The Manchester Evening News has looked back on the cases before our courts this week
Left to right: Emma Fairbanks, Azizur Rahman and Graham Lightfoot(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
Two kidnappers who attacked an elderly man and shoved him into a car are amongst those who have been jailed this week.
Azizur Rahman and Shohad Miah bundled the 87-year-old imam into the back of an Audi before punching him, hitting him with a stick and strangling him. He was then dumped half-naked on a remote country road.
Both men have been handed hefty terms in jail.
Also locked up this week was a conniving fraudster who scammed £22,000 from her employer to spend on luxury holidays and a twisted paedophile who sexually abused two children.
Prison terms are handed out to the worst offenders, and Manchester Evening News reporters are on hand to cover the most serious cases.
Here is a round up of the cases heard before our region’s courts this week.
Azizur Rahman and Shohad Miah
Azizur Rahman (left) and Shohad Miah (right)(Image: Greater Manchester Police/CPS)
Two men who kidnapped and attacked an elderly imam in revenge for him ‘performing a ritual exorcism’ have been jailed.
In a terrifying ordeal, the 87-year-old was bundled into the back of an Audi, punched, hit with a stick, blindfolded and strangled, before being dumped half-naked on a remote country road.
Manchester Crown Court heard Azizur Rahman and his friend Shohad Miah carried out the kidnapping in Oldham in September 2024.
It came after they learned the elderly man had performed the ritual on Rahman’s stepson because he was ‘believed to be possessed by evil spirits’.
The imam had been asked by Rahman’s estranged wife to visit their home where he said prayers and provided amulets.
Rahman, 39, of Bluebell Walk, St Mary’s Way, Oldham, was sentenced to 11 years and 16 weeks in prison after being found guilty of kidnap, robbery, section 18 assault, intentional strangulation and perverting the course of justice.
Miah, 25, of Firbank Road, Royton, was jailed for nine years after being found guilty of kidnap, section 20 assault, intentional strangulation and perverting the course of justice.
Read the full story here: Cocaine-fuelled stepdad flew into rage over ‘ritual exorcism’ on ‘possessed’ boy then kidnapped and stripped elderly imam
Lee Smith
Lee Smith has been jailed for his ‘sickening exploitation of a child’ over a decade(Image: GMP)
A paedophile who said he was ‘reading a bedtime story’ to a young boy went on to sexually abuse him for a decade, a court has heard.
The abuse started in 1999 when Lee Smith, who had become friends with a relative of the victim, would often visit their house, where he would regularly abuse the young child.
A court heard how the abuse would sometimes even take place when Smith would enter the boy’s bedroom on the pretence of ‘reading a bedtime story’, at which point he would begin touching him inappropriately.
Smith would often make his victim feel that he was obliged to do as he asked, police said, and would often leave him in pain following the assaults, which continued when the victim’s mother was out.
In the months and years that followed as he became an adult, the victim bravely began to open up to friends and family of the abuse, prompting an investigation by police.
Following a trial at Minshull Street Crown Court, which covered the years of abuse and online offence, Smith was found guilty of nine offences by a jury, namely two counts of indecent assault; two counts of s9 sexual activity; one count of s10 causing a child to engage in sexual activity; s4 causing sexual activity; sexual assault; rape; and attempted sexual communications.
Smith, aged 46, of Kirkway in Rochdale, was jailed for 13 years.
Read the full story here: The monster who said he was ‘reading a bedtime story’ to a little boy
Graham Lightfoot
Graham Lightfoot
A “twisted” paedophile has been jailed more than 20 years after sexually abusing two children.
Graham Lightfoot targeted the victims when they were aged as young as 11.
Cheshire Police launched an investigation in June 2023 after receiving reports that the two victims had suffered as children between 2000 and 2004.
They described how Lightfoot had indecently assaulted them when they were aged as young as 11. One of the victims was also sexually assaulted by him.
Lightfoot was later charged with the offences. He denied the charges but was found guilty following a trial.
The 57-year-old of Hartwell Grove, Winsford, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court where he was sentenced to two years and 9 months in prison.
Read the full story here: Two decades later, justice catches up with ‘twisted’ child sex abuser
Emma Fairbanks
Emma Fairbanks leaving Minshull Crown Court(Image: Jason Roberts / Manchester Evening News)
A Skoda worker who defrauded nearly £22,000 from her employer and splurged it on luxury holidays, designer items and weight loss surgery has been jailed.
Emma Fairbanks was sentenced to 18 months in prison yesterday (July 14) after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard how the 32-year-old had used her position as a service advisor at a dealership in Stockport to steal customers’ financial details.
Over the course of a year, she diverted nearly £22k in funds to her own bank account, spending it on designer handbags, luxury holidays and weight loss surgery in Turkey.
Read the full story here: The letter that brought about conniving woman’s downfall