Manchester Crown Court Sentencing Results

Stacey Smith, a former ambulance care assistant from Newton Heath, found Michala Morton's address in Tameside and lay in wait for her outside armed with a hammer in November 2023. She struck her repeatedly as she left for work, leaving her with serious injuries, then texted a friend saying 'I've done it. I've smashed her head in, Oppsie xx!'. The attack followed a row over work shift patterns.

On 25 October 2023, at around 7.45pm, Raami Mohamed was driving a white Seat Ibiza with Kevell Blake in the passenger seat along Princess Road in Manchester city centre. When Mohamed spotted a man he had an ongoing dispute with driving a blue Seat Ibiza, he signalled for him to pull over. Both cars stopped in a layby on Moss Lane East. The driver of the blue Seat Ibiza got out and remonstrated with Mohamed and Blake. Badri Issa, the passenger from the blue Seat Ibiza, tried to calm the situation by positioning himself between the driver and Mohamed. Violence erupted, and Mohamed stabbed Mr Issa once to the chest, piercing his heart, while Blake punched the driver in the face. Mr Issa fell to the floor, and the driver called emergency services. Paramedics arrived and rushed Mr Issa to Manchester Royal Infirmary, where he was pronounced deceased at 8.28pm. As Mr Issa lay bleeding, Mohamed and Blake got back into their car and drove off, taking the knife with them. They disposed of the knife nearby and abandoned the car on Broughton Lane. Mohamed changed his hairstyle, found somewhere to stay, and altered his car insurance to a new vehicle to evade justice. Police found Mr Issa’s blood on a phone charging cable inside the abandoned car, and Mohamed’s phone showed he had searched for details of the fatal stabbing. Mohamed was arrested on 26 October 2023 and refused to comment in his police interview. Following a trial which concluded in May 2024, Mohamed was found guilty of murder. He was initially sentenced on 7 June 2024 to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years, but following a referral to the Court of Appeal on 6 September 2024 under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme, the sentence was quashed and replaced with life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years and 145 days.

Nicholas Moxham, 52, from Stockport, set up a brothel from his home in March 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, exploiting six female sex workers by allowing them to use his home in Stockport and later a second address in Longsight, Manchester, to entertain clients. He controlled their schedules, services, and earnings, taking money for expenses and demanding sex without payment. He covertly recorded the women with clients without consent, sometimes selling the footage. He raped two of the women on several occasions while they were asleep, claiming they were pretending or acting out fantasies, which was disproved at trial. Police searches of his home and storage unit recovered hard drives and devices containing videos of these rapes, additional sexual offences with another woman, over 3,000 indecent images of children, and footage of him sexually assaulting three children. In total, convicted of 43 offences including 6x rape, 1x attempted rape, 3x requiring compulsory labour, 6x controlling prostitution for gain, 3x assault by penetration, 1x keeping a brothel, 3x sexual assault on children under 13, 15x voyeurism, 3x making indecent images of children, 1x taking indecent images of children, and 1x possession of extreme pornography. Victim impact statements described severe trauma, panic attacks, trust issues, and described him as a 'horrific beast of a monster' and 'torturous'.

Latif Ferguson, then 18, was part of a group that travelled to Stretford on January 22, 2022, in retaliation for a previous incident. The group stole bikes and confronted Kennie Carter, leading to his fatal stabbing. Ferguson was found guilty of manslaughter, though not directly responsible for the stabbing.

L’Vaion Peniston, who was 14 at the time, stabbed 16-year-old Kennie Carter to death on January 22, 2022, in Stretford as part of a revenge attack stemming from a prior altercation. A group associated with Peniston stole bikes and targeted Kennie, who was on a phone call when attacked. Peniston was seen on CCTV re-enacting the stabbing shortly after and was convicted following the trial.

Obert Moyo, driven by jealousy after his relationship with Perseverance Ncube ended, attacked her in her bedroom in the early hours of November 10, 2023, strangling her before chasing her into the street in Little Hulton, Greater Manchester. He stabbed her through the heart with a foot-long meat skewer in front of her 10-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son, who tried to intervene. Moyo had brought a rucksack containing weapons like a hammer, knife, and screwdriver. He fled the scene and was arrested later that day in Bolton. This incident occurred while he was on licence from a previous conviction.

On 11 June 2022, Paul Creedy invited a 15-year-old girl to a house in Oldham, gave her food and alcohol, took her phone, and raped her despite her protests. He apologised afterwards and left her at Victoria Station. The next day, she reported to family and police, but Creedy denied involvement and was released as the girl initially couldn't support prosecution. On 26 November 2022, he befriended a 23-year-old woman outside a nightclub in Oldham, took her to the same house, assaulted her, threatened her with a kitchen knife to her throat, raped her, made her shower, and threatened to petrol bomb her house if she spoke. She escaped and police found her phone at the house. DNA evidence on the teenager's clothes corroborated her account, leading to charges for both rapes. The cases were joined for trial due to similarities.

Eddie Ratcliffe and an accomplice lured Brianna Ghey, 16, to Linear Park in Culcheth, near Warrington, Cheshire, on February 11, 2023, where Brianna was stabbed 28 times in the head, neck, chest, and back with a hunting knife in a sadistic attack.

Scarlett Jenkinson and an accomplice lured Brianna Ghey, 16, to Linear Park in Culcheth, near Warrington, Cheshire, on February 11, 2023, where Brianna was stabbed 28 times in the head, neck, chest, and back with a hunting knife in a sadistic attack.

Mohammed Izaarh Khan, 22, was involved in the murder of promising boxer Cole Kershaw, 18, who was shot dead on the streets of Bury in August 2020 following a simmering dispute that reached a crescendo between Kamran Mohammed and Cole's friend Spencer Woods.

Khayam Ali Khurshid, 29, was involved in the murder of promising boxer Cole Kershaw, 18, who was shot dead on the streets of Bury in August 2020 following a simmering dispute that reached a crescendo between Kamran Mohammed and Cole's friend Spencer Woods. Khurshid fled days after the murder.

Kamran Mohammed, 20, was involved in the murder of promising boxer Cole Kershaw, 18, who was shot dead on the streets of Bury in August 2020 following a simmering dispute that reached a crescendo between Mohammed and Cole's friend Spencer Woods.

Lucy Letby, a nurse, was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six more at the Countess of Chester Hospital in England. The crimes involved deliberately injecting babies with air, force-feeding others milk, and poisoning some with insulin. These acts occurred during her time working at the hospital, making her the UK's most prolific killer of babies in modern times.