Manchester’s crown courts deal with some of the most brutal and shocking homicide cases
The 25 killers dealt with this year(Image: GMP)
Manchester’s two crown courts are among the busiest in the country. Judges working at Manchester Crown Court and Minshull Street Crown Court deal with some of the most brutal and shocking killings.
Tragically, homicide cases are a regular feature within our courts, and 2025 was no different.
Below, the M.E.N. lists 25 killers who faced justice for murder or manslaughter over the past 12 months.
Samuel Opokiti
Samuel Opokiti(Image: GMP)
A dad was killed in his own home in a ‘frenzied’ stabbing by a knifeman he had repeatedly complained to police about.
Samuel Opokiti knifed Osagie Harrison Aimiyekagbon to death in an ‘entirely unprovoked’ attack, at the shared house the pair both lived at in Levenshulme. Mr Aimiyekagbon, known to friends as Harry, suffered about 50 wounds during the ‘dreadful’ attack.
Manchester Crown Court heard that Harry, 36, a security officer affectionately known as the ‘dancing doorman’, had called police on at least six occasions after Opokiti made threats to kill him and his young son. He also told police that he believed Opokiti had mental health problems.
Osagie Harrison Aimiyekagbon
But Opokiti remained at the property. Medical experts agreed that the 30-year-old was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the killing. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and is expected to remain at Ashworth High Secure Hospital for the ‘foreseeable future’.
Harry’s loved ones sobbed as his character, which was referred to in documents submitted to the court, was summarised by prosecutor Brian Williams. He said: “What that victim impact statement does is paint a picture of a man who was quite clearly caring, charming and much loved and is missed as a brother and friend. His loss has quite clearly left a hole in their lives which they are struggling to cope with.”
Read the full story here: Dad killed in ‘frenzied’ stabbing by knifeman he had repeatedly complained to police about
Peter Pitt
Peter Pitt(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
A killer was branded the ‘scum of the earth’ after strangling his ex-partner to death.
Charlene Mills was ‘smitten’ with Peter Pitt. It had been turbulent, but a court was told how she was keen to ‘rekindle’ their relationship.
But as they spent a night together Pitt killed her. Manchester Crown Court was told he has schizophrenia and experienced delusions that Charlene, 43, was trying to poison him.
On the morning Charlene was found dead in Pitt’s home in Gorton, he texted his ex-wife to admit that he’d killed her. She went to his home and Pitt, 52, confessed that he’d ‘strangled her with his bare hands’.
Charlene Mills(Image: Family handout)
Charlene’s devastated family were in court as Pitt appeared in court by video link from a psychiatric hospital.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility after medical experts agreed that his mental condition gave him the partial defence to murder, which Pitt was originally charged with. Prosecutors said that Pitt’s condition had been exacerbated by his use of illegal drugs. He was made the subject of a hospital order and will remain in a psychiatric hospital indefinitely.
Charlene’s family claimed that Pitt would use her money to feed his addiction, and that she would even collect drugs from dealers for him. Delphine Mills, Charlene’s mother, in a statement read on her behalf, said that despite his plea the family believed that she was ‘murdered’.
Read the full story here: ‘Tell the kids I love them, I’ve just killed Charlene’
Sultan Bakr, Sikander Babar and Abdul Babar
L-R: Abdul Babar, Sikander Babar and Sultan Bakr, who were jailed for life for fatal stabbing of Sadiq Al-Lami(Image: GMP)
Three men were jailed for life after Sadiq Al-Lami was murdered and stabbed 11 times at a set of traffic lights.
Sultan Bakr, 23, Sikander Babar, 25, his brother, Abdul Babar, 19, were all handed life sentences after being convicted of murdering the 30-year-old. Sadiq was brutally attacked following a ‘road rage’ incident and a high speed pursuit on Kingsway in East Didsbury. It is unclear which one of the trio stabbed Sadiq, but all three were present.
Sadiq was driving a grey Mercedes while his killers were in a black Mercedes. A judge said it had been likely that at one point both cars had been ‘racing’. They both stopped at a set of traffic lights. Sadiq was the first to get out and was holding a ‘drain rod’. But he was left outnumbered three to one when they all got out. One of his killers had a knife and he was stabbed 11 times.
