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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
John Scheerhout

Locked up: The criminals from Greater Manchester who were sent to jail last month

A hit and run driver who moved down a boy of 12, a vile bully who terrorised his ex in front of her screaming children and the Arena bomb plotter are among the people from Greater Manchester who have been jailed this week.

Our reporters were in court as scores of criminals were sent to prison during February, including a drug addict son who subjected his mum to a 20-year campaign of terror and the thug who stabbed his victim in the face.

Below are some of those who were sent down for their crimes.

Drug dealer's girlfriend led of a life of luxury - and recruited her mum, dad and brother

A drug dealer’s girlfriend recruited her mother, father and brother to his gang after an arrest threatened her lifestyle, a court heard.

Jonathan Walsh (top left) enlisted the help of girlfriend Jodie Bowie (middle) and others to carry out the operation (GMP/Facebook/MEN Media)

Jonathan Walsh, 33, headed the network which trafficked amphetamine and cannabis from the region to the East Midlands.

While serving a previous 14-year sentence for armed robbery, he met Jodie Bowie on Facebook. When Walsh got out, he moved in with Bowie in Failsworth, from where he headed up a drugs operation.

She conspired with him in it - and it provided her with luxuries way beyond what she could have afforded working as a carer for the elderly.

Designer clothes, expensive jewellery, high-powered cars and cosmetic surgery appointments were funded by the ‘sophisticated’ drugs supply line.

When one of Walsh's couriers - Bowie's uncle, Joseph Grey - was arrested, Bowie was so determined to keep things going she enlisted her mum, dad, and brother to help with moving the cash generated by the racket.

Now the family has been sentenced in a Manchester Crown Court case which heard that Jodie Bowie was 'fearless when it came to spending money'.

Jonathan Walsh, of Warwick Road, Failsworth, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs and money laundering and was later found guilty of conspiracy to possess a firearm, conspiracy to possess ammunition and conspiracy to possess an explosive device after trial at Manchester Crown Court in September 2021. He was jailed for 15 years.

Jodie Bowie, of Medlock Road, Failsworth, Manchester, received 21 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, a three month curfew between 7pm and 5.30am, 140 hours unpaid work and ten rehabilitation activity requirement days, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class B cannabis and money laundering.

Nine others who were part of the operation were also jailed.

Husband stabbed wife in the back following two-hour row on New Year's Eve

A husband stabbed his wife in the back following a two-hour argument on New Year's Eve.

Florel Spanu was jailed at Manchester Crown Court (GMP)

Romanian National Florel Spanu, 53, moved over to the UK with his wife and daughter in 2017, but the couple were said to have a ‘volatile’ marriage.

On one occasion, his wife recalled being struck in the face with a phone by her husband, which broke her jaw and saw her requiring hospital treatment, Manchester Crown Court heard.

However, there were no further incidents of violence until December 31 last year, when their daughter and her boyfriend were round at their house in Moston playing cards.

Whilst Mrs Spanu was upstairs, an argument broke out between their daughter, her boyfriend and Spanu, resulting in her coming downstairs to try and diffuse the situation.

But he called his wife a 'whore' and stabbed her when she threatened to call police.

Spanu, of Ward Street, was jailed for three years and six months.

Jailed Arena bomb plotter handed more prison time

Hashem Abedi (PA)

Hashem Abedi was handed more jail time after he was found guilty of attacking a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh.

Abedi, who plotted the Manchester Arena terror attack alongside his brother, suicide bomber Salman Abedi, was convicted alongside two other terrorists.

Parsons Green Tube bomber Ahmed Hassan, 22, and Muhammed Saeed, 23, who spoke about carrying out a knife attack in London, were also found guilty.

The attack took place in Belmarsh’s high security unit on May 11, 2020.

Prison officer Paul Edwards, 57, was hit with a chair and repeatedly punched and kicked by Abedi, Hassan and Saeed.

All three prisoners denied assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH) to Mr Edwards but were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court by a jury after around three-and-a-half hours of deliberations.

