Category Archives: Greater Manchester

Tooting taxis and no Greggs queue: Manchester calm as rail strikes begin

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While picketers receive support, it’s quiet on the roads, and the train to Preston is running late as usual

Assembling their picket line outside Manchester Piccadilly station at 6am on Tuesday, the striking rail workers wondered if they would receive a hostile reaction from those inconvenienced. But instead of abuse they received toots of support from passing buses and taxis, while cyclists rang their bells.

“Passengers who use our railways day in, day out support us. They know that most of us are not on the inflated wages you see thrown about by rightwing commentators and newspapers,” said Clayton Clive, the RMT branch secretary for Manchester. About 950 of his 1,500 members had downed tools for the day, he said, a turnout of 63%.

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‘Serious failings’ left children exposed to abuse in Oldham, finds damning review

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Report singles out failings by police and council and suggests senior officials may have misled MPs

Vulnerable children were left exposed to sexual exploitation in Oldham because of “serious failings” by the police and council, a damning independent review has found.

The report found there were multiple missed opportunities to prevent abuse stretching back to 2005, including offences committed by a council welfare officer who was later convicted of 30 rapes.

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Hundreds gather in Manchester to oppose Rwanda deportation plan

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Protesters march in city centre as anger grows over Priti Patel’s refugee scheme

Hundreds of Mancunians – many of them from charities, campaign groups and religious organisations – gathered in the city’s St Peter’s Square on Sunday to protest against the government’s plan to deport refugees to Rwanda.

With just two days to go before the first refugees are due to board flights to the central African country, the protest was one of a number taking place across the UK, and was happening amid further legal challenges after the high court ruled last week that the flights can go ahead.

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Man, 44, arrested after 15-year-old boy stabbed to death in Manchester

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Man arrested in Kent after teenager was killed and his mother injured on Thursday night

A 44-year-old man has been arrested in Kent on suspicion of murder after a teenage boy was stabbed to death and his mother was injured at a Manchester home, Greater Manchester police said.

Police said the man, from Manchester, is believed to be known to the victims. Officers were called by colleagues from North West ambulance service at about 9.30pm on Thursday after the domestic incident in Miles Platting.

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Nurse fined £10k over NHS pay protest in lockdown wins compensation

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Greater Manchester police agree to withdraw penalty notices issued to two nurses for socially distanced protest in March 2021

Two NHS nurses have won compensation from Greater Manchester police (GMP) after being fined over a socially distant protest about NHS pay during lockdown.

Karen Reissmann, a 61-year-old mental health nurse who worked throughout the pandemic, received a £10,000 fixed penalty notice for organising the protest on 7 March 2021 over the government’s proposed 1% pay rise for NHS workers.

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Police force refers itself to IOPC over boy killed by dog near Rochdale

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Officers reportedly investigated previous attacks on people by dogs from same property where three-year-old was attacked

Greater Manchester police have referred themselves to the independent complaints body after it emerged that officers had had previous involvement in the case of a three-year-old boy killed by a dog.

The child died on Sunday after what police described as a “tragic, devastating incident” at a farm property on Carr Lane, Milnrow, near Rochdale.

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‘I forget everything’: the benefits of nature for mental health

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As campaign launched to enshrine right to green space, Bolton woman describes how ‘tranquility walks’ helped her through lockdown

During Covid lockdowns, Sharon Powell felt alone. She was caring for her father, 90, who was deteriorating from Parkinson’s disease and dementia, and looking after him had become increasingly difficult.

Social life in her community in Johnson Fold, Bolton, had been Powell’s escape from the pressure at home, but when Covid restrictions were introduced “everything was just gone”. She was depressed, anxious and having panic attacks “like a washing machine on full spin”.

This article was amended on 21 February 2022, to correct the spelling of Trish Goodwin’s name.

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Police had intel on Manchester Arena bomber years before attack, inquiry told

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Detectives found Salman Abedi had exchanged 1,300 text messages with another suspected terrorist in 2014

Intelligence that linked the Manchester Arena bomber to another suspected terrorist was uncovered by detectives three years before the 2017 bombing but was never passed on for further investigation, an inquiry has heard.

Detectives found the name, photo and phone number of Salman Abedi during an investigation into Abdalraouf Abdallah in 2014.

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Two men taken to hospital after double shooting near Wigan

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Shots fired at property in Hawthorn Grove, Leigh at about 5.45pm on Wednesday shortly before second shooting in Shadwell Grove

Two men have been taken to hospital after a double shooting near Wigan.

Gunshots were fired at a property in Hawthorn Grove, Leigh at about 5.45pm on Wednesday evening before a second shooting shortly after in Shadwell Grove.

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‘Don’t write me off because I’m in a wheelchair’: Manchester Arena survivor takes on Kilimanjaro

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Martin Hibbert, who was 5 metres from the deadly explosion, is now tackling Africa’s highest mountain

It was a month after the Manchester Arena attack when Martin Hibbert learned the catastrophic toll of his injuries. He and his 14-year-old daughter, Eve, on a “daddy daughter day” to an Ariana Grande concert, were 5 metres from the explosion that killed 22 people and injured hundreds more in May 2017.

Hibbert, 45, from Chorley in Lancashire, was told he would never walk again. Eve would probably never see, hear, speak or move – if she made it out of hospital. They were the closest to the bomb to survive.