Sadiq Al-Lami(Image: PA)
They left him to die in the road, before trying to cover their tracks and evade capture. Sadiq’s family said it was a ‘shock’ to learn that they knew two of his killers, and that the pair had previously been in the family home. In the aftermath of the killing, on January 23 last year, police said Abdul Babar messaged his hairdresser to book in for a haircut, while Sultan Bakr spent the day ordering fast food deliveries.
Hours later, Abdul Babar was searching the Manchester Evening News website to check for news of the killing, before he began searching online for a solicitor. He and his brother were eventually caught in Essex, after being seen getting out of the back of a van.
The pair were seemingly planning to travel to Pakistan. That night, Sultan Bakr boarded a coach to London where he was arrested.
The trio were all handed life sentences at Minshull Street Crown Court. Sultan Bakr, of Hyde Road, Gorton, will have to serve at least 20 years before being considered for release. Sikander Babar, of Ashdale Drive, Withington, will also have to serve 20 years, while Abdul Babar, of the same address, will have to serve 19 years.
Read the full story here: The faces of the brutal murderers who killed man in ‘cold, senseless’ road rage attack
Marcin Majerkiewicz
Marcin Majerkiewicz(Image: PA)
A killer who murdered and then dismembered his housemate before dumping his body parts across Greater Manchester will serve at least 34 years behind bars.
Stuart Everett, 67, was brutally killed in his own home in Salford by Marcin Majerkiewicz, who repeatedly hit him over the head with a weapon. Majerkiewicz, 42, then used a hacksaw to cut up Stuart’s body in his bedroom at the house they both lived in on Worsley Road, Winton.
He then put body parts in bags for life, before walking or taking the bus to dump them in wooded areas across Salford and north Manchester. Majerkiewicz was arrested about a month after he was believed to have killed Stuart. Police, who had been scouring CCTV footage, recognised the suspect getting on a bus and pounced.
Stuart Everett(Image: PA)
Majerkiewicz was seen on CCTV near to five locations where Stuart’s remains were discovered, during searches at Kersal Dale in Salford, Linnyshaw Colliery Woods and Blackleach Country Park in Walkden, land off Chesterfield Close in Winton and Boggart Hole Clough in Blackley.
Trial judge Mr Justice Cavanagh handed Majerkiewicz a life sentence, and ordered him to serve a minimum term of 34 years. Majerkiewicz was found guilty of murder by a jury.
Read the full story here: The cold and calculated lies of a murderer with a gruesome secret
Jordan Downs and Paul Simmons
Paul Simmons and Jordan Downs(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
Two drug dealers were jailed for life for the murder of an addict who tried to ‘tax’ them.
Michael McCann, 35, died after plotting to steal drugs from Jordan Downs and Paul Simmons. He was fatally stabbed in the leg during a fight in the street in Bolton.
Downs, 32, picked up a knife from the kitchen of Simmons’ flat prior to the confrontation, before using it on Mr McCann.
Michael McCann(Image: GMP)
Simmons, 49, emerged from the flat armed with a wooden stick and became involved in a struggle with him. Both were found guilty of murder following a trial. At a sentencing hearing they were both jailed for life.
Sentencing them, Judge Tina Landale said: “This was a joint attack by the two of you. Attacking a man who was unarmed, totally restrained and utterly defenceless at the time of the stabbing.
“I find you are jointly responsible and each played your equal role. At the time of his death, he posed no threat to you.”
Downs, of no fixed address, was sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 21 years. He was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice after disposing of the knife.
Simmons, of Bradford Street, Bolton, was sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum term of 20 years.
Read the full story here: Drug dealers jailed for life for murder of addict who tried to ‘tax’ them – as victim’s brother tells court of heartbreak
John Belfield
John Belfield(Image: GMP)
A drug dealer who plotted and executed the horrific murder of a love rival ‘tortured to death’ in his own home was jailed for life after being convicted of murder.
John Belfield, 31, recruited a team to help him kill Thomas Campbell after he began a relationship with Demi-Lee Driver, his killer’s ex-partner.
Belfield was one of three men who lay in wait as Campbell arrived home late on a Saturday night on July 2, 2022.
Manchester Crown Court heard the killing followed a week of hostile surveillance carried out on 38-year-old Mr Campbell by Belfield and his conspirators.
