Locked Up: The criminals jailed in Greater Manchester this week

A ‘devious’ drug addict who savagely murdered her own mother was just one of the offenders jailed in our region in the last week.

The teenage killers of Bolton schoolboy Reece Tansey were also put behind bars.

Prison terms were also handed to five members of an international multi-million pound ‘chop shop’ organised crime gang, a road rage idiot who left a man blind in one eye and a thug who robbed £2,000 worth of casino winnings from a man in the street.

Jail 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 in the past seven days.

Thug who headbutted and robbed man of £2,000 casino winnings in city centre

A judge said it was “deeply depressing” that a man was headbutted and robbed of £2,000 in broad daylight in the city centre – and no one attempted to help.

CCTV captured the moment Abdiqani Jama attacked the 44-year-old and stole his casino winnings in Manchester city centre.

Footage shows Jama, 29, grappling with the victim in the middle of the road for several minutes as bystanders watch on and a Metrolink tram passes by.

The victim had won big while gambling in various casinos throughout the evening and into the early hours, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Jama, of Jetson Street, Manchester, was also gambling but had not been so successful when he encountered the victim in one of the venues.

As he was leaving to go home at around 6am, Jama followed the victim and put his arm around him before grappling with him.

While the victim was on the ground, Jama reached into his pocket and took the cash.

The victim was left with severe swelling which caused his left eye to close following the attack in May, last year.

Jama was jailed for six-and-a-half years after being found guilty to robbery.

Grieving dad who met up with ’13-year-old girl’ for sex in his car

A grieving dad has been jailed after he was caught trying to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex.

Gareth Holliday, 37, travelled an hour from his home in Blackburn to a location in Rochdale intending to have sex with an underage girl in his car, Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

Unbeknown to him, he had been trapped in a sting carried out by a paedophile hunter group.

The girl he believed he was meeting was in fact a much older woman acting as a decoy, the court heard.

Holliday was confronted at the scene and police were called.

He was arrested and in interview did not deny that he had been exchanging sexual messages with a person he believed to be 13-years-old.

However, he claimed he had gone to meet the girl to ‘make sure she got home safe’, the court heard.

Holliday, who had no previous convictions, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison after admitting seven child sex offences.

He will also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Man whose criminal lifestyle was uncovered when police found gun in Asda bag

Police found a lethal gun stashed inside an Asda carrier bag – before discovering the criminal lifestyle a young couple had tried to hide.

Jack Wilde and Tegan Heywood denied any involvement in dealing drugs, but officers found messages on their phones which exposed their criminal activity.

Officers searched the home in Stockport last February 18 after receiving information about the supply of drugs in the area.

Wilde, 24, and 20-year-old Heywood were inside the property at the time police searched it.

When first questioned by officers, Wilde admitted to having cannabis, cocaine, two firearms, ammunition and knives being stored in the property.

He also told police that all the items belonged to him and that Heywood had no involvement.

Following a search at the property, officers found a Glock 48 pistol – a prohibited firearm – stored in an Asda carrier bag, along with 9x9mm bullets and body armour.

They also discovered three 1kg blocks of cocaine, believed to be worth around £24,000 to £35,000 each, and further quantities of cocaine and cannabis in Wilde’s bedroom.

Wilde, of Brownwood Avenue, Offerton, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm, possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to supply and possession of cannabis.

He was jailed for five years and ordered to pay a £190 fine.

Heywood, of Brownwood Avenue, Offerton, also received a 12-month community order, a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement and a two-month tag curfew after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis.

Teenage Mercedes driver who led police on heart-stopping high speed chase in stolen car

A teenage driver led police on a heart-stopping high speed chase in a stolen Mercedes.

Tyrone Worsley, 18, reached speeds of 120mph during a 10-minute pursuit on October 4 2021.

A judge described the incident as an “utterly disgraceful piece of driving” and a “selfish piece of stupidity” as he jailed Worsley for more than two years.

Bolton Crown Court heard that police originally spotted Worsley, of Le Gendre Street, Tonge Moor, driving the car through Farnworth at around 6pm.

They chased him through Farnworth, where he drove at 50mph through back streets, jumped red lights and went on the wrong side of the road on several occasions.

On one occasion, Worsley drove the wrong way around the Kearsley roundabout and tried to enter the wrong side of the A666, heading towards the M61.

A number of police cars were deployed to try and stop Worsley and a spike strip was put down.

He eventually abandoned the car at the Tesco Extra in Walkden but was arrested shortly after.

He was jailed for two years and two months and banned from driving for four years.

Sex offender who travelled to abuse girl – then claimed he was a ‘paedophile hunter’

A paedophile travelled from Greater Manchester to Wales after arranging to sexually abuse a young child – but was met by police officers instead.

Michael Crossley spent months chatting to someone he believed to be the girl’s mother online and over the phone before making the trip from his home on Bury New Road, Radcliffe, Bury, to carry out his sick fantasies.

