The Manchester Evening News has looked back on the cases before our region’s courts this week.
L-R: Chelsea Blaton, Callum Cox, Donna Foster and Edward Rainford
Two drug mules are amongst those who have been jailed this week in Greater Manchester.
One of those was American Chelsea Blanton who took a ‘risky’ gamble for $8,500, and transported two suitcases containing cannabis into the UK.
The other, Jordan Brook, was relieved to have been caught by police in a similar situation, telling officers: “I’ll be honest, I’ve got weed… no point in lying.”
Both have been jailed for their parts in the enterprise.
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Also locked up this week were a mum and son who became embroiled in a row over puppies resulting in a house being shot at; and a TV-star’s boyfriend who was unmasked as a drug dealer.
Prison terms are handed out to the worst offenders. Manchester Evening News reporters are on hand to cover the most serious cases.
Here is a roundup of the cases heard before Manchester’s courts:
Lee Ellis
Lee Ellis(Image: GMP)
An evening that started out romantic ended with a vicious assault. Lee Ellis spent the evening with a woman he had recently met and entered into a relationship with.
The would-be victim didn’t know the man who had shown her self-defence techniques would ‘flip’ and launch a horrifying attack in her own home.
The 36-year-old threatened to ‘chop her into bits’ and ‘throw her in the bin’ and ‘pop her eyes out’. The force of the assault would leave the victim with bruising round her neck.
She considered moving house to escape terrifying memories of the ordeal. Describing the impact it had on her, she said “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve relived it. I have nightmares most nights… staring into space during the day.”
Ellis has now been jailed following a sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court.
Read the full story here: Romantic evening ended with thug telling terrified woman he was going to ‘chop her into bits’
Callum Cox and Donna Foster
From left: Callum Cox and Donna Foster(Image: GMP)
A man and his associates shot at a house with a gun after his mum became embroiled in a row over puppies.
Callum Cox spent more than two hours with his mum, Donna Foster, before travelling to the victim’s home in Leigh with three others.
A court heard how the victim – who had been a friend of Foster – found his front door off its hinges after the weapon was fired, before a masked person fired shots at the man twice, missing both times.
Following the attack, Cox fled to Spain but was finally brought back to the UK and arrested more than two-and-a-half years later.
Both he and Foster, 45, were jailed after appearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown court last Friday (June 13) – but other people involved have not faced justice.
Read the full story here: ‘This is war… lines have been crossed, all my condolences to your family’
Chelsea Blanton
Chelsea Blanton(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
An American drug mule was caught at Manchester Airport with 28 kilos of cannabis in a ‘risky gamble’ for a ‘life-changing’ sum.
Chelsea Blanton, 29, had travelled from Texas to Saudi Arabia to Malaysia before heading to Manchester via Heathrow. She was stopped by Border Force officers on May 7 this year.
In her suitcase, officers found 15 vacuum sealed packages of cannabis in her two suitcases. Their wholesale value was £80,000, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Blanton would later tell a court that she had been offered the ‘life-changing’ amount of $8,500.
Jailing her, Judge Tom Gilbart said: “You took a gamble, it didn’t pay off. You now have to pay the consequences.”
Read the full story here: American drug mule took a gamble for ‘life-changing’ sum – it didn’t pay off
James Bury
(Image: NWROCU)
A man from Greater Manchester who posted out drug deliveries through the mail has been jailed after a number of pacels were intercepted in Northern Ireland.
Police said James Bury ‘believed he could exploit the postal system to courier drugs across the UK’.
Bury, from Westhoughton in Bolton, is now starting a jail sentence of more than 10 years after four parcels containing more than two kilogrammes of cocaine were seized by Border Force authorities in Northern Ireland.
Bury, 39, from Victoria Street, Westhoughton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and possession with intent to supply controlled drugs. He was jailed for 10 years and six months at Preston Crown Court on Tuesday, June 10.
Read the full story here: The drug dealer who ‘believed he could exploit the postal system’
Usman Alam
Usman Alam has been jailed(Image: GMP)
A string of text messages seen on three mobile phones led to the downfall of a Rochdale drug dealer who ‘thinks he is untouchable’.
Officers raided the home of Usman Alam where they discovered cannabis, weighing scales and the three devices.
Greater Manchester Police says the phones contained a ‘wealth of evidence that showed overwhelmingly’ Alam was involved in the supply of cocaine and cannabis over a four-year period.
The 36-year-old also stabbed a dealer who worked on his behalf – before threatening to ‘bomb’ his relatives.
He appeared in Manchester Crown Court yesterday (June 16), where he was jailed for more than six years.
Read the full story here: Grinning in his cannabis farm, he ‘thought he was untouchable’ – but a string of text messages brought his world crashing down
Abdul Bahadir, Husnain Ali and Mohammed Omayr
(L-R) Abdul Bahadir, Husnain Ali and Mohammed Omayr(Image: GMP)
A trio of big-time drug dealers have become the latest gangsters to be jailed after police hacked the encrypted messaging platform EncroChat.
Using names such as ‘TupacDon’ and ‘Simonsays’, the gang supplied huge quantities of heroin and cocaine across the country.