Thomas Campbell(Image: MEN Media)
A tracking device was placed on his car as Mr Campbell dropped off his child at school, a dress rehearsal was carried out and a planned attack was hurriedly aborted.
When they struck, Campbell could be heard to scream as the trio attacked and subdued him on his front drive, before bundling him inside the house on Riverside in Mossley, Tameside.
For the next two hours he was stabbed, strangled and had hot liquid poured on his genitals. Prosecutors said he was ‘tortured to death’, having suffered 61 separate injuries.
A huge murder investigation was launched, which shockingly revealed that Campbell’s ex-wife had been in on the plot. Coleen Campbell had fed her former spouse’s killers vital information about his whereabouts.
Stephen Cleworth, Coleen Campbell and Reece Steven
She even used her daughter to confirm where he lived. The pair, who had two children together, had been together for 10 years, but divorced in 2019 following a messy break-up.
Coleen Campbell was found guilty of manslaughter following a trial in 2023, for her role in the horrendous plot. Reece Steven, who Belfield recruited into the crime, and was one of the three attackers to kill Thomas Campbell, was found guilty of murder.
Stephen Cleworth, who Belfield also recruited and planted the tracking device on Campbell’s car, was convicted of manslaughter. He was not present at the scene as he was on a ‘bender’ at a swinger’s club. The trio were all also convicted of conspiring to rob Thomas Campbell.
The third attacker who formed part of the group who attacked Campbell remains unknown and is wanted by police.
Belfield was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 37 years. Coleen Campbell, Steven and Cleworth were all jailed in 2023.
Read the full story here: The cocky murderer who thought he was too clever to be caught
Dean Johnstone
Dean Johnstone(Image: GMP)
A killer who brutally murdered his ex-partner enlisted his siblings to try and help cover up the horrific crime.
Dean Johnstone repeatedly stamped on Karen Youdell’s head and body after she had turned up at the house in Newton Heath where he was living with his new partner. The 50-year-old suffered grave injuries and was left in a coma.
Ms Youdell, a mum-of-four, died about 10 months later after her life support was turned off, Manchester Crown Court heard. In the aftermath of the killing, Dean Johnstone called his sister Lisa Johnstone.
Ms Youdell’s body was moved into the house, and then outside. Glenn Nelson, Lisa Johnstone’s partner, suggested that a bottle of cider should be placed next to her so they could claim she was a ‘pi**head’ who they didn’t know. The emergency services were only called seven hours after the attack.
Karen Youdell(Image: GMP)
Another sister, Yvonne Johnstone, lied to a 999 operator by claiming she didn’t know what had happened to her.
Dean Johnstone, 44, pleaded guilty to murder, while Nelson and the Johnstone sisters were all locked up after admitting perverting the course of justice. “The behaviour of all four of you, in your different ways, was callous and cruel in the extreme,” Judge Alan Conrad KC said, before handing Dean Johnstone a life sentence.
He was ordered to serve a minimum of 17-and-a-half years. Lisa Johnstone, 43, and Nelson, 39, were both sentenced to three years and four months in jail, while Yvonne Johnstone, 45, was sentenced to two years and three months.
Read the full story here: Mum murdered by ex dumped outside as his sisters tried to help cover up brutal killing
Christopher Barlow
Christopher Barlow(Image: GMP)
A killer who murdered a woman and then dragged her body into his shed must serve at least 20 years behind bars.
Christopher Barlow, 62, murdered Mariann Borocz in his home in Bolton. Her body was discovered by police in the shed nine days later. After killing Mariann, he cut or ripped her clothes off and disposed of her belongings.
Ms Borocz, 55, originally from Hungary, was discovered after police launched a huge missing persons search. She was described as a ‘vulnerable’ woman who spoke little English.
Mariann Borocz (Image: GMP)
After being found guilty of murdering her, Barlow was today sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 20 years. A pathologist found no obvious signs of injury, other than a red mark on her neck.
Ms Borocz, a mother-of-two, likely died after being suffocated, Manchester Crown Court heard. She had left her home after 9am on Saturday, December 14 last year and took the short, eight minute walk to Marko’s convenience store on Chorley Old Road. Barlow was already in the shop, buying cans of beer and coffee.
