Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court Sentencing Results

Dominik Pelikan, 20, from Mayfair Gardens, Rochdale, travelled to Bradford to buy an Ekol Botan blank-firing handgun, then purchased 8mm solid brass and tools in Manchester. Intercepted messages showed he and Mohammed Raji planned to shoot someone, with police finding the gun parts, ammunition, and tools at his home on August 2, 2024.

Kashif Mahmood, 37, from Rochdale, used Snapchat to communicate with someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl, lying about his age as 25. He engaged in sexual communication, expressing desires to kiss, cuddle, and engage in other activities. He arranged to meet her at Manchester Piccadilly railway station on an unspecified date, where he was found with condoms in his pocket and attempted to delete content from his mobile phone upon police approach. The offences occurred in June of the previous year, leading to his arrest and conviction.

Rebecca Gregory, 25, a nursery worker, ill-treated four babies aged up to 12 months old in the baby room of a nursery. CCTV from 26 April 2022 captured her swaddling a crying baby too tightly and saying, 'You want me to knock you out?'; telling another crying child she was going to kick him before pushing him over; placing a third swaddled baby roughly in a cot and saying 'Shut up' before pushing them over; and forcefully putting a fourth child into a highchair and putting a dummy in their mouth with the words 'Put that in your gob and shut up.' None of the children suffered visible injuries. Gregory admitted the offences in her police interview and pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

John Murray, 41, carried out two separate assaults in 2023. On January 20, 2023, while working as a delivery driver, he obstructed a woman's driveway and, after she confronted him and another woman, punched her in the face, breaking her nose, as her children screamed. He struck her again before driving away and colliding with her vehicle. On July 15, 2023, following his separation, he broke into his ex-partner's home through a window, strangled her for 45 seconds, pulled her hair, struck her head repeatedly, bit her breast, punched her, and kicked her in the stomach. She sustained bruising to her breast, throat, and face, and a gash to her ear. A passer-by intervened, and Murray attempted to punch him.

Omar Malik headed a Manchester-based gang that flooded the UK with automatic weapons including 52 Skorpion machine guns and 49 Grand Power pistols, and import-grade cocaine worth up to £70m over a five-month period ending May 2020. The gang supplied organised crime groups across the country. Malik used the EncroChat handle 'payyabills' and kept a ledger of transactions. He was arrested and gave a no comment interview.

Bernard Valentine, 36, allowed his six pocket bully type dogs to maul a six-year-old girl outside her home in Carrington, Trafford, on March 26, 2023, causing extensive injuries including 22 lacerations. The dogs were kept in inadequate conditions, and Valentine failed to address a previous attack.

Romeo Tosca, 26, was part of a gang that built a cannabis farm inside a fortified lock-up on Bilsley Street in Oldham, Greater Manchester. The unit contained 889 cannabis plants at various stages of growth with an estimated street value of £986,000. It was secured with CCTV, bypassed electricity, and included poor living quarters with bunk beds, cooker, fridge, and TV. Tosca was found in the loft space and arrested by Greater Manchester Police.

Stuart Nicholson was part of the organised crime group involved in converting and distributing lethal firearms. He was arrested outside an address in Lincolnshire on 11 April 2020 and convicted of firearm and ammunition possession without certificates.

On 27 January 2020, Sebastian Benjamin was driving a stolen BMW involved in a boot-to-boot transfer of a loaded converted handgun on Reins Lea Avenue, Oldham. Along with Michael McDonagh, he handed over the firearm to other gang members. Armed police intercepted the BMW on Cavendish Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, and recovered the loaded gun with three rounds in it and eleven more bullets in a sock in the boot. He was convicted of firearm and ammunition possession without certificates.

Ryan Catton was a member of the organised crime group that converted blank-firing guns into live weapons and transported them across the UK. He was convicted of conspiracy to transfer firearms.

Paul Taylor joined his brother in attacking a man outside a block of flats in Ashton-under-Lyne on March 17. He became involved after mistakenly believing his brother had blood on his face, and together the brothers left the victim lying on the ground with serious injuries including a bleed on the brain. He admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was sentenced alongside his brother.

Xhoi Kasaj, 30, was part of a gang that built a cannabis farm inside a fortified lock-up on Bilsley Street in Oldham, Greater Manchester. The unit contained 889 cannabis plants at various stages of growth with an estimated street value of £986,000. It was secured with CCTV, bypassed electricity, and included poor living quarters with bunk beds, cooker, fridge, and TV. Kasaj was found in the loft space and arrested by Greater Manchester Police.

A twisted teaching assistant abused her position of trust to groom a vulnerable boy. Suspicions were raised around Terri Cook, from Bury, when a member of the public reported seeing her out with the child, who was of primary school-age. Greater Manchester Police launched an investigation, which uncovered how she had been grooming the boy and manipulating him into engaging in a sexual relationship. Officers discovered numerous messages on her phone which showed she had been inciting sexual communications with the boy. Cook, 38, was also found to have indecent images of the child. Police uncovered how Cook had bought the boy expensive items, including jewellery and clothing, over a nine-month period that she committed her crimes.