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Teacher and partner jailed after they filmed themselves abusing girl

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Julie Morris, who was head of safeguarding at primary school, admitted 18 child sexual abuse offences

A deputy headteacher and her partner have been jailed for child sexual abuse offences after they filmed themselves abusing and raping a girl.

Julie Morris, a teacher who was also head of safeguarding at a primary school in Wigan, was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison after she pleaded guilty to 18 child sexual abuse offences, including two counts of rape.

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Supermodel Karen Elson on fashion’s toxic truth: ‘I survived harassment, body shaming and bullying – and I’m one of the lucky ones’

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She has been at the top of the industry for decades. Now she’s speaking out about the dark reality of life behind the scenes

When Karen Elson was a young hopeful trying to make it in Paris, a model scout took her to a nightclub. After long days on the Métro trekking to castings that came to nothing, and evenings alone in a run-down apartment, she was excited to be out having fun. The music was good and the scout, to whom her agent had introduced her, kept the drinks coming. She started to feel tipsy. A friend of the scout’s arrived, and the pair started massaging her shoulders, making sexual suggestions. “I was 16 and I’d never kissed a boy,” she recalls. “It was my first experience of sexual – well, sexual anything, and this was sexual harassment. They both had their hands on me.”

She told them she wanted to go home, and left to find a taxi, but they followed her into it, kissing her neck on the back seat. When they reached her street, she jumped out, slammed the taxi door and ran inside. The next day she told another model what had happened, and the scout found out. “His reaction was to corner me in the model agency and say: ‘I’ll fucking get you kicked out of Paris if you ever fucking say anything ever again.’”

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‘They’re in the way’: Manchester rebels against grey advertising boxes

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Pedestrians call them ugly and a nuisance but council says money is sorely needed after years of cuts

Earlier this year, Manchester city council declared ambitions to become a pedestrian paradise. “We want walking to be the main way people get around the city centre,” proclaimed the town hall’s transport plan. “Pavements and public spaces will be high quality, well-maintained, green and accessible – catering for everyone, no matter what their age or mobility.”

Yet this autumn, 86 mysterious grey boxes were plonked on pavements across the city which did pretty much the opposite. Measuring more than a metre across, the metal monoliths obstructed the footway, failing what transport engineers call “the double buggy test” while upsetting wheelchair users and aesthetes alike.

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Age no barrier to activism: how UK’s young and old built bonds in Covid

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The pandemic may have separated us, but it has created alliances too. Five diverse pairings share their stories

Unexpected friendships spanning four – and sometimes five – generations have sprung up between volunteers engaged in “crisis campaigning” during the pandemic.

Experts said the unusual bonding between those in their 60s and older, and those in their early 20s and younger, has been partly galvanised by the enforced separation of the generations during lockdown, leading the age groups to value each other in a way they had not previously.

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Yorkshire police poster warns against trick or treating this Halloween

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Force says it is discouraging the activity this year along with organised events because of Covid

A police force in the north of England is trying to discourage children from trick or treating this Halloween because of Covid-19.

South Yorkshire police (SYP) have produced a poster residents can print out and put in their windows saying “No trick or treaters”, with a picture of a silhouetted pumpkin crossed out like a no-entry sign.

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Manchester Arena bombing: MI5 officer accepts ‘different actions would have stopped plot’

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Salman Abedi was not stopped and questioned on return to UK from Libya, inquiry hears

A senior MI5 officer has accepted that stopping and questioning the Manchester Arena terrorist, Salman Abedi, when he returned to the UK from Libya could have led police to the bomb.

The inquiry being held into the atrocity, which killed 22 concertgoers and injured hundreds of others, was hearing evidence from an intelligence officer given the pseudonym Witness J.

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English cities to receive transport boost of almost £7bn in budget

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Funding will be used to help ‘level up’ regions including Greater Manchester and West Midlands

Almost £7bn will be allocated in next week’s budget to “level up” urban transport in cities around England, the government has said.

City regions will receive a total of about £5.7bn in sustainable transport cash, while another £1.2bn will go towards improving bus services.

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Manchester Arena bomber’s brother leaves UK before inquiry testimony

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Ismail Abedi had been ordered to attend hearing, as childhood friend arrested trying to leave country

The older brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber has left the UK and there is no indication of whether he will return in time to give evidence this week to the public inquiry into the atrocity, it has emerged.

The bomber’s childhood friend Ahmed Taghdi tried to leave the country on Monday as well but was arrested, the public inquiry was told on Tuesday.

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Conditions that led to 2011 riots still exist today, experts warn

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Data analysis finds large-scale cuts to youth services and increase in racial disparity 10 years on

The conditions that led to riots across England 10 years ago still exist today, experts have warned, as data analysis showed significant cuts to youth services in affected areas and an increase in racial disparity in stop and search.

On 4 August 2011, police officers shot and killed Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old mixed-race man, in Tottenham, north London. His death sparked a wave of civil unrest that started the capital and spread to other cities, causing property damage to the value of £40m a day.

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‘A lasting legacy of tolerance’: Marcus Rashford messages to be preserved

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Notes left on defaced Manchester mural will be removed to protect from rain, amid plans for digital exhibition

Thousands of messages left on the mural of footballer Marcus Rashford in Manchester will be removed and preserved on Friday, to protect them from forecasted rain this weekend.

A team of archivists and conservators will detach the tributes so they are preserved for future generations to mark the national moment of solidarity that followed the mural being defaced and a torrent of racist abuse was targeted at the player on social media, as well as England teammates Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho.

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