The nature of their relationship is unclear. Barlow claimed he’d never met Ms Borocz. But a woman who ran a nearby shop said he’d seen the pair walking together a few times.
Read the full story here: Murderer dragged woman’s naked body into his shed after killing her
Jack Naylor
Jack Naylor(Image: GMP)
A thug battered his mother’s ex-boyfriend to death after being invited to a birthday party.
Jack Naylor, 22, murdered Thomas Gomm during a ‘brutal attack’ following a party at Naylor’s mother’s house in Salford. The killing came following ‘difficulties’ between the pair, when Lyndsey Davidson had invited her son and ex-partner to her home in Irlam.
Mr Gomm, 44, suffered traumatic head injuries and died two days after the attack, Minshull Street Crown Court heard. After being found guilty of murder, Naylor was handed a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 16 years.
Tom Gomm(Image: Facebook)
His trial heard that Ms Davidson had invited Naylor to her home on Irvine Avenue to celebrate his 22nd birthday. He arrived at about 7.30pm on December 15 last year.
Mr Gomm, from Tyldesley, was ‘vulnerable’ as he was an alcoholic with chronic liver problems and suffered from restricted mobility, the trial heard, while Naylor was described as ‘younger, fitter, faster, stronger’. Ms Davidson, who remained friends with Mr Gomm, planned on decorating her Christmas tree and also celebrating Naylor’s birthday which fell the following day, on December 16.
Mr Gomm arrived after taking a taxi from The Railway pub, where he was a regular and had watched the Manchester derby. Naylor, his mother and Mr Gomm had seemed ‘relaxed’ as they drank vodka together at the party.
Read the full story here: Murderer who battered mum’s ex-boyfriend to death at birthday party learns fate
Direece Roche
Direece Roche(Image: GMP)
A convicted murderer who killed again after being released from prison will die behind bars.
Direece Roche was just 16 when he murdered 23-year-old Adam Steele in Salford. He knifed Mr Steele on New Year’s Day in 2011 after a row in the street.
Roche was handed a life sentence and ordered to serve at least 12 years. Aged 30, within nine months after being released, Roche went on to murder a second victim, his great uncle.
He climbed through a window at Fintan McDwyer’s home in Fallowfield, before killing him in a horrendous attack. Roche stabbed the 64-year-old 77 times to the face, head and body during a ferocious assault.
Fintan McDwyer(Image: GMP)
In court, Roche claimed that Mr McDwyer had sexually abused him as a child. But a jury rejected his case and he was found guilty of murder.
Sentencing him at Manchester Crown Court today (Fri), Mr Justice Bright told Roche: “It is right that I say publicly that it seems extremely unlikely what you said was accurate.”
He described Mr McDwyer as an ‘entirely innocent person’. Describing the murder as ‘premeditated with significant planning’, the judge told Roche: “My clear impression is that you have no remorse or regret of any kind.”
Roche was sentenced to a whole life order, meaning he will never be eligible for parole. He is now among the less than 100 prisoners, among a prison population of about 80,000, serving the rare punishment.
Read the full story here: Convicted killer was released from prison for murder, then did it again
Lee Stewart
Lee Stewart(Image: GMP)
A mum murdered by her partner previously told police he was abusing her.
But Clare Burns told officers that she ‘felt unable to provide a full account’. About a month later, in the early hours of April 7, Lee Stewart fatally assaulted 51-year-old Ms Burns.
An investigation has been launched by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and the outcome has yet to be revealed.
Greater Manchester Police said: “We had previously attended the home a month prior, after a report that Mr Stewart had spat at Clare. Here Clare made an initial disclosure that she had been subject to abuse at the hands of Leonard, known to most as Lee, Stewart, but felt unable to provide a full account to officers.”
Clare Burns
Ms Burns was found dead at her flat in Queens Road, Collyhurst. Stewart, 55, pleaded guilty to murder and sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 16 years and 363 days behind bars.
GMP said of the killer: “He was not witnessed performing CPR or trying to come to Clare’s assistance and was swiftly arrested by officers, as a murder investigation was launched.” She was found to have suffered ‘blunt force head and neck injuries’.
Paying tribute to her, Ms Burns’ family said: “Clare was a loving mother, auntie, sister and daughter. She was funny, outgoing and a very independent person. She was also kind, generous and friendly to anyone she met.”
