{"id":458003,"date":"2025-09-28T13:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T13:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/458003\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T13:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T13:52:11","slug":"career-criminal-acted-as-driver-for-gang-targeting-businesses-across-greater-manchester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/458003\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Career criminal&#8217; acted as driver for gang targeting businesses across Greater Manchester"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Danny Cawley has been locked up<\/p>\n<p>14:06, 28 Sep 2025Updated 14:06, 28 Sep 2025<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_Danny-Cawley-mugshotn1.jpg\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Danny Cawley(Image: GMP)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">A gang which carried out organised ram raids at businesses across Greater Manchester caused at least \u00a3260,000 worth of losses to firms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">The outfit targeted business premises across the region, using the same modus operandi. Thieves would ram raid the shutters to force them open, or would instead would use tools to gain access to properties and make off with their loot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">One of the thieves, \u2018career criminal\u2019 Danny Cawley from <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/oldham\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Oldham<\/a>, has been jailed for six years for his part in what a judge described as \u2018very serious, professionally planned and targeted burglaries\u2019. He acted as the driver for the gang, and pleaded guilty to 25 counts of burglary, and a further count of attempted burglary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">Minshull Street Crown Court heard that collectively, damage or theft worth at least \u00a3260,000 had been caused to the businesses affected. Prosecuting, Hayley Bennett told how the crime spree ran from April to August last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Sign up to the MEN Court newsletter <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/?view=Solus&amp;mailingListId=20e6d460-68fa-42af-9907-eafc9053a79a&amp;utm_source=solusarticle\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"hereLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">Firms in <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/stockport\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Stockport<\/a>, <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/trafford\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Trafford<\/a> Park, <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/rochdale\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Rochdale<\/a>, Oldham and <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/salford\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Salford<\/a> were among those to be targeted. <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/greater-manchester-police\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Greater Manchester Police<\/a> launched a dedicated operation to tackle the thefts. Another offender has been identified, while the identity of a third remains unknown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">A businesswoman who runs a salon in Ashton-under-Lyne which was targeted by the gang told of her concern for her staff following the incident. She said: \u201cI am worried about their mental well being, I want my staff to feel safe when they come to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">Defending Cawley, Mark Fireman said that the defendant had become involved after racking up gambling debts. Judge Tina Landale told Cawley: &#8220;You pleaded guilty to a number of commercial burglaries across the Greater Manchester region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">&#8220;Most of those offences involved ram raiding the shutters or tools were used to cut through the shutters in order to enter the commercial properties. This was very serious, professionally planned and targeted burglaries.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">The judge said that as the gang&#8217;s driver, Cawley had played a &#8216;crucial role&#8217;. She added: &#8220;The offences have caused anxiety, stress and insecurity with significant financial impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">&#8220;At least \u00a3260,000 worth of damage and theft was caused over a three month period. You are a career criminal. There is, in reality, little mitigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">Cawley, of Huddersfield Road, Oldham, was told he would serve at least 40 per cent of his sentence behind bars before being released on licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danny Cawley has been locked up 14:06, 28 Sep 2025Updated 14:06, 28 Sep 2025 Danny Cawley(Image: GMP) A&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,30,393,4884,2465,1286,1170,1290,1288,1289,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-458003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-oldham","14":"tag-rochdale","15":"tag-salford","16":"tag-stockport","17":"tag-trafford","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115282257277176760","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}