Abedi was also found guilty of assault by beating of an emergency worker after kicking prison officer Nick Barnett as he came to his colleague’s aid.

Sentencing Hashem Abedi at the Old Bailey, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb handed him to another three years and 10 months in prison on top of the minimum 55 year term he is already serving.

Hassan, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 34 years, and Saeed, who is serving a five-year sentence, were both handed three-year jail terms.

A hit-and-run driver who mowed down a 12-year-old boy

Richard Allan lost his temper after getting snarled up in roadworks in Chorlton.

A witness described his driving as 'horrendously dangerous' both before and after the crash in Barlow Moor Road.

The boy, who was taken to hospital with life-threatening head injuries, is starting to make a full recovery.

After the crash on May 18 last year, Allan tried to cover his tracks by taking his Ford Focus to a scrap merchant.

Allan, 38, of Tensing Fold, Dukinfield, pleaded guilty to failing to stop, failing to report a road traffic collision and perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing.

He was also sentenced for dangerous driving.

At Minshull Street Crown Court he was jailed for two-and-a-half years and banned from driving for 51 months.

He was seen driving erratically in Chorlton by several witnesses in the lead-up to the crash.

At 3.46pm, his vehicle was seen turning from Beech Road onto Barlow Moor Road towards Mauldeth Road West.

Allan then became stuck in a queue of traffic outside McDonald's and made a U-turn, driving away at excess speed despite the 30mph speed limit.

Evil dad who downloaded 40,000 indecent images of children

Daniel OBrien who was sentenced to two years imprisonment for possession and distribution of indecent images of children (Greater Manchester Police)

Daniel O'Brien, 38, was jailed at Bolton Crown Court after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

He was caught following a paedophile sting operation.

O'Brien had been caught out for his crimes after starting a conversation with an undercover National Crime Agency officer on Wickr, a secure instant messaging service owned by Amazon Web Services, in March 2020.

The officer was posing as a young single mother called Holly, claiming to have two daughters aged six and eight.

O'Brien, who went by the username Monkeystew24, quickly turned the conversation sexual, telling "Holly" that when his young daughter, aged two at the time, was old enough he wanted her to "play" with his genitals.

He then told the undercover officer, whom he understood to be a single mother, that he would like to perform sexual acts on her daughters, saying he would enjoy sexual activity with both her and her daughters.

The pair's contact then moved to KiK instant messenger on April 11 2020, where O'Brien set out sexual desires towards "Holly"'s two children, asking for photographs of them for his own sexual pleasure.

When police raided his house, O'Brien retrieved a phone from a pillowcase and handed it to officers, telling them: "I think you might want to see this, there's things on there you'll want to see."

A total of 18 digital devices were retrieved from the house, including phones, laptops, and hard drives.

Four of them contained sexually explicit pictures of children and images showing bestiality, although O'Brien noted that none of these images were stored on devices that were used by his wife or children.

Officers found around 40,000 indecent pictures and videos of children, including almost 1,900 category A images showing the most severe sexual abuse against children.

O'Brien was jailed for two years.

Violent bully forced way into ex’s home before ‘appalling scene of terror’

A violent 'bully’ forced his way into his ex’s home before attacking her in front of her screaming children in an ‘appalling scene of terror’.

Louis Harris-Poole (GMP)

Louis Harris-Poole, 28, had been in a relationship with the woman for seven years and they shared a two-year-old daughter.

They split up in early 2021, but remained in contact for childcare reasons, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

However, on August 31 of last year, after being asked to collect his work tools from her house in Trafford, Harris-Poole turned up and began throwing items at her window to ‘provoke a reaction’.

The woman started to film him as he moved towards her car and shouted “Oi, don’t do that” before he kicked it, causing a dent to the front of the car and car door which cost £2,500 to fix.

Harris-Poole grabbed the woman up the upper arm and slapped her to the face before she told him to leave, and he climbed out through the window.

Months later, on October 18, he turned up at the house unannounced and knocked knocked the woman out in front of her screaming daughter, aged seven.