Read the full story here: Mum murdered by partner previously complained about him to police
Marvin Sutton
Marvin Sutton
A ‘reckless’ car thief who left a beloved granddad to die in the street after he was thrown from the bonnet of a car has been told how his ‘greed’ tore a family apart.
Christopher ‘Chris’ Hanley had been to visit Charlene Thomas, 37, at her flat in Beswick on the morning of March 16 last year.
As she distracted him, Marvin Sutton, 35, swiped the keys to his Land Rover Discovery. Mr Hanley immediately ran over to the driver’s side, before jumping onto the bonnet in order to stop the car as it drove away.
Sutton then flung the vehicle in a ‘U-shape’, throwing the 57-year-old to the ground. Mr Hanley was left with severe head injuries and was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
Christopher Hanley
In an emotional victim impact statement, Mr Hanley’s wife, Helen, said: “Your greed has destroyed my family.”
At Minshull Street Crown Court today, both Sutton and Thomas were jailed. They both since admitted theft, and Sutton pleaded guilty to manslaughter. As he was led from the dock, Sutton pointed to the family of Mr Hanley, who sat in the jury box, and murmured: “Sorry to the family.”
Jailing Sutton for 10-and-a-half years, Judge Maurice Greene told him: “This was a totally avoidable and needless death. Had you thought for one moment about somebody other than yourself, Marvin Sutton, Mr Hanley would still be alive today.”
Thomas, of Moss Lane East, was jailed for five years.
Read the full story here: Beloved granddad killed after being thrown from bonnet as he desperately tried to stop car thief
Joshua Carroll
Joshua Carroll(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
A killer was jailed for life after the brutal murder of a popular and well loved homeless man.
Joshua Carroll, then 27, chased and stamped on Headley Thomas, also known as ‘Barry’ on September 12, 2022. He then left him to die in Penn Park, off Maher Gardens in Old Trafford.
Mr Thomas, 51 suffered severe head injuries, which he succumbed to two and a half weeks after the attack.
Carroll denied murder but was found guilty following a four week trial at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.
Headley Thomas(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
Jailing Carroll, now 30, for life, Judge Maurice Greene said: “This was a senseless death which undoubtedly had a devastating effect on his family.”
Mr Thomas was living in a tent in the park at the time of attack. He was seen on CCTV around midday carrying a bag and riding his bike with Carroll calling out to him and running after him.
The defendant then attacked Mr Thomas in what prosecutors described as a ‘brutal and ferocious attack’. His injuries were caused by the equivalent of a ‘penalty kick’ whilst he lay prone on the floor.
Carroll, of no fixed abode, was jailed for life to serve a minimum term of 18 years in prison before the Parole Board decide if he is safe to be released.
Read the full story here: Murderer jailed for life for ‘ferocious, brutal’ attack on homeless man he left to die in park
Daniel Vesey and Jason Trueman
Daniel Vasey and Jason Trueman(Image: Greater Manchester Police)
The family of a man who died after a brutal attack by two bullying thugs cheered and clapped as they were handed hefty jail terms.
Daniel Vesey and Jason Trueman wreaked a years-long campaign of violent terror on 52-year-old James Thorne before kicking him to death in his own home.
The two thugs made regular visits to Mr Thorne’s home in Wythenshawe over the course of ‘three or four years’, ‘terrorising’ him and his housemate into giving them money after they memorised when he received his benefits payments. Mr Thorne and his housemate, Graham Miller, were too intimidated to report the violence to the police.
On June 14 last year, the violence escalated when Mr Thorne refused to open the locked door for Vesey and Trueman, shouting through the letterbox at them to ‘f**k off’.
James Thorne(Image: GMP)
They returned a few hours later, using Mr Miller’s brother to ‘trick’ him into opening the door before entering the house and brutally attacking both men. Later that day, Mr Thorne collapsed in Tesco and tragically never regained consciousness.
Vesey and Trueman both pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and following a sentencing hearing on Monday, April 14, both men were jailed. Family and friends of Mr Thorne cheered ‘yes’ and clapped as they were taken to the cells.
Judge Suzanne Goddard KC said that despite Mr Thorne’s vulnerabilities he ‘enriched the lives of many others’.
