As the UK lockdown eases with the reopening of shops at the start of this week, the region's courts have been busy handing out prison sentences to people who find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
People have been locked up for a host of criminal offences with M.E.N. reporters there to cover the most serious.
Despite the coronavirus outbreak, and recent UK lockdown, prison sentences are still being handed out and people are still being locked up after committing offences.
There's drug dealers, a paedophile who tricked a teenager into sending explicit pictures and blackmailed him, a violent former soldier who beat up a man so badly he was left with severe brain injuries, a rapist and thugs who raided a couple's home on their wedding day.
Here are some of the criminals who were locked up in Greater Manchester this week:
Former soldier who 'fell in with wrong crowd' left man with severe, life-changing brain injuries
A former soldier has been jailed for eight years after beating up a man and leaving him with "severe life-changing brain injuries".
Dean Hughes, 43, hit Shane Maloney around the head with a magnum of champagne during an argument at a house in Wigan Road, Leigh, on the evening of November 8 2019.
Hughes, of Church Street, Bickershaw, then used the bottle to hit Mr Maloney, 26, in the legs and body, before kicking him in the head at least once.
Police were called to the house, and found Mr Maloney slumped in a ginnel near the house, slipping in and out of consciousness and with a large cut to the back of his head.
Prosecution barrister Michael Brady told Bolton Crown Court that the attack started as an argument about a mobile phone. The phone belonged to Mr Maloney's girlfriend, who was also in the house, along with another woman.
Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh sentenced Hughes to eight years imprisonment, with two thirds of the sentence to be served in prison and the rest out on licence.
Lying drug dealer who ran a lucrative cocaine racket from a flat above a wine bar in Disley
Police found cocaine worth up to £100,000 when they raided a drug dealer's flat above a wine bar.
They also found £3,000 in cash, a debtor list and six mobile phones including an 'encro' smartphone designed to thwart police investigations when they raided Ryan Ridgeway's pad in Disley near Stockport.
The 36-year-old drug dealer claimed he knew nothing about the cocaine and that his flat had been hijacked by gangsters in Salford who blamed him for the theft of drugs.
But the dad's fingerprints were found on the carrier bag which contained one kilo of cocaine and now he has been jailed.
Police raided Ridgeway's flat above a Frankies Wine bar on Buxton Old Road in Disley on February 20 this year.
They arrested three men including Ridgeway, who had a list on him which was 'likely' to have been a list of previous cocaine sales, prosecutor Kevin Donnelly told Manchester's Mnshull Street Crown Court.
He later pleaded guilty to possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.
Ridgeway was jailed for six years as Judge Tina Landale told him: "You have got a poor criminal record. You have involved yourself in all kinds of different offences and that has led to you becoming involved in this drugs arrangement."
The judge went on: "You had a highly trusted role in the drugs trade and you were trusted to carry out a significant role."
Teenager who raped 15-year-old girl on his birthday after going to McDonald's and watching a film
A man raped a 15-year-old girl on his birthday after they went to McDonald's and watched a film, a court heard.
Kyle Edwards, then 19, has been jailed for 20 months.
Manchester Crown Court heard Edwards, from Collyhurst, began dating the girl when she was 14, and that it became sexual after she turned 15.
She had ended their relationship prior to the incident.
Prosecuting, Peter Cadwallader said that she agreed to spend Edwards' birthday with him, as she 'felt sorry' for him 'because he had few friends'.
David Toal, defending, said Edwards has been recently diagnosed with depression, and that his mental age was lower than 19 at the time of the offence.
He said there would be 'no repeat of this behaviour' by Edwards, who has a 'supportive family and circle of friends'.
Judge Elizabeth Nicholls told Edwards: "There can be no doubt that this was traumatic for her, and it will have an impact on her for a considerable period of time.
"Your behaviour up to that point was unacceptable, inexcusable and unforgivable, all of those descriptions apply."
Paedophile who blackmailed boy and threw phone down toilet and tried to cut own throat when police turned up
A manipulative paedophile pretended to be a girl and persuaded a teenage boy to send sexually explicit images of himself, before threatening to post them online unless he sent more.
Christian Tymon, 33, blackmailed the 13-year-old, who sent him four videos after fearing the defendant would carry out his threat and post it on Facebook for the boy's friends to see.
Tymon, who a psychologist said displays 'psychopathic traits', also posed online as an adult woman and a girl, attempting to blackmail a woman and causing distress to a girl.
When police went to his home in Crumpsall, Tymon put his mobile phone down the toilet and tried to 'kill himself', Manchester Crown Court heard.
Now Tymon has been jailed for six years and nine months, after a judge said the defendant appeared to gain 'pleasure' from 'manipulating' his victims.
Thugs hellbent on drink and drugs lifestyle who raided newlywed's home as they slept in devastating four-month crime spree
Young thugs raided the home of a newlywed couple as they slept, making off with wedding presents and other valuables worth £20,000.
Connor Turner, 20, and Tyler Robinson, 19, were on police bail at the time, nearing the end of an often violent four-month campaign of robberies and other crime which left a trail of devastation.
The pair, who it's said had resisted attempts to steer them clear of a 'lifestyle' of drink and drugs, have now been jailed.
After tying the knot at a ceremony in Yorkshire, the newlywed couple spent the day celebrating their nuptials with friends in Huddersfield before returning to their home on Mottram Road in Stalybridge on Saturday night August 31, 2019.
The pair went to bed, leaving friends to continue to celebrate downstairs, but while they slept burglars broke into their home through a first floor bathroom window, prosecutor Adrian Farrow told Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.
The thieves helped themselves to valuables from holdalls in the living room which had remained unpacked from their wedding, including a £2,500 Cartier watch, £500 of jewellery, a £1,600 Apple Macbook and a wedding guests bag containing clothes, perfume, bank card and driving licence.
Turner, of no fixed abode, was jailed for seven years and six months after he admitted eight burglaries and attempted burglaries, three robberies, aggravated vehicle taking, three offences of theft, making off without payment, handling stolen goods, four offences of fraud. He asked for four other burglaries to be taken into consideration.
Robinson, of Philip Way in Mottram, was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to four burglaries and attempted burglaries, robbery, aggravated vehicle taking, theft, handling stolen goods and four fraud charges.
Dad who was taking cocaine every day is jailed after hiding drugs and bullets for dealers he owed money to
A dad who agreed to store bullets and cocaine for drug dealers to pay off a debt he owed them has been jailed.
Police found 25 bullets wrapped in a bandanna, and a knife, in a cupboard under stairs at Joshua Howard's ex-girlfriend's home in Royton, Oldham.
Two days later, in November 2018, the 27-year-old was arrested at a different address in Chadderton.
He was found there with cocaine worth more than £3,000.
A court heard Howard, a qualified chef with a young son, had 'acquired' a drugs debt and was 'put upon' to act as a 'custodian' of the ammunition and the drugs for those he owed.
He was said to have been taking cocaine every day at the time, but no longer uses drugs now..
Brian Berlyne, prosecuting at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court, said Howard's partner at the time told him the relationship was over and he left her home, leaving the bullets and the knife behind.
Howard was jailed for 27 months.
He will serve half that in custody and the rest on licence.
