A husband and wife who helped arrange the import and export of more than £1m worth of drugs are among the criminals locked up in Greater Manchester this week. Guixiang Liu and Yanfeng He used cushion covers, speakers and picture frames to conceal shipments of MDMA and cannabis, a court was told. Packages were then prepared for shipment to the Solomon Islands, Argentina and Australia, in what was described as a 'sophisticated, organised, sustained' trafficking operation.
Drug Trafficking and Sex Ring Sentences
A man who ran a sex ring, repeatedly beating and raping two women he forced to work in a network of brothels across Greater Manchester, was also jailed. Ionut-Robert Marghiol was at the heart of an operation that brought Romanian women to the UK, where he put them to work as sex workers in Manchester, Bolton, and Bury.
High-profile sentencing hearings have also taken place in neighbouring Lancashire and Cheshire. Here is a round-up of the criminals locked up in Greater Manchester and surrounding areas this week.
Drug Seizures and Violent Attacks
Moatz Elkomsi was locked up after police seized suspected class A and B drugs worth an estimated £100,000 from a vehicle in Manchester. The 23-year-old, of no fixed address, was jailed for three years and two months at Manchester Crown Square Court after pleading guilty to possession of class A and B drugs with intent to supply. The drugs recovered included cocaine, MDMA, ketamine and cannabis, with their combined street value believed to exceed £100,000. It came after officers identified an Audi parked on Heald Grove which they suspected was connected to criminal activity.
Three thugs who tied a Cheshire man to a chair, hit him with a metal bar and forced his head underwater have been locked up. Millie McGreavy, Joshua Hastie and Reece Jackson were arrested after police launched a manhunt for the trio, lasting almost a week. They were discovered after making a string of threatening calls and messages to the victim's mum, demanding money for his release and warning that he would be 'chopped up' if she did not pay out £2,000.
Sexual Offences and Fraud
A paedophile rapist who shared footage of his victims in the most depraved corners of the dark web has been jailed following a landmark forensic investigation. Darren Welsby raped and sexually abused six children over eight years, then distributed videos of his abuse on vile forums frequented by other sick paedophiles. He was arrested by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers at Manchester Airport in August 2020, when his phone was seized. Now, thanks to the use of pioneering forensic techniques, Welsby has been jailed for 23 years.
Three members of an organised crime gang have been jailed after they stole thousands of pounds from pensioners across the country using a cruel trick at cash machines. Ionut Matei, 40, Vasile Ciubotaru, 45, and Ramonel Mandache, 51, together stole more than £40,000 from their 'vulnerable' victims. The trio targeted people using ATMs in Halifax bank, including in the Stockport and Bury branches, and at Lloyds Bank.
Evil predator Nathan Owens was welcomed into a new family with open arms - a trust he betrayed in the most terrible way by sexually assaulting and then murdering his student step-daughter in her halls of residence. Nathan Owens, 34, had a 'disgusting sexual obsession' and 'perverted infatuation' with Carla Georgescu. He slaughtered her in student digs in Preston the day before her 20th birthday. She was found suspended from a wardrobe with sexual and defensive injuries and bleeding from a stab wound to her face. Owens was told by a judge he must serve a minimum of 35 years before he is eligible for parole.
A man has been jailed for child sexual offences dating back more than 20 years after his victim bravely came forward. Daley Sweeney committed the sick crimes on two occasions against the same boy more than two decades ago. Police say the 39-year-old, from Macclesfield, showed no remorse and 'refused to take accountability' for his actions. Sweeney, of HMP Dovegate, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault on a boy under 16. He appeared in Chester Crown Court last Friday (October 16), where he was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Kenny Cox, 46, carried out separate attacks on two terrified victims he met on the dating app Tinder after nights out three years apart. Today the 'violent sexual offender' was beginning a long jail sentence after he was found guilty of horrific crimes following a retrial. One woman said: "The last five years have changed me in ways I never wanted or expected. I hope that now the court process has finally reached its conclusion, I can begin to heal, rebuild my confidence and trust, and move forward with my life."
A former primary school headteacher has been jailed after taking an indecent image of a child and downloading hundreds of vile child abuse pictures over around five years. Having been suspended from his role as principal of King's Northway Primary Academy in Wavertree following his arrest, Mathew Hargreaves went on to claim he had innocently stumbled across these disturbing materials while browsing swingers websites. Ultimately forced to admit the truth over his "deeply ingrained sexual perversion", a judge told him as he was locked up: "To the outside world, you were happily married, in good employment and living a fine life. That has all come crashing to the ground. But it is important that you understand it has crashed to the ground because of what you did. It is nobody else’s fault but yours."