In fact he had been communicating with an undercover policewoman and officers were waiting for him when he arrived at the meeting point in Cardiff.

Crossley would later claim that he was actually a paedophile hunter and had been trying to expose what he thought was a mother who was selling her daughter for sex.

But the 34-year-old failed to turn up for his trial to put that version of events before a jury last year and jurors convicted him in his absence.

The defendant returned to the dock of Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court for sentencing for facilitating sexual activity with a child and also for being involved in a 110mph police chase in a stolen car – an incident which took place in Bolton while he should have been on trial in Wales.

Crossley was sentenced to a total of 54 months in prison comprising 42 months for the sexual offence, 10 months for the dangerous driving, and two months for failing to surrender to court all to run consecutively with each other.

He was sentenced to six months for aggravated vehicle-taking and to one month for possession of cannabis with these sentences running concurrently to the 54 months.

Man stabbed friend in the stomach after knocking on his door and asking for £30

A drunk knifeman stabbed his friend to the stomach after he knocked on his front door and asked for £30.

John Russell said nothing to the 50-year-old man before knifing him, then shutting the door to his flat.

The kitchen knife was still stuck in the victim’s stomach as he was able to walk away.

Another friend started screaming after she saw the blade protruding from his body.

Russell and the victim had known each other for nine years, and the victim had been ‘extremely kind’ to him.

They had been drinking together all day before the victim returned to Russell’s flat, and asked for £30 which he was owed.

But without warning, Russell, 45, who kept the knife on a coat hook next to the door, knifed him.

The victim was rushed to hospital and needed 37 staples to close the wound opened during surgery, leaving him with a huge scar.

Russell, of Sedgeford Road, Monsall, was jailed for two years and eight months.

Churchgoing knifeman who lay in wait for victim before stabbing him in the street

A churchgoer lay in wait for his victim before stabbing him in the street in a revenge attack after being chased out of a friend’s house.

Ian Lawson, 52, ambushed the man in the street after being chased out of a fellow parishioner’s house by the victim during an argument.

His victim, who is in his 20s, had to be airlifted to hospital after being knifed in the chest. Luckily doctors found the injury to be superficial and he was discharged the following day after his wound was stitched.

The attack happened at 5pm on October 19 last year.

Lawson, of Newton Heath, gave no comment in police interview. He had 86 previous offences on his record including theft, having offensive weapons, criminal damage, harassment and battery.

In mitigation, defence counsel Benjamin Knight said Lawson claimed he was attacked by his victim earlier that day in Oldham town centre, although there was no ‘concrete information’ over the alleged attack.

He admitted causing grievous bodily harm and having a bladed article and was jailed for 14 months.

IT worker who filmed ‘violent, drunken’ assault as he punched and kicked unconscious student

A clubber filmed himself viciously attacking a helpless student in a ruthless assault.

Not content with repeatedly punching his victim in the face and body, Joshua McLaughlan twice went back to continue the attack, this time kicking the stranger after a “red mist” descended.

McLaughlan, a 26-year-old IT network engineer, left Joshua Ormrod lying unconscious in the street but he was detained by nearby door staff while other security guards gave first aid to the victim.

Although he had facial bruises and cuts, Mr Ormrod miraculously escaped more serious injury.

CCTV footage of the attack, which occurred at 4.30am on June 17 last year in Fleet Street in Liverpool city centre, was played to the court.

McLaughlan, of Hawkshead Drive, Bolton, had pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.

He was jailed for 16 months.

Road rage idiot who beat up dad and left him blind in one eye

A dad was blinded in one eye after he was beat up by a driver during a petty road rage row in Monsall.

Lewis Cook, 35, punched the victim in the face and arms whilst the man’s wife and five month old child watched, after he pulled out in front of him at a road junction.

Manchester Crown Court heard that in the run up to the assault, Cook had been tailgating the man’s Toyota Carolla, angrily putting his head and upper torso out of the driver’s side window.

The victim eventually stopped at the roadside but Cook also stopped and set about the man.

He suffered a severely damaged retina in the beating and blacked out.

Despite extensive surgery, he lost the sight of his left eye and now faces further surgery for a badly damaged nose, with fears he may go blind in the other eye.

He has to walk with a cane and has since given up his job as a network engineer.

Cook, who has just become a father, was jailed for three years after he admitted causing grievous bodily harm.

Oldham gang who ran staggering £3million international ‘chop shop’

A international multi-million pound ‘chop shop’ organised crime gang had luxury cars, often stolen during terrifying robberies or burglaries, shipped to Dubai.

High end luxury Range Rovers, Mercedes and Porches were stolen to order before being sent to the Middle East or stripped for parts.

More than 95 cars worth at least £3 million were stolen across Greater Manchester, and from as far away as London.

The Oldham based gang behind the staggering plot, who called themselves ‘The Company’, are thought to have links to organised crime in the Middle East.