The whole incident lasted around one minute and was caught on CCTV. As he left the house he threw a brick at a caravan parked outside causing £300 worth of damage.

Harris-Poole, of Royle Green Road, was jailed for 30 months and made the subject of a restraining order indefinitely, after pleading guilty to offences of criminal damage, assault by beating, burglary including theft of a non dwelling property and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The once-lovely son who is now such a 'monster' his family fear he'll kill them all

A drug addict son who subjected his mum to a 20-year campaign of terror has been jailed.

Christopher Swaine, 40, was said by mum Francesca Swaine to have been 'lovely' but after he started taking drugs in his teens he repeatedly menaced and hounded her for cash to feed to his habit.

The construction worker was arrested after he turned up at his former family home in Wythenshawe, held a TV above his head and threatened to hurl it at 65-year-old Mrs Swaine unless she gave him money.

His older brother Jonathan - who is blind and suffers from other disabilities - offered him £3 but when Swaine refused, their mother handed her younger son £20 from her purse to make him leave.

At Manchester Crown Court, Swaine, of Bucklow Drive, Northenden, admitted robbery and criminal damage and was jailed for three years and nine months.

He was also barred from contacting his mother for 10 years under the terms of a restraining order.

Thug who stamped on ex girlfriend's head just days after baby death tragedy

(GMP)

A drunken thug told his ex-girlfriend ‘I’m glad our daughter died’ during a sickening assault in her home.

Gary Eden, 27, woke his victim up just after midnight on December 13 2021 by kicking her front door and shouting “open this f***ing door”, Bolton Crown Court heard.

Less than two weeks earlier, the woman had given birth to Eden’s child but the baby died shortly after, prosecution barrister Cheryl Mottram said.

After answering the door to him, Eden pushed past the woman, dragged her to the floor and started the vile attack.

He picked her back up, threw her against the wall, slammed her head against it several times and screamed: “I’m going to f***ing kill you,” and “I’m glad our daughter died so I don’t have to be tied to you.”

Eden, of Langthorne Walk, Bolton, was arrested a short time later and admitted to the assault during his interview, telling police that he had been drinking all day.

He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage and was jailed for 20 months.

Killer driver who mowed down teenager out on a walk with his friend

Connor Matthews (Facebook)

A killer driver mowed down a teenager in a horrendous hit and run.

Connor Matthews knew he had hit 18-year-old Marcus Simmons-Allen, but carried on regardless even as his windscreen was so badly damaged that he could barely see through it.

Matthews, 23, who had been at a party before getting behind the wheel, was only arrested five days later in Liverpool.

Marcus, who had dreams of a career in engineering, was pronounced dead hours after the crash on George Richards Way in Altrincham.

Matthews, who has never passed a driving test and was driving a stolen VW Scirocco , hit him as he crossed the road a short distance from Marcus's home in Broadheath.

He was jailed for six years and eight months after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

Smirking burglar who was 'too busy' to face court over £150,000 raid - but has been locked up anyway

A smirking burglar claimed he was 'too busy' in prison to attend court - but a judge jailed him anyway.

Daniel Matley, of Tameside smashed his way into an industrial unit to grab £150,000 worth of phones, watches and tablet computers, a court heard.

The convicted drug dealer and arsonist was caught red-handed after police followed a van driving the wrong way down a road after the raid on iOutlet at Estover in Devon.

Matley, 26, was remanded in custody at Forrest Bank and due for sentence at Plymouth Crown Court but refused to appear over a videolink from prison.

His barrister told the judge that he had tried to speak to Matley over a video link, saying: "He is busy, we have tried. He was allowed out to exercise and when then the officer went out to collect him he said he was busy."

The court heard that Matley had been recalled until June to serve the remainder of his last sentence, when he was jailed for arson and dealing cannabis in Manchester.

Judge Mousley handed him another 14-month prison sentence, to start immediately, for the burglary.

Drug dealer who was chased down and arrested in the street after high speed pursuit

Dramatic police body-cam footage shows the moment a drug dealer was chased down and arrested in the street after a high speed pursuit through Trafford.