She said both defendants were ‘intimidating’ and ‘bullied people’ to dissuade them from reporting to the police, adding they were ‘fuelled by alcohol and a sense of grievance’.
Vesey, of Farncombe Close, was jailed for 19 years and six months made up of 15 years and six months in prison with an extended licence of four years; and Trueman, of Maybury Street, was jailed for 18 years and 10 months made up of 15 years and 10 months with an extended licence of three years. Both will serve two thirds of the jail term before the Parole Board will deem them safe to be released.
Read the full story here: Screams of ‘yes’ and cheers in court as thugs who killed beloved man learn their fate
Benjamin Obinim
Benjamin Obinim(Image: M.E.N.)
A man stabbed his mum to death before attacking his dad and sister in a ‘rampage of violence’.
Benjamin Obinim, 23, was under the ‘delusional’ belief that his mum, Alberta Obinim, and sister, Bernice Obinim, were ‘witches’ and had put something into his chest.
In August last year, at around 11pm, he barged into his sister’s bedroom, attacking her with a knife, before the violence spilled out onto the street. Neighbours watched on in horror as he repeatedly stabbed his mum, his dad and his sister.
Alberta Obinim(Image: MEN Media)
Alberta, 43, was pronounced dead at the scene. Obinim’s dad, Joshua Obinim, 64, suffered significant internal injuries and remains in hospital. Bernice, 18, was left with serious injuries to her face and body, a court heard.
Police found Obinim sitting in his car nearby with the blood-stained knife. He was arrested and taken to Ashworth hospital where he has remained ever since. He has since been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and still believes something was implanted into his body.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, after previously pleading guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and two offences of wounding with intent, he was handed a hospital order.
Read the full story here: Neighbours watched in horror as killer repeatedly stabbed his mum, dad and sister
Nadeem Begum
Nadeem Mohammed Begum
An evil killer strangled his own daughter-in-law to death at his family home.
Despite his desperate attempts to cover up her murder, Nadeem Mohammed Begum has now been found guilty by a jury after his son’s wife, 24-year-old Mashal Ilyas, was found dead at the bottom of the stairs at the home in Atherton last October.
Issues first came to light between Begum, 53, and Ilyas, who had moved into the family home after marrying Gulrez Nadeem by way of arranged marriage. Court heard how difficulties developed between Ms Ilyas and Begum due to his ‘traditional’ views on her role within the household and his expectation that she cook and clean for the household.
Coming from a ‘liberal’ family in Pakistan, a court was told that there were ‘arguments and upsets’ and she had described her living arrangements to her mother as ‘intolerable’ and a ‘toxic environment’.
Just seven months later, Ms Ilyas was found unconscious at the bottom of the stairs with injuries to her neck. A post mortem report later revealed that she had been subjected to asphyxiation.
But Begum, who had been home at the time, claimed he had been asleep and had not heard anything until he found her. This was disproved by phone evidence showing his phone was active for most of the morning.
He then called his other son, Danish Nadeem, telling jurors he did not know the number for an ambulance.
Begum was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 18 years in prison.
Read the full story here: ‘You were a tyrant, who thought of your daughter-in-law as nothing more than a servant… now you are a murderer’
Kevin Draper
Kevin Draper
A drug dealer who stabbed a neighbour to death was jailed.
Kevin Draper claimed the attack on Jack O’Brien in Leigh last year was in self-defence. Draper, 55, was cleared of murder but convicted of the manslaughter of Mr O’Brien, 27, in December 2024. The attack happened in Draper’s home in Siddow Common.
The court heard Mr O’Brien ‘had not been in the defendant’s home for a few seconds before violence broke out’. The court heard as Mr O’Brien entered Draper’s home he left the door open while two others waited outside.
Jack O’Brien
Mr O’Brien then left the building before going back in, after which ‘the door slammed shut from the inside’, causing the two friends to ‘panic’.
In CCTV footage shown to the court, Mr O’Brien’s two friends were kicking at the door, before going round the back and again back to the front, trying to get in.
They could also be heard shouting ‘open the door’. Mr O’Brien later emerged, walking a short distance before collapsing. He was taken to a friend’s home and said: “I’ve been stabbed, I’m going to die.”
Draper was jailed for 11 years.