While praising the work of investigating officers, a judge demanded that the case be investigated by GMP Chief Constable after claiming some of the gang were allowed to commit crime ‘with impunity’ after being released under investigation.

The gang operated ‘chop shops’ at old mills in Bury and Oldham, as well as a unit in Wigan, where stolen cars were stripped down.

Gang ringleader Asif Hussain, who posed as a successful businessman and lived in a large detached house in Stockport, was jailed for 15 years.

Hussain and others responsible for the conspiracy to steal and export cars were prosecuted, but the robbers and burglars have not been caught.

Hadir Ali was jailed for 11 years, Saijid Jangharia for 10 years, Tayub Hasnain for five years and six months and Ibraaz Shafique was sentenced to five years.

Another man, Mohammed Abdullah, 23, of Lee Street, Oldham, received a two year suspended prison sentence after admitting conspiracy to handle stolen goods.

Drug addict who brutally murdered her mother then tried to cover up the killing

A ‘devious’ drug addict who savagely murdered her mother ‘in cold blood’ and then tried to cover up the killing must serve at least 17 years in jail.

Cassandra Scott, 36, stabbed her mother Beverley 10 times in a crack cocaine fuelled rage, then left her body in the house they shared for two-and-a-half months.

Beverley, 58, had previously told police she was ‘terrified’ of her daughter and scared of her temper.

The police were called out previously after Cassandra kicked her to the chest, and punched her to the ground years before.

A judge hit out at Cassandra, of Holker Close, Longsight, for trying to ‘blacken’ her mother’s name, by claiming Beverley had come at her with a knife.

He said that in fact Cassandra had ‘pounced’ on her mother with a 21cm kitchen knife, when she had turned her back.

Beverley’s body was only discovered when her housing officer investigated, after she hadn’t been for weeks.

Cassandra had dragged her mother’s body from the murder scene in the kitchen, to a cupboard under the stairs, having wrapped it in plastic and covered it in bedding and curtains.

She also tried to cover up the blood on the walls and floor with paint.

Cassandra was handed a life sentence for murder, and ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years.

Bare-chested racist who viciously attacked 15-year-old boy

A drunken dad stripped off his shirt and viciously attacked a 15-old boy who tried to stop him stealing a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey from a convenience store.

The teenager – who was working part-time stacking shelves – challenged Daniel Brien, but a court heard the 35-year-old father-of-two hurled a tirade of vile racist abuse at him.

The court heard Brien rained down up to 11 punches on the youngster, who was later treated for bruising.

A judge described him as ‘a well-built masculine man’ who ‘set about’ the terrified teenager.

Brien, from Little Hulton, Salford, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault and theft.

At Manchester Crown Court, he was jailed for 17 months and banned from the store concerned in Salford for two years as part of a restraining order.

The teenage killers of Bolton schoolboy Reece Tansey

A teenage attacker who was found guilty of murdering Bolton schoolboy Reece Tansey has been handed a 15 year sentence.

Another boy, found guilty of manslaughter for his part in the brutal stabbing of 15-year-old Reece, was jailed for six years.

A court heard that the attackers – named Boy A and Boy B for legal reasons – had agreed to meet up in the early hours of May 4 in Walker Avenue, Bolton, because of an escalating dispute between Boy B and a friend of the victim.

But, when Reece arrived he was stabbed six times by Boy A.

He banged on the door of a nearby house desperately pleading for help before falling to the ground.

And, having been discovered by two men, he used his final breath to tell them the names of his killers.

Police arrived at the scene minutes later and Reece was rushed to Salford Royal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5.45am.

A pathologist concluded his death was caused by ‘multiple stab wounds’, which ‘were likely to have been inflicted by a knife with a 10-12cm blade’.

After fleeing the scene, Boy A sent a Snapchat video of himself carrying a knife covered in blood, accompanied by the word ‘muppet’.

He later sent a message to Boy B, which read: “I thought it only went through his coat so I kept doing it”, adding: “He’s dead now.”

Boy B responded with a laughing emoji.

Man who caused mile-long moor fire while trying to impress girlfriend

A man who started a huge three-day moor fire after setting off a firework to impress his girlfriend has been jailed.

Viktor Riedly, 28, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for torching 285 hectares of Marsden Moor, between Oldham and Huddersfield, on April 25 2021.

At its height the blaze was a mile-long and 100 firefighters were needed to tackle it.

Leeds Crown Court heard Riedly, of Henry Street, Huddersfield, had intended to record the bang caused by the firecracker he had hauled to the top of the moor.

But when the stunt backfired he tried to extinguish the blaze with a two-litre bottle of water and threw mud at it in a bid to stop it spreading.

The fire was declared a major incident with crews coming from across West Yorkshire to bring it under control. The fire service declared the incident over three days later, on the morning of Wednesday 28 April.

The fire caused widespread damage to Marsden Moor, which is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).

It destroyed precious peatland habitat and harmed wildlife including ground nesting birds. There was also a high financial price with £500,000 in costs to the emergency services and damage caused.

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