Officers began chasing a car being driven by Mohaned Mustafa after spotting it speeding, performing dangerous overtakes and weaving in and out of traffic in the Kings Road area.

After crashing into two parked vehicles, Mustafa got out of the car and ran down the middle of the road.

But the body-cam footage released by police shows how officers from GMP's Transport chased him down before arresting him on Stamford Street in December 2021.

The 23-year-old, of Thorncombe Road, Moss Side, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs, dangerous driving and driving without a license or insurance.

He was jailed for seven years.

Gang jailed for firearms offences - including a nurse who stashed AK47 in loft

Four members of a gang have been jailed for firearms offences (GMP)

A former nurse who stored an AK47 in her loft for a crime gang has been jailed for five years.

Dannell Jammeh, 39, worked as a nurse for 15 years, and was described as hard working and thoughtful.

But when police raided the home she shared with her boyfriend Mark Crolla, they made a chilling discovery.

Hidden in the loft of a property was a deactivated AK47, with a loaded magazine containing spent bullets.

The gun had been stashed there by Jammeh without Crolla's knowledge.

Crolla, 40, a dad-of-three who worked for a security firm, was jailed for five-and-a-half years after police found reactivated guns at his mother's house.

Both had stored the guns on behalf of criminals.

Former solider Joey Hodskinson, 32, and accomplice Martin Joyce, 38, were also locked up.

Fare-dodger launched vicious assault on ticket inspector

Myles Amharic Roberts, 34, attacked a ticket inspector at Manchester Victoria station (British Transport Police)

A man who assaulted a ticket inspector who tried to stop him from leaving Manchester Victoria station without paying has been jailed.

Myles Amharic Roberts, 34, of Bramhall Lane, Stockport, received a 10 week custodial sentence after pleading guilty to assault at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court on February 3.

The court heard how Roberts departed a train at Manchester Victoria on February 2 and attempted to bypass the automatic ticket machines at the exit by using an overflow gate.

A female revenue protection inspector attempted to prevent Roberts from exiting by locking the gate.

Roberts then, upset at being challenged, proceeded to push the inspector in the chest with force and tried to make his way out of the station.

Alongside a custodial sentence, Roberts was issued with a three year Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO).

Football thug jailed for brutal attack on Salford City fan

Tomas Downing (Cumbria Police)

A football thug viciously attacked a Salford City supporter after telling him: "I'm Barrow's top dog."

Tomas Downing, 23, has been banned from attending football matches for six years, police have revealed.

Downing, said police, 'launched an unprovoked assault' on the unnamed Salford City FC fan on Tuesday, January 25.

The force said Downing, of Euston Grove, Morecambe, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault at Barrow Magistrates' Court.

He was sentenced to 28 weeks in prison.

Man who hired his best pal as a 'smackhead' collateral to collect £3m drugs delivery

Roy Evans (GMP)

A man hired his best friend as a ‘smackhead’ to collect a delivery of class A drugs worth over £3 million as part of a multi-million pound conspiracy.

Roy Evans, 34, was acting as a ‘lieutenant’ to a member of an organised crime group when a shipment from the Netherlands was intercepted by Border Force officials in May 2020.

After inspecting the 12 boxes, they found 50 blocks of heroin, seven blocks of cocaine and a block of cannabis, totalling an estimated street value of £3.4 million, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Shortly after police officers made a controlled delivery by dropping off the boxes at a unit on Cobden Street in Salford, David Astley, 35, was spotted opening them and was arrested.

Following his arrest, Evans, who was linked to Astley through his phone, was interviewed and gave a prepared statement stating he had known his 'best friend' for ‘12 years’.

He said that after leaving the army he had reacquainted with Astley, who was ‘struggling and homeless’, who moved in with Evan’s sister, and he then drove him to the unit on May 25 as he wanted to ‘collect some USB cables’.

He later accepted recruiting Astley to take the delivery on behalf of another man, but stated he was unaware it included drugs.

Evans of no fixed abode, was found guilty of being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of class A and B drugs and possession of two firearms and ammunition and was jailed for 20 years.

