The Manchester Evening News looks back on the cases before our regions courts this week
Top (left to right): Adrian Berki, James Saxon, Jack Burrows
Bottom (left to right): Brandon Nicholson, Christopher Akrigg, Dean Cooke(Image: G.M.P./M.E.N)
A care worker who abused his position to have sex with a patient is among those who have been locked up this week.
Jack Burrows was caught having sex with the vulnerable woman at a mental health unit. He has since been jailed.
Also locked up this week was a drunken passenger who was abusing to cabin crew on a flight from Doha to Manchester, and a drug smuggler who was given an offer he couldn’t refuse – until it landed him behind bars.
Prison terms are handed out to the worst offenders. And the Manchester Evening News is on hand to cover the most serious cases.
Here is a roundup of this week’s top cases before our region’s courts:
Wayne Scott
A drunken passenger led off a plane by police at Manchester Airport after a ‘disgusting’ episode during a flight has been jailed.
Wayne Scott, 47, was loud and verbally abusive during the Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Manchester, and appeared to be very drunk. Cabin crew decided to restrain him using cable ties until the police arrived, as other passengers became ‘visibly worried’ about Scott’s behaviour.
He was prosecuted and hauled before a judge at Manchester Crown Court, who jailed Scott for 23 weeks today (January 19).
Read the full story here: Drunken passenger jailed after being led off plane by police following ‘disgusting’ episode
Adrian Berki
(Image: Greater Manchester Police (GMP))
A burglar who struck ten times in just a week has been locked up. Adrian Berki, 25, broke into the homes across Manchester between October 23 and 30 last year, stealing a range of household items.
They happened during different times of the day, most often during the early hours of the morning but occasionally in the afternoon, police said. Victims would notice their sheds had been opened or things had been moved in their homes.
Items stolen during the raids included a pressure washer, a mobile phone, a TV, meat from a freezer, a hoover, bank cards, and two electric bicycles. When he stole the bikes, worth a total of around £1,500, he also smashed two CCTV cameras with a brick.
Police acted quickly to identify and detain Berki, who was arrested on November 3. He was charged and pleaded guilty to nine counts of burglary. He was jailed for over two years.
Read the full story here: Prolific burglar who stole a TV, a pressure washer, meat and a hoover is jailed
James Saxon
(Image: GMP)
A man who stripped his victim of their ‘sense of self’ has been jailed at Manchester Crown Court following years emotional and physical abuse.
James Saxon, from Stockport, abused his victim through a prolonged and escalating pattern of control, intimidation, and abuse across a three year period. During this time he ‘systematically stripped away the victim’s sense of self’, Greater Manchester Police said.
Read the full story here: Abusive offender who stripped victim of ‘sense of self’ jailed
Jack Burrows
Jack Burrows has been jailed(Image: GMP)
A care worker has been jailed after he was caught having sex with a ‘vulnerable’ patient being treated at a mental health unit. Jack Burrows, 35, a married father from Salford, gave the woman his mobile number and twice had sex with the patient – once in a yard and later on a grass verge – as well as sending her a picture of his penis.
Burrows was employed as a ‘bank’ care worker by NHS Professionals. He met the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, at a mental health unit in Greater Manchester.
The patient had been diagnosed with a personality disorder and met the defendant when he escorted her to another ward or when he worked ‘bank’ shifts at the hospital.
He gave the patient his mobile and ’embarked on a relationship’ with her, going on to have sex with her twice while escorting her away from her ward. The patient later confided in another member of staff, telling them she had been ‘doing something really bad’.
Burrows, of Blodwell Street, Salford, was jailed for two years and three months after he admitted two offences of being a care worker who engaged in sexual activity with a person with a mental health disorder contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003
Read the full story here: “Keep cool so we don’t get caught”: Shame of married dad caught having sex with vulnerable mental health unit patient
Brandon Nicholson
Brandon Nicholson(Image: GMP)
A vulnerable dad was left in a ‘terrible’ state after being brutally attacked in his own home, by his own son. Brandon Nicholson, 21, beat up his 67-year-old father Keith so badly that he suffered a stroke, and broke at least five ribs.
Keith Nicholson refused to provide a statement against his son, but later told police: “I just want the attacks to stop.” It came just over a year after Nicholson had been sentenced to 15 months for attacking the same victim.
Read the full story here: ‘I just want the attacks to stop’ – vulnerable dad hospitalised for almost two months by ‘narcissist’ son
Christopher Akrigg
Christopher Akrigg(Image: GMP)
A drug smuggler who denied having luggage was caught out after his checked-in suitcase was searched. Christopher Akrigg, 50, said he had visited his girlfriend in Thailand when he was stopped by Border Force officers at Manchester Airport.
A search of his suitcase revealed 15kg of cannabis. He denied the bag was his, but later pleaded guilty to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition of the importation of a class B drug. He was jailed for 18 months.
Read the full story here: Sat in a bar, he was ‘offered £5,000’ – and did something ‘stupid’
Dean Cooke
Dean Cooke(Image: GMP)
A racist thug viciously attacked a stranger with a makeshift knuckle duster before telling police: “I wanted to score off him, I thought he had crack on him.”
Dean Cooke shouted ‘come here, P***’ at the man as he was walking past him in Salford. Cooke, 42, hit the man in the head with a knuckle-duster weapon ‘fashioned out of a snooker ball’.
During the attack, Cooke tried to steal cash that had fallen from the victim’s wallet. Cooke, from Salford, admitted robbery; possession of an offensive weapon; and racially aggravated harassment/alarm or distress. He has been locked up for more than five years.
Read the full story here: ‘I thought he had crack on him’: Racist launched vicious ‘knuckle duster’ attack on stranger in the street