Manchester Crown Court Sentencing Results

Samantha Wall, 55, from Stockport, waged a four-year campaign of cyberstalking, harassment, and abuse against motivational speaker the victim after a brief two-minute meeting at an event in Birmingham in January 2019. She posted false and libellous accusations on social media platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and X, claiming he harassed her for over a decade, poisoned her cat, had affairs, was a sexual predator, bully, and attempted to kill her. She also targeted businesswoman another victim with defamatory posts and threats over three years. Wall was arrested in September 2022, briefly stopped but resumed attacks after bail expired. The campaign caused severe distress, psychological harm, and business insolvency for the victim.

Karl Davies, 42, from Wirral, groomed a schoolgirl aged 13-14 via Snapchat starting in June 2023 using multiple aliases like Ben Wild, Joey, and Mark. He coerced her into sending indecent images and videos, threatened her with exposure to her father, picked her up from school in broad daylight on four occasions to sexually abuse her in his car, and encouraged her to self-harm by videoing acts and providing razors for his sexual gratification. The abuse was discovered when the victim told an adult, and police found a video on her phone. His wife confronted him once but he continued.

Riagain Grainger, 22, of Rosnareen Road, Trillick, Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, began sending threatening messages from anonymous accounts to a 21-year-old woman in 2019, causing her multiple panic attacks and constant nightmares about him attacking or hurting her. The messages, including threats to harm and kill, were sent over a three-month period. He was charged in October 2019 after police seized his phone and found images of the victim and her home. The victim stated she never felt safe, still jumps at phone rings, feels sick at unknown messages, has panic attacks seeing lookalikes, and cannot step on a bus fearing he is watching.

Paul Smith, 21, from Manchester, participated in a riot on 31 July 2024 outside the Holiday Inn Hotel in Manchester. He threw bricks and missiles at police vans, as captured on CCTV and body worn camera footage. During the disorder, a group of men attempted to storm the hotel to attack asylum seekers. He was also seen throwing what appeared to be a glass beer bottle.

Hassan Mahmood, 24, from Gigg Lane, Bury, was convicted of four counts of child sexual offences against a girl under 16. He fled to Pakistan during his trial but was tried and sentenced in his absence in August 2024.

Indigo Rumbelow and three others planned to disrupt Manchester Airport by cutting through metal fencing with bolt cutters and gluing themselves to the taxiway using glue and sand on August 5, 2023. They were arrested en route with equipment including angle grinders, high-visibility vests, and protest materials. The action could have caused serious disruption and safety risks to tens of thousands of travellers.

Daniel Knorr and three others planned to disrupt Manchester Airport by cutting through metal fencing with bolt cutters and gluing themselves to the taxiway using glue and sand on August 5, 2023. They were arrested en route with equipment including angle grinders, high-visibility vests, and protest materials. The action could have caused serious disruption and safety risks to tens of thousands of travellers.

Leanorah Ward and three others planned to disrupt Manchester Airport by cutting through metal fencing with bolt cutters and gluing themselves to the taxiway using glue and sand on August 5, 2023. They were arrested en route with equipment including angle grinders, high-visibility vests, and protest materials. The action could have caused serious disruption and safety risks to tens of thousands of travellers.

Margaret Reid and three others planned to disrupt Manchester Airport by cutting through metal fencing with bolt cutters and gluing themselves to the taxiway using glue and sand on August 5, 2023. They were arrested en route with equipment including angle grinders, high-visibility vests, and protest materials. The action could have caused serious disruption and safety risks to tens of thousands of travellers.

McCauly Brooker was ambushed by a group including Stephen Wilson on May 22, 2023, in Oldham. The group, armed with machetes, chased him after he emerged from an address on Chancery Street. Brooker, who was armed with a gun, was caught and attacked on Busk Road, sustaining severe stab wounds to his face, arms, and body. He shot at his attackers in self-defence, injuring Wilson. Paramedics stated that a 30-minute delay in treatment could have been fatal.