Mohammed Omayr, 41, from Chorlton; Abdul Bahadir, from Oldham, 41; and Husnain Ali, 36, from Bolton, have been handed lengthy jail sentences following an investigation which also uncovered ‘dirty’ cash, designer clothes and watches.
Omayr was responsible for the sale, distribution, returns, testing, storage, and payments for a huge amount of class A drugs, according to Greater Manchester Police.
He directed his courier, Bahadir, to move massive amounts of money and to deliver the drugs to customers across the country on a daily basis, hiding cocaine and heroin in a hidden compartment of his car.
Bahadir, who also ran Omayr’s ‘stash houses’, had originally acted as the gang’s accountant, but later became a courier as their business became more and more successful, using the EncroChat handles ‘TupacDon’ and ‘Simonsays’.
Read the full story here: A Lamborghini, designer watches and dirty cash – ‘TupacDon’ gang smashed on the M61 as cops open secret compartment
Ashley Shaw
(Image: GMP (submitted))
A dealer who ran a drugs line nicknamed ‘Jacko’ is thought to have flogged more than £500,000-worth of crack cocaine and heroin. Ashley Shaw operated the line in Atherton, Wigan from January 2024.
He made the massive sum in 12 months before he was arrested. The line sent out tens of thousands of ‘flare’ messages, advertising the products on sale to would-be customers.
Shaw, 26, was arrested on January 23 this year when cops raided a property on Kensington Drive in Leigh. Officers discovered mobile phones; £1,370 in cash; a samurai sword; a notebook containing lists of debtors; and a scales containing white powder later found to be cocaine.
Shaw, of Lily Lane, Bamfurlong, Abrahm, Wigan, later pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin; being concerned in the supply of cocaine; and acquiring, using or possessing criminal property. He was jailed for five years and three months.
Read the full story here: Wads of cash, a samurai sword and the contents of a book told them all they needed to know
Jordan Brook
Jordan Brook(Image: GMP)
A drug mule was relieved when he was caught, his lawyer said, as he told Border Force officers at Manchester Airport: “I’ll be honest, I’ve got weed… no point in lying.”
Jordan Brook, 31, arrived from Bangkok early on a Thursday morning. He was stopped by Border Force officers before he could leave the airport.
Searches discovered he had tried to smuggle in cannabis worth more than £100,000, Manchester Crown Court heard. His lawyer said Brook, from Eccles, Salford, didn’t know what was to follow when he arrived back on home soil.
He said Brook was was relieved to have been stopped.
Brook, of Corporation Road, Eccles, pleaded guilty to one count of being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug. He was sentenced to 18 months and told he would serve 40 per cent of the term behind bars before being released on licence.
Read the full story here: ‘I’ll be honest, no point lying’, man stopped at Manchester Airport tells officials
Jacob Flavin
Jacob Flavin(Image: GMP)
A drug dealer who went by the name ‘Albus Dumbledore’ was caught on camera collecting cannabis in an Aldi bag.
Jacob Flavin was described as a ‘substantial’ player in a five-strong gang of drug dealers who supplied ‘wholesale’ amounts of cannabis.
The 29-year-old used the encrypted messaging service Signal, where he went by his Harry Potter-inspired handle, to advertise and sell large quantities of the class B drug.
He was photographed by undercover police, who were monitoring the gang’s activities as part of a sting known as ‘Operation Global’, collecting an Aldi bag which was believed to be ‘full’ of cannabis.
When Flavin was arrested at his plush flat in The Heart building at MediaCityUK, Salford police seized a Rolex watch worth £6,000 to 8,000 and snap bags of cannabis.
He was jailed for nine years after pleading to guilty to four counts of conspiracy to supply cannabis, cocaine, heroin and ketamine. He is the last member of the gang to be jailed.
Read the full story here: ‘Albus Dumbledore’ offered ‘tropical, gelato and banana’ varieties – until he was caught with an Aldi bag full of his product
McKenzie Purtill and Marley Brown
McKenzie Purtill(Image: GMP)
Two teenagers have been jailed for their part in a violent fight in Salford. McKenzie Purtill, 18, and Marley Brown, 19, were seen walking towards a car on Adelphi Street before attacking those inside.
Rio Vernardakis, 19, and Cade Toon, 19, jumped out of the vehicle before a melee broke out. Vernardackis was stabbed.
The four teenagers were arrested following multiple 999 calls. Blood was seen in the road. They were all hauled before the courts and admitted violent disorder.
Purtill and Brown were jailed, while Vernardakis and Toon received suspended prison sentences.
Read the full story here: Teenagers jailed following violent incident on Salford street
Edward Rainford and Jay Boyd
Edward Rainford(Image: Zenpix)
Edward Rainford, 32, and co-defendant Jay Boyd, 28, were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis between November 2022 and September 2023.
Chelsee Healey, 36, who has starred in Waterloo Road, Hollyoaks and Dancing on Ice, entered into a relationship with Rainford four years ago. The pair have a child together.
The court heard how Rainford and Boyd’s illicit activities came to light during a Greater Manchester Police operation tackling Class B drug supply.
Rainford, of no fixed address, was sentenced to two years.
Boyd, of Cheetham Road, Swinton, was sentenced to a total of a year and six months.
Read the full story here: Chelsee Healey watches on in court as her boyfriend is jailed over ‘serious’ criminal operation