December is well underway and while the countdown to Christmas is officially on, these criminals will be spending the holiday behind bars.
A hatchet-wielding thug who raided Morrisons and threatened staff is among those caged in Greater Manchester this week. A gang boss who ran drugs and guns and planned to make so much money he'd be 'set for life' was also locked up.
A man who murdered his victim and left him to die in an Oldham street after they had fought a month earlier has also been jailed.
Prison sentences are handed out to the worst offenders each week and Manchester Evening News reporters are in court to cover the most serious cases.
Here are some of the criminals locked up in Greater Manchester this week...
Hatchet-wielding thug threatened Morrisons staff and raided stores
A hatchet-wielding thug was caught on camera threatening staff as he raided Morrisons in a spree of armed robberies across Rochdale. Sean Zaffer Traynor, 34, robbed a number of supermarkets between November and December 2021, leaving the staff involved 'extremely shaken up'.
In some instances, he terrorised the staff with a knife or a hatchet and demanded cash and scratch cards from behind the tills. The first offence took place at Morrisons in Rochdale at around 7pm on November 13, 2021, where Traynor entered the store and waved around a hatchet in his hand before stealing the cash and scratch cards.
The robberies continued until December 2021 across Rochdale and left staff who were working in the stores at the time 'extremely shaken up' according to Greater Manchester Police. The amount stolen from the various stores resulted in over £2,000 in losses.
Sean Zaffer Traynor, of Rochdale, was sentenced on Monday, December 5 at Minshull Street Crown Court to a total of 12 years, for six counts of business robberies and six counts of possession of a bladed article in Rochdale.
"You runni low on that yet rkid?": Members of Manc gang who were 'cleaning up' are now behind bars
Members of an organised crime group have been jailed for peddling crack cocaine and heroin on the streets of Beswick and Manchester city centre.
Anthony McKenna, 23, supplied 'substantial amounts' to Jamie Lee Collins, who in turn recruited Michelle McIntyre and Paul McMullen to advertise and deal the drugs, police said as all four began jail sentences. McKenna - who has been locked up for six years - asked Collins in one exchange uncovered by police: "You runni low on that yet rkid?"
Collins, 34, replied that he would 'grab' more and was 'cleaning up', Greater Manchester Police added. He was arrested in November last year when officers executed a warrant at his home - giving himself up wearing just his boxer shorts.
McKenna, of Ridgeway Street, Miles Platting; Collins, of Purslow Close, Beswick, McMullen, 51, and McIntyre, 49, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin. They were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday.
Collins was told he would serve five years and six months in jail. McMullen was sentenced to two years and five months and McIntyre to three years, four months.
Man jailed for life for brutal murder in the middle of the street
A man who murdered his victim in the street after fighting with him a month earlier has been jailed for life. Paulo Da Silva, 48, was stood outside Portuguese restaurant Kilombo in Oldham on May 28 this year when Rudi Cardoso approached him.
Days before the killing Cardoso, 30, had bought a large kitchen knife and left it in the back of his car. On the night of the murder, a brief exchange of words followed before Cardoso, 30, immediately went to his car, shoved his hoodie back on, grabbed a knife, and marched towards Mr Da Silva, in what prosecutors said was an attempt to disguise his appearance.
Minutes later, he stabbed him in the neck and chest, severing an artery and puncturing one of his lungs. Cardoso then fled and drove to Ipswich, Suffolk, where his former partner lived.
Mr Da Silva was left bleeding out on the street before he died in hospital just hours later. Cardoso was arrested the next day, but provided no comment in his police interview. At trial, he claimed he had post traumatic stress disorder from the previous fight, and claimed he had ‘no memory’ of killing Mr Da Silva.
Giving evidence, Cardoso told Minshull Street Crown Court that he was in ‘fear for my life’, claiming that Mr Da Silva was a ‘gangster’ after the pair had met a month earlier in a violent confrontation.
Following a week-long trial, jurors found Cardoso guilty of murder. Cardoso, of Alma Road, Rochdale was jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years in prison. As he was led down to the cells, rapturous applause filled the courtroom, and members of Mr Da Silva’s family shouted: “It’s a sin” and “Sinner”.
Police storm Manchester homes and find three gangsters inside
Three men who conspired to flood the region's streets with heroin and cocaine have been locked up for more than 30 years combined. David Murphy, Aaron Turner and Anthony Farrell were members of a north Manchester organised crime group supplying class A drugs.
Greater Manchester Police identified Murphy as the head of the group, with Turner in charge of storing the drugs and Farrell being the courier. They were discovered after sending messages to each other using the ‘Encrochat’ system - a sophisticated encrypted messaging service used in an attempt to evade police detection.
After appearing at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday (December 6), Murphy, 38, of Chambersfield Court, Salford, was jailed for 12 years after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Turner, 36, of Weybourne Drive, Stockport, was jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
Farrell, 41, of Rygate Walk, Cheetham Hill, was jailed for 10 years, five months, after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
Drug and gun-running gang boss planned to make so much money he'd be 'set up for life'
A 'leading light' in a gang which supplied guns and drugs across Greater Manchester planned to make so much money he'd be 'set up for life', a court heard.
Mohammed Shahid was described as a 'key facilitator' in a Cheetham Hill -based organised crime group which trafficked firearms and 'wholesale amounts' of heroin and cocaine. In March 2020, during the early days of the UK's coronavirus lockdown, Shahid helped arrange for a courier to deliver six firearms and 180 rounds of ammunition to Luton.
But the gang's activities were uncovered when police hacked the EncroChat encrypted messaging service, a secretive phone network favoured by organised crime, Manchester Crown Court heard. Several EncroChat conversations between Shahid, 30, his co-accused Tareanio Blake, who went by 'Lemursea', and an unidentified figure known only by the handle 'Mocky' were read out in court.
In total, Shahid admitted being involved in the supply of 4.5kg of heroin, around 9.5kg of cocaine, plus 10 firearms and ammunition. At an earlier hearing he pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and one count of conspiring to sell or transfer firearms. He also admitted a charge of possessing cannabis with intent to supply after 119g of the drug were found at his home.
Shahid, of Peakdale Avenue, Crumpsall, was jailed for 12 years and nine months. Blake, 30, also of Peakdale Avenue, Crumpsall will be sentenced on February 14 next year, after being found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and one count conspiring to sell or transfer firearms.
Another courier for the gang, Ali Hamza, 23, Whiston Road, Crumpsall, was jailed for nine years after he pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs, two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon and one count of possessing criminal property.
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