Read the full story here: Drug dealer who stabbed neighbour to death GUILTY of manslaughter
Anthony Ellis
Anthony Ellis
A thug was jailed for life after viciously beating a homeless man with a tree branch, leading him to suffer with severe brain injuries dying 12 years later.
Anthony Ellis, was 23 when he assaulted Igor Pavlov, who was homeless, in Whitworth Park on September 11, 2012.
The 41-year-old Mr Pavlov was struck at least five times with a heavy branch and suffered a fracture to the skull and a severe brain injury which left him needing round-the-clock care.
Ellis then called 999 saying he had found the injured man, and pretended to be a Good Samaritan.
He later pleaded guilty to causing wounding with intent in 2013 and was jailed for 12-and-a-half years.
In July 2023, Mr Pavlov died as a result of his injuries, and Ellis, now 36, pleaded guilty to his murder.
Ellis was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 15 years. His time served in prison, namely 12 years and six months, will be deducted from the minimum term, meaning he will serve the remaining two-and-a-half years before being considered safe to be released into the community by the Parole Board.
Read the full story here: ‘Madman’ jailed after vicious attack on homeless man
Hassan Suliman
Hassan Suliman(Image: GMP)
A man who nearly died during a New Year’s Eve knife fight has been jailed for killing his rival, stabbing him through the heart in a bitter row in the street.
Hassan Suliman, 31, fatally knifed 38-year-old Alberto Ursu on the street in Rochdale after a family gathering. He was accused of murder, but was acquitted and instead found guilty of manslaughter following a trial at Manchester Crown Court.
The trial heard that the killing followed after a boozy family party to bring in 2025. Suliman and Mr Ursu were at a gathering at a home on Essex Street but Suliman left, walked outside and ‘attacked a random member of the public’ – a man who had been walking past the house. People inside, including Mr Ursu, went outside to ‘try and calm things down’, the trial heard.
Suliman then became involved in a ‘struggle’ with family members and he told Mr Ursu: “Come on then, if you’re a big man.” They became involved in a fight.
Alberto Ursu(Image: GMP)
The police were called and ordered anyone who did not live there to leave. Mr Ursu returned to his home on Sussex Street with members of his family.
But two hours later, on Essex Street, the pair become involved in a knife fight. Mr Ursu was able to walk a short distance along Essex Street before collapsing. He was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead just after 4am. Suliman was found nearby on Milkstone Road. He almost died from a stab wound to his back and underwent surgery, losing a kidney.
Suliman was handed a 16-year extended sentence which includes a 13-year custodial element. He can be considered for parole two-thirds of the way through the custodial sentence. He also admitted an offence of affray for the attack on the member of the public earlier in the evening.
Read the full story here: Man who nearly died in New Year’s Eve knife fight jailed for fatally stabbing rival through the heart
Jemma Marshall and Jason Wadsworth
Jemma Marshall and Jason Wadsworth(Image: M.E.N, GMP)
A mother and her ‘enforcer’ were jailed over the killing of a vulnerable man after he was viciously attacked as they sought to ‘teach him a lesson’.
Martin Shaw died 55 days after getting into Jemma Marshall’s Audi in Oldham. Marshall ‘recruited’ Jason Wadsworth as an ‘enforcer’ to help her collect a debt from drug addict Mr Shaw.
Mr Shaw, 45, was attacked in the car before being driven back to his home. The police were called, but Mr Shaw did not immediately attend hospital.
He was admitted later after complaining of feeling ill. Mr Shaw was put into an induced coma and died. He had suffered multiple serious injuries, including a ruptured spleen and a number of fractured ribs.
Mr Shaw’s brother Michael said his sibling had been estranged from him for ‘many years’, but described him as a ‘popular’ man with a ‘kind’ and ‘outgoing’ personality. Prior to his death he had been making efforts to stop taking class A drugs.
After a month-long trial which ended last month, jurors found both Marshall and Wadsworth, both 37, not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter. In December, the pair returned to Manchester Crown Court to be sentenced.
Marshall was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, and Wadsworth received an eight-and-a-half year prison term. Wadsworth was also handed an extra two year licence period after being declared a ‘dangerous’ offender.
Read the full story here: The extraordinary secret life of a working mum who turned into a killer