These were some of the cases in our region’s courts this week
Top row, left to right: Cardell Hamman, Yudong Ouyang, Cameron Wilson and Matthew Harral / bottom row, left to right: Gary Hon, Mason Dean, Brandon Dean and Trevor Leach
A knifeman who threatened to stab a parent outside a primary school was one of the criminals to be locked up this week in Greater Manchester.
Cardell Hamman, 20, approached a dad as he collected his child outside the school in north Manchester in January.
Without warning, Hamman brandished a knife and shouted: “You want to f*** with my sister?”
Also locked up this week were two members of a gang who smuggled millions of pounds worth of cannabis out of the country; thugs who became embroiled in a violent machete brawl; and a sexual predator who groomed and abused a boy more than three decades ago.
Prison terms are handed out to the worst offenders each week. Reporters at the Manchester Evening News are on hand to cover the most serious cases.
Here is a round up of those locked up across Greater Manchester this week:Cardell Hamman
Cardell Hamman(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
A knifeman threatened to stab a parent outside a primary school as children were being picked up. Cardell Hamman, 20, approached the dad as he collected his child outside the north Manchester school in January.
Without warning, Hamman brandished a knife and shouted: “You want to f*** with my sister?”
He then moved towards the man, swinging the knife at his body. The blade brushed the man’s shoulder before he grabbed Hamman and pulled him away, Manchester Crown Court heard.
He then ran towards the school, followed by Hamman, who shouted: “I’m gonna stab you up.”
Fortunately, the man was able to go into the school grounds before Hamman left shortly after.
Hamman, of Moss bank Avenue, was jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Read the full story here: Horror outside primary school as knifeman tries to stab dad picking up his child
Yudong Ouyang and Gary Hon
Yudong Ouyang (above) and Gary Hon (below) were both jailed(Image: NCA)
A Manchester gang smuggled £9m of cannabis out of the country to sell it for a premium price.
The gang hid kilo packages of the class B drug in wooden flooring and transported it to Northern Ireland, where dealers typically charge more than in England.
Yudong Ouyang, 32, and Gary Hon, 26, worked on the Manchester side of the drugs ring, packing the cannabis onto HGVs from a storage unit in the city before they were driven by unsuspecting legitimate haulage firms and transported over the Irish Sea.
Both men have now received prison sentences, with Ouyang set to be deported to his native China.
Read the full story here: Manchester drugs gang smuggled £9m of cannabis hidden in pallets of flooring out of the country
Mason Dean, Cameron Wilson and Brandon Dean
From left: Mason Dean, Cameron Wilson, Brandon Dean(Image: GMP)
Two rivalling groups became involved in a violent machete brawl outside a shop in north Manchester, a court has heard.
The incident erupted on April 11 this year, when the two groups of men clashed on Nigel Road in Moston. CCTV captured them entering the convenience store before ‘words were exchanged’ outside.
One of the two groups is then seen walking away before they return and clash outside the store. Cameron Wilson is seen pulling a machete from his waistband which lead to a ‘frenzy of action’, Greater Manchester Police said.
All four men are seen producing their machetes, with footage showing them running around the street.
Another man, Brandon Dean, is then seen hurling a bottle towards the other group as associate Mason Dean is seen running down the street holding a huge blade.
The footage then goes out of shot but ended with the groups running in separate directions. Nobody was injured in the incident, with one man suffering superficial injuries.
Mason Dean, 19, of Upper West Grove, Manchester, was sentenced for 24 months for affray and possession of a blade at Manchester Crown Court.
Cameron Wilson, 21, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to 20 months for affray and possession of a blade. Brandon Dean, 23, Droylsden Road, Miles Platting, was sentenced to ten months for affray.
Read the full story here: Rival groups clash in ‘broad daylight’ machete brawl outside Manchester shop
Trevor Leach(Image: Cheshire Police)
A ‘sexual predator’ who groomed and abused a boy more than three decades ago has finally been brought to justice for his crimes.
Trevor Leach, now 65, launched a horrific campaign of sexual abuse against his young victim in the early to mid-1990s.
Leach first met the then 12-year-old boy when he was working at a garage situated near a school in a Cheshire village.
He would take him out in his car and back to his then home, where he would abuse him.
Police say he groomed and ‘manipulated’ him and ‘convinced the boy that they were in a loving relationship, and what they were doing was normal.’
Leach, of Verdin Avenue, Northwich, was jailed for 18 years.
Read the full story here: A young boy was groomed and abused…30 years later, a chance encounter has seen the monster responsible locked up
Matthew Harral
Matthew Harral(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
A man stabbed his girlfriend’s dad after he was told: “D***head, I’ll smash your f***ing head in.”
Matthew Harral, 20, was visiting his partner when her father drove past. The man told him to leave before Harral pulled out a knife.
On Thursday (August 21), Manchester Crown Court hard the woman’s dad said he’d ‘smash [his] f****ing head in’ before grabbing a petrol can and chasing Harral down the road in February this year.
Harral, from Bolton, turned around and slashed the man’s arm, leaving a large wound.
Describing it as the ‘worst mistake of his life’, Harral pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and possession of a bladed article.
Recorder Paul Hodgkinson told Harral: “He was seen to chase you down the road carrying a red petrol can, but you, unfortunately, were carrying a knife and you caused a serious injury. You are lucky it was not as serious as it could have been.
“You are at fault, you should not have been carrying a knife, though I accept there was an element of provocation.
Harral, of Moorside Avenue, was jailed for three-and-a-half years. He was banned from contacting the man under the terms of a five-year restraining order.
Read the full story here: Someone called him a d***head then he made ‘the worst mistake of his life’