless again.

The restraining order prohibited him from contacting his estranged wife and going near her home.

Upon his release from custody, Wade-Smith was supposed to go to Harrogate Borough Council to seek makeshift accommodation but because the offices were closed that day, he ended up sleeping rough.

According to Wade-Smith, he had had been robbed while sleeping on the street and, after spending one night at an expensive hotel, decided to go back to the marital home because he had “nowhere else to go”.

The court heard that the former couple had been in a relationship for about 22 years, but in 2021 Wade-Smith’s behaviour changed after he hit the bottle again.

He would “disturb (his wife’s) sleep”, waking her in the middle of the night and demanding she “answer questions” about her so-called “secret lives” and their sex life, said the prosecution.

He also demanded on “multiple occasions, in the middle of the night”, that she leave the house.

She became so frightened she began “spending large amounts of time overnight sitting on her doorstep or wandering the streets”.

In November last year, Ms Shepherd started receiving nasty messages on a “daily basis” from Wade-Smith.

On one occasion inside the house, he told her: “If you don’t go now, I’ll kick you down the stairs.”

Defence barrister Alasdair Campbell said Wade-Smith had been suffering from psychosis and “hypermania” after becoming bipolar in middle age.

He said Wade-Smith had gone directly to the bail hostel after being released from custody but found there was “no room at the inn, so that night he slept rough”.

“The following day, rather than going back to the council offices, he went to his solicitors’ office and was given his debit card,” added Mr Campbell.

“He slept rough again that night and then on the third night he booked into a hotel which cost him an awful lot of money.

The following night he slept rough again and his next recollection is waking up the next morning in hospital, clearly having been robbed of his money and his (bank) card.”

Mr Campbell added: “He had clearly been drinking - he said it kept him warm.”

Judge Sean Morris adjourned sentence until November 18 for a victim-statement to be produced and to look into the possibility of new hostel accommodation as an alternative to jail.

Wade-Smith was remanded in custody until the sentence date.