David Astley, 35, of Smithy Grove, Ashton-under-Lyne, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of Class A and B drugs, and was previously jailed for eight years.

'Greedy' crook with pockets full of stolen jewels who was chased by police through garden

Carl Leather has now been jailed (GMP)

Video footage shows the dramatic moment a 'greedy' burglar was arrested after he stole a huge stash of jewellery from an elderly woman's house.

The clips show Carl Leather trying to run from police shortly after the burglary in the Brooklands area of Trafford.

Leather - who was armed with a screwdriver - had smashed his way into a 72-year-old woman's house through the patio doors.

The victim was out at the time, police said, but a burglar alarm was set off.

A concerned neighbour heard the alarm and called the police.

Leather, 46, jumped out of a window when officers arrived and ran towards a wooded area.

Officers gave chase and he was found in a neighbour's garden.

Leather, of Conway Road, Sale, has now been jailed for three years and eight months.

Thug brandishing two AXES who yelled 'I will f***ing shoot you' in drunken row with teens

Aiden Broadhurst (Facebook)

A drunk thug chased a group of teenagers with an axe who he claimed were ‘harassing him’.

Aiden Broadhurst, 27, was seen ‘shouting’ at the youths before going into his house and emerging with something ‘small’ in his hand, causing the group to run off.

He then returned back to his house and produced a large axe, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

As his ‘frightened’ neighbours asked him to go back inside, he emerged from his house again - with another axe.

Officers quickly arrived and arrested Broadhurst, before recovering the axes from under the sofa and underneath a cupboard.

He pleaded guilty to affray and two offences of possession of an offensive weapon, namely an axe, and was jailed for ten-and-a-half months.

Broadhurst, of Weaste Lane, Salford, was said to have 17 previous convictions for 25 offences including criminal damage, assault and disorderly behaviour.

Drunk thug who downed 12 lagers and an entire bottle of rum then doused girlfriend in petrol... after accusing her of drinking his beer

Thomas Hoyle (GMP)

A man doused his girlfriend in petrol in an alcohol-fuelled argument where he accused her of drinking his beer.

Thomas Hoyle, 37, had drunk a dozen lagers and an entire bottle of rum to himself when he began arguing with his partner.

When she went to bed he followed her and continued being aggressive, but she told him to leave as she was trying to sleep, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

However, he later returned with a petrol can and went to throw it at her, but instead covered her and the bed in petrol.

He was later spotted setting fire to her lawn and a neighbour heard him threaten to ‘slit’ the woman’s throat.

Hoyle, of Manchester Road, pleaded guilty to making threats to kill, arson and common assault, and was jailed for two years and 10 months.

The victim, who had been in a relationship with Hoyle for four years, was said to be ‘extremely vulnerable’ and suffered with mental health issues and learning difficulties.

As he was led away to the dock, Hoyle told the judge: “I am very sorry.”

Getaway driver who helped masked men raid Tesco store

Jonathan Findlay, 39, has been sentenced to 20 months in prison (GMP)

A getaway driver helped three masked men rob a supermarket in Stockport.

Jonathan Findlay, 39, of Hollyhedge Road in Wythenshawe, was sentenced after pleading guilty to robbery and assisting an offender.

The court was told how three masked men - who remain unknown - entered the Tesco Express store on Nursery Road in Cheadle Heath at around 9.45pm on May 5 of last year.

The masked men then proceeded to take cigarettes from the supermarket and demanded for a safe to be opened.

Three staff members in the store at the time were threatened with violence, before the men left and got into a black Saab vehicle waiting outside, which was being driven by Findlay.

Having checked CCTV footage and gathered witness accounts, detectives were able to track down the vehicle to an address in Cheadle Heath where Findlay was arrested on suspicion of robbery.

He was handed a 20 month custodial sentence.

Thief who stole £12k of cigarettes from 24 stores in one month

A prolific thief stole nearly £12,000 worth of cigarettes and tobacco from 24 stores across Cheshire in one month.