Stephen Wilson was part of a group that carried out an ambush on McCauly Brooker. On May 22, 2023, Wilson was in a stolen car with false plates, following Brooker's girlfriend's car. The group chased Brooker on Chancery Street and Busk Road in Oldham, armed with machetes. Wilson attacked Brooker with a machete, leading to a violent confrontation where Brooker shot Wilson in the upper arm. The attack left Brooker with severe stab wounds to his face, arms, and body, and he was rushed to hospital in an unstable condition.

In March 2020, Thomas Johnstone, 23, of Walter Mills Way, Lees, Oldham, started communicating online with a teenage girl, knowing she was a school child in her early teens. The conversations were sexual from the beginning. He pursued the relationship, arranged to meet her on numerous occasions in Hyde, and engaged in sexual activity with her during these meetings. Following a report of concern, police arrested Johnstone while he was with the victim, seized his mobile phone and clothing, and uncovered the explicit conversations.

Jacob Graham, 20, from Forrest Green, Liverpool, constructed a 'freedom encyclopaedia' manual with instructions on building weapons including shotguns, nail bombs, explosives, ignition devices, and black powder (gunpowder), as well as evading police. A poster on his wall stated 'make politicians afraid to start their cars again' with an image of an exploding car. He purchased items and instructions to make bombs and construct lethal firearms and ammunition for terrorist purposes, intending to assist others in committing acts of terrorism. Arrested at his home in Liverpool on May 26, 2023, following an operation by Counter Terrorism Policing North West and Merseyside Police.

On April 5, 2023, Dale Dean, armed with a machete, stormed into an off-licence on Kentmere Road in Breightmet, Bolton, and repeatedly attacked a victim who was standing by the till. The assault occurred in front of a terrified mother and her two young children who were hiding inside the shop. Dean charged towards two men, struck one with the machete causing injuries to his head and shoulder, knocked items from shelves, climbed onto the counter, and continued the attack. The victim was rushed to hospital and later reported struggling with sleeping and pain. The incident was captured on CCTV and caused extensive damage to the store.

Nathan Vanden, 33, directed underworld operations from the Netherlands, ordering a shooting at a house in Whitefield, Bury, and a proposed attack in Salford using the EncroChat platform under aliases like 'Machiavelli'. He paid associates to carry out attacks on his targets.

Harry Boulton attacked his girlfriend, the victim, by punching her multiple times in the head, neck, and face after she confronted him about cheating. The incident occurred in December 2022 at her flat in the UK. He caused a dissected carotid artery, leading to a stroke that left her paralysed on one side, with ongoing issues including aphasia, chronic fatigue, seizures, and mobility problems. Boulton visited her in hospital and texted her while she was unconscious, showing no immediate remorse.

Daniel Harris, 19, from Glossop, Derbyshire, produced and posted far-right extremist videos online over a 14-month period starting when he was 17. The videos glorified mass murderers and encouraged others to carry out similar attacks, including calls for the total extermination of sub-humans. His material influenced Payton Gendron, who carried out a racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 Black people, and was linked to Anderson Lee Aldrich, suspect in a shooting at a gay bar in Colorado. Harris also possessed a 3D printer to manufacture firearm parts and was involved in the racially aggravated criminal damage of a George Floyd memorial in Manchester's Stevenson Square.

Sajjad Hussain, along with accomplices, carried out 10 armed robberies on cash-in-transit vans across Greater Manchester from November 26, 2018, to January 2, 2019, stealing more than £90,000. The gang targeted guards picking up cash from restaurants and shops in Oldham, Bury, Rochdale, Stockport, and Manchester, using weapons like hammers and a Stihl saw to access cash boxes. They were caught after crashing their getaway car while attempting an eleventh robbery at a Natwest branch in Halifax on January 31, 2019, where they stole £25,000. Hussain was found dazed in the crashed car with the stolen cash.

Shazad Mahmood, along with accomplices, carried out 10 armed robberies on cash-in-transit vans across Greater Manchester from November 26, 2018, to January 2, 2019, stealing more than £90,000. The gang targeted guards picking up cash from restaurants and shops in Oldham, Bury, Rochdale, Stockport, and Manchester, using weapons like hammers and a Stihl saw to access cash boxes. They were caught after crashing their getaway car while attempting an eleventh robbery at a Natwest branch in Halifax on January 31, 2019, where they stole £25,000. Mahmood fled the crash but was caught shortly after.