In June 2015, Mark Marfleet used oxygen and acetylene gas to cause an explosion at an ATM on Stockport Road at Timperley Post Office. The blast caused extensive interior damage, closing the post office for three months and causing a loss of £15,000 in trade. A single mother and her four-year-old son living in the flat above were left traumatised; the explosion demolished their staircase. He escaped on a motorbike. On 23 September 2015, he carried out a similar attack on a service station ATM in Partington, causing an explosion that blew off the front of the machine, allowing him to steal £41,200 in cash. Oxygen canisters were recovered and linked to his accomplice Paul Warisham.

Matthew Sephton, a Conservative councillor for Altrincham and a primary school teacher, was found guilty of making, possessing and distributing indecent images of children. A raid on his home in December 2016 found 31 indecent videos and 3,774 indecent photographs on his devices. He was a member of chat groups dedicated to sharing child abuse images and had exchanged multiple child abuse images with another offender via WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. He claimed a man named 'Tom' was responsible for the images, but this was rejected by the jury.

Ashley Brown, 40, forced the 19-year-old victim into Hale Wine Bar on Ashley Road late at night in October 2016. He locked the door and held the teenager for 45 minutes, during which he brandished a kitchen knife, swung it at his foot, and threatened to cut off his toes. Brown forced the victim to remove his coat, shoes, and socks, and roll up his trouser leg. He repeatedly punched him in the head, interspersed with erratic friendly gestures like hugging and handshaking. Brown later tried to give him money, saying 'I want to die'. The victim escaped by kicking the glass door. Brown blamed cocaine and red wine for a paranoid delusion, mistakenly thinking the victim was a drug dealer. The incident was captured on CCTV.

Aaron Whittaker attacked a man with a metal wrench on August 31, 2025, repeatedly striking his legs. The victim suffered such serious wounds to one leg that surgeons had to insert metal rods. Whittaker was convicted of the 2025 attack and was found not guilty of a separate GBH allegation from January 11, 2023.

Abdul Sabhur, then 19 now 21, was driving on Ripponden Road in Oldham on 15 June 2024 while disqualified from driving following a prior speeding offence. He overtook a double decker bus on the wrong side of the road and struck a 10-year-old cyclist on a pedestrian crossing, captured on CCTV. The boy, a successful gymnast, was thrown into the air, suffering ongoing physical aches, pains, and psychological issues impacting his gymnastics, confidence, and mental health.

Cody Hurley was a member of the gang that converted blank-firing guns into lethal weapons. He was convicted of firearm and ammunition possession without certificates.

David Barnes, of Glenboro Avenue, Bury, planned to meet a 14-year-old girl in Piccadilly Gardens for sex after grooming her online, discussing taking her virginity and engaging in overtly sexual conversations. The 'girl' was actually an adult from the paedophile hunter group 'Predators Exposed Sting Team', who humiliated him upon arrival. He was fully aware of her age and exploited details of her vulnerable home situation.

David Bitton sent around 600 racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic tweets over one weekend starting Friday 13th May 2016, many directed at Greater Manchester Police and others. He made threats to GMP dog handlers. He was arrested and claimed he only did it to gain followers. After pleading guilty to 13 charges of sending racist and threatening communication, he was sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Gerald Glancy, from Beswick Royds Street, Rochdale, engaged in rape and sexual activity with young children, sexual communication with a child under 16, and made 47,000 indecent images of children, including at least 200 category C images and distributing two category A images. The crimes took place over three years from October 2018 to May 2022. He was arrested on 15 February 2021 when Greater Manchester Police raided his home and seized multiple devices; during interviews he admitted the offences and breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order. A further raid in June 2022 uncovered five more unauthorised devices. He was convicted on 27 April 2023 at Minshull Street Crown Court.

Graham Groves, 60, racially abused former BBC Radio 5 Live presenter the victim outside the Old Market Tavern in Altrincham on April 28, 2023. Groves directed racial slurs at the victim, who was waiting to collect his wife from a work night out. Groves asked the victim whether he was a doctor, which the victim believed was racially motivated, and then used a racial slur. When challenged, Groves repeated the slur and used a further term that was described in court as intended to provoke rather than directed personally.

Indrid Hysembelli, 26, was part of a gang that built a cannabis farm inside a fortified lock-up on Bilsley Street in Oldham, Greater Manchester. The unit contained 889 cannabis plants at various stages of growth with an estimated street value of £986,000. It was secured with CCTV, bypassed electricity, and included poor living quarters with bunk beds, cooker, fridge, and TV. Hysembelli was found in the loft space and arrested by Greater Manchester Police.

A man took part in an arson attack on a family home after being pressured by a drug dealer to send a message and intimidate a rival dealer. He and another offender approached the house at night; the other man smashed a window and Lynam poured petrol inside, causing an explosion and a fire. The occupants escaped but the house was severely damaged and remained uninhabitable nine months later. He was linked to the attack by DNA from a discarded balaclava and later pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.