Edward Warde has been jailed for three years.

His astonishing crime spree began on September 29th last year and lasted until October 26th.

He sometimes committed two or three raids in one day, targeting convenience stores, supermarkets, and petrol stations.

His ruse was to fill a carrier with cigarettes at check outs, distract shop assistants, and then run off without paying to his car and drive off.

Evil couple who carried out brutal torture on her ex

Steven Wynnyck and Sarah Davies (GMP)

A couple kidnapped a man and subjected him to 12 hours of brutal torture before blackmailing him out of hundreds of pounds.

The victim, in his 40s, has been left scarred for life.

Minshull Street Crown Court heard how the man met his ex-partner Sarah Davies, 33, at an address on Edmund Street, in Oldham, on the morning of August 4 last year.

While inside the address, Davies' friend Steven Wynnyk, 41, beat the victim with a metal pole before subjecting him to over 12 hours of mental and physical abuse.

Judge Mark Savill described the abuse as ‘torture’.

During those 12 hours, boiling water was thrown on the man's head, he was threatened, and he was told he'd be buried.

Both Davies and Wynnyk took the case to trial before Davies, of Swinton, pleaded guilty on the first day to single counts of kidnap and blackmail.

Wynnyk, of Oldham, continued to deny the accusations throughout a seven-day trial before he was found unanimously guilty by a jury of all eight counts of kidnap, blackmail, and assault.

Wynnyk, of Edmund Street, was sentenced to nine years in jail; Davies, of Wyndham Avenue, was ordered to serve six years and four months.

Thug who stabbed half-brother in the face with scissors

Damian Dawson (GMP)

A drug crazed thug stabbed his half-brother to the face with a pair of scissors in a horrendous attack which just missed his eye.

Damian Dawson, 35, landed the blow 'very close' to his sibling's left eye, after he'd been accused of stealing drugs.

The attacker wielded the scissors again and stabbed him to the hand.

"I'm just going to do him, I'm not ar***," he said before leaving the flat where they'd been taking heroin, cocaine and diazepam.

Dawson, of Marlbrook Walk, Bolton, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and was jailed for 28 months.

Cocaine gang caught with £9,000 Rolex watch, bundles of cash and secret spots

Mendes, Dobbie and Anderson were caught with wads of cash and blocks of cocaine (GMP)

Three cocaine and cannabis dealers were busted after police hacked into the Encrochat system.

Messages between the men showed they were in contact with the head of the group, known only by his code names, ‘FirstSandman’ and ‘Sandman.com’.

Jordan Dobbie, also known as ‘Freerolextwo’, acted underneath him, with Tony Mendes, also known as ‘Cactusone’, and Stuart Anderson, known as ‘Reebokone’, acting as employees.

Both Mendes, 33, and Anderson, 40, were in regular contact with ‘FirstSandman’, and would meet up with customers to drop off and receive cash and drugs, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

Dobbie, 31, and another man known as ‘PrizeFire’ were in charge of organising and arranging the collections and deliveries of the drugs.

Between March 20 and June 30, 2020, messages were uncovered following the Europe-wide hack into Encrochat, a system used exclusively by members of organised crime groups to plan criminal activities.

Dobbie, of Leigh Park, was jailed for 12 years, after admitting offences of conspiring to supply class A drugs and possession of criminal property.

Anderson, of Boarshaw Clough, was jailed for 11 years and 10 months, after pleading guilty to conspiring to supply class A and class B drugs and possession of criminal property

Mendes, of Madenfold Way, was jailed for 10-and-a-half years for offences of conspiring to supply class A and B drugs and possession of criminal property.

Film director who terrorised woman during vile stalking campaign

Riagain Grainger (GMP)

A successful film director who worked with Hollywood A-listers has been jailed after terrorising a woman during a vile stalking campaign.

Riagain Grainger, 22, has worked on projects which featured stars including Sir Ben Kingsley and, Charlize Theron, and has deals with the BBC and Netflix.

But he is now starting a two-and-a-half year jail sentence, after his shocking behaviour towards a woman he met at university in Manchester came back to haunt him.

He began sending chilling messages to her on social media after their friendship broke down, as well as uploading pictures of her onto porn websites.

Grainger, originally from Northern Ireland, asked the woman whether she'd thought about killing herself, and said he 'can't wait to plunge a knife' into her stomach, Manchester Crown Court heard.

He called her a 'whore', a 'slut' and a 'f*** doll', made nasty comments about her body, and turned up outside her house.

She has been left traumatised and regularly has a panic attack if she hears a phone ring or vibrate.

Coward who caused horror smash then fled as his mate took his last breath

Philip Ogden (left) sadly died following the collision caused by driver David Chorlton (right) (GMP/Handout)

A disqualified driver who drove around Stalybridge like he was in a ‘rally car’ smashed into an Audi - before leaving his best friend to die in the road.

David Chorlton, 27, had been driving a Ford Focus with four passengers, including his friend of 10-years, Philip Ogden, in the car.

In May last year, Chorlton was caught on CCTV speeding around Stalybridge and doing handbrake turns, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

As he came to a junction with Bayley Street, he failed to give way and ploughed into an oncoming Audi A3, sending both cars spiralling out of control. The smash ejected 32-year-old Mr Ogden from the passenger seat.

Rather than help his friend who lay dying in the road, though, five minutes after the collision Chorlton was picked up by a VW Golf and fled.

Mr Ogden had catastrophic injuries and sadly died 45 minutes later.

Chorlton pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, driving with no insurance and no licence, and was jailed for 10 years.

Smirking drug dealer who hired his mum to do the ‘bookkeeping’

Michael King (GMP)

A man who ran a drug dealing business selling ‘herbal diazepam’ hired his mum to do the 'bookkeeping’.

Michael King, 31, managed the business from the bedroom of his family home.

After a police search of the property, officers found over 2,000 Etizolam tablets worth a total value of £12,000, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

They also found cash boxes, expensive handbags and drug paraphernalia in his mum Debbie Hayward's bedroom.

Police recovered King’s mobile phone and found messages indicating he was drug dealing, which included debtors lists and him describing the quality of the drugs as ‘sick’.

His stepfather, Michael Hayward, 39, helped with delivering the drugs, and Debbie, 55, assisted with negotiating the payments, the court heard.

Each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class C drugs.

King, of Moorfield Drive was jailed for three years and ten months.

Debbie and Michael Hayward, also of Moorfield Drive, were both handed 18 months imprisonment which was suspended for two years, along with 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirements, with Michael ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work and Debbie ordered to complete 80 hours unpaid work.

Dad-of-two who worked as drugs courier for ‘Big Harry Potter’

John Heald (GMP)

A dad who started working for an alleged drugs boss known as 'Big Harry Potter' after getting into financial problems has been locked up.

John Heald, 34, still went to work at his day job as he moved drugs and cash around for a crime gang.

The hack of EncroChat by law enforcement, a secretive encrypted phone network known as WhatsApp for criminals, proved to be his downfall and the dad-of-two has now been jailed.

He was revealed to be using an EncroChat device with the handle 'Numbkiller'.

Heald quickly became 'up to his neck' in the gang, after suffering financial problems following a cocaine addiction.

He was described as a 'trusted lieutenant' of Big Harry Potter and was in almost daily contact with him.

Heald pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, ketamine and cannabis and was jailed for seven years and three months.

'Troubled' thug who bit man's ear off and punched three cops before staging 'dirty protest'

(GMP)

A 'troubled' thug bit a man's ear off before assaulting police officers and staging a 'dirty protest'.

Malachi Fury, 28, attacked the victim at a hostel in Salford where they were both living on August 2 of last year.

When police turned up to arrest him, he punched three of them and grabbed one by the testicles in a desperate attempt to escape.

He was eventually arrested but slipped off his handcuffs, stripped naked and urinated in the back of the police van.

After being placed in a cell, Fury then performed a dirty protest, smearing his own excrement over the walls.

A judge jailed him for two years at Manchester Crown Court.

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