Four Portuguese nationals jailed for their parts in a revenge attack on a 16-year-old boy are among the criminals locked up in Greater Manchester this week. The men were sentenced after pleading guilty to manslaughter following a clash between two rival gangs in Moston on November 5, 2020, in which Alexander John Soyoye, known as John, was stabbed 15 times and died in the street.
Revenge attack in Moston
Ruben Candiza, Valdo De-Almeida, Marco Veiga, and Emerson Teta were this week jailed after pleading guilty to manslaughter. While they did not take part in the attack, they accepted being in possession of weapons during the melee. The four had gone on trial accused of murder and violent disorder at Manchester Crown Court. Three weeks into the trial, and as their defence cases were due to begin, they changed their pleas to guilty and admitted manslaughter. They were all cleared of murder.
The court heard that the stabbing of a relative of Francesco Raji, said to be a member of M40, in Piccadilly Gardens in the afternoon of November 5, was the catalyst for the brutal 'revenge' attack which resulted in John's death hours later. After a 'call to arms', RTD members later went to Moston to 'exact revenge', with the men becoming involved in a violent melee. M40 gang members became overwhelmed and fled. John was disarmed and injured in the earlier fight by Brent Tchipenda, and became isolated from the rest of the M40. He was then brutally set upon, being punched, kicked and stabbed, suffering 15 blows to his body. John died at the scene.
In the wake of the attack Candiza, De-Almeida, Veiga, Teta and a fifth man fled the country to 'evade arrest'. They were each 20 at the time, save for De-Almeida who was 21. A fifth man remains in Portugal.
Candiza, of Appleby Walk, Royton, Oldham, was jailed for 10 years and eight months; De-Almeida, of Brierley Street, Oldham, was jailed for 10 years and two months; Veiga, of Burnsall Grove, Royton, Oldham was jailed for 10 years and three months; and Teta, of Chestnut Crescent, Oldham, was jailed for 10 years and five months.
Paranoid thug jailed for life
Courtney Ambrose Lee, 29, a paranoid thug who launched 'utterly terrifying' attacks on women, has been jailed for life. Lee terrorised his victims in attacks committed within days of each other. His former partner 'genuinely believed' that Lee would kill her during an attack, while in the second ordeal his victim was left with life-threatening injuries following an incident in a flat in Salford.
Manchester Crown Court heard that two weeks prior to the attack in Salford, Lee became 'paranoid' towards his then partner, aged 25, at a property in Tower Hamlets, London. He demanded to see her phone, and then accused her of 'betraying' him. Lee then punched her, causing her nose to bleed. He prevented her from leaving the bedroom, barricading the door with furniture. Lee punched her again. He locked the door and stopped her from leaving. The judge told Lee that the woman 'genuinely believed' he was going to kill her. She eventually managed to escape and ran for help.
The attack on the second woman happened in the early hours of March 29 last year. Lee had left London and was staying in a flat in Salford with the victim who was unaware of the previous assault in the capital. She began to notice that his behaviour changed after he used cocaine, again becoming paranoid. He suddenly became violent, grabbing her and throwing her against a door, then throwing her around the room. Lee stabbed her with a kitchen knife, and subjected her to a 'prolonged' knife attack. He stabbed her repeatedly. She begged him to stop, but Lee just continued. He began dragging her around the floor by her hair, and at one point dragged her towards the balcony of the ninth-floor flat. She managed to escape him and banged on a neighbour's door to get help before collapsing.
Lee, of no fixed address, was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of seven years 229 days, after pleading guilty to false imprisonment, intentional strangulation and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to the first attack, and pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in relation to the second.
Sonic drug lines gang jailed
Three members of a gang who ran drugs lines named after characters from Sonic the Hedgehog have been sentenced after they were caught targeting university students in south Manchester and huge events such as Parklife. Akeel Knight-Pascoe, 33, from Whalley Range, known as 'Knuckles', was behind four drugs lines named after characters from the popular video game, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and Shadow. He promoted the lines on Snapchat and also with business cards and lighters which contained contact details.
His team of dealers and accomplices mainly targeted university students living in Fallowfield, south Manchester, but they also supplied a vast array of drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy, 2CB and 'magic mushrooms' at large events such as Parklife, Manchester Crown Court was told. The police investigation, Op Stallion, led police to other members of the gang including Akeel's brother Lawreem Knight-Pascoe, 27, a father of three who took over management when Akeel was arrested the second time and remanded into custody. Akeel regarded his younger brother as his 'trusted lieutenant'.
Lawreem, who also had previous convictions including for supplying drugs, was arrested and he told police: "Although I was not pressured to do this, I felt I was looking out for my family by helping my brother." Police also arrested another member of the gang, Ellesse Fricker, 27, a mother who worked as a cleaner, at her home in Oldham and immediately found cannabis plants with flowering buds in the front bedroom. Analysis of her phones showed she made efforts to get the drugs line going again when Akeel was behind bars.
Akeel Knight-Pascoe, of Yarburgh Street in Whalley Range, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after he admitted a series of drug crimes including dealing class A drugs and possessing criminal property. Lawreem Knight-Pascoe, of Bolton Road in Worsley, was jailed for four years after he pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A, B and C drugs. Ellesse Fricker, of Kimberley Street in Oldham, was handed a prison sentence of two years and eight months after she pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A, B and C drugs and possessing criminal property.
Controlling boyfriend jailed
A controlling boyfriend left bite marks on his former partner during a violent assault in which he back-handed her across the face and also forced her to hang half out of an open window. Kius Francis, 29, subjected his ex-girlfriend to the horrific attack in November 2024 after almost two years of coercive and controlling behaviour towards her. Francis and the victim had been in a relationship from the ages of 13 to 17, then rekindled their relationship in 2022. The victim described the relationship as 'stressful and abusive' with defendant Francis 'having good days and horrible days'.
On November 6 2024 the victim woke up at around 6.40am to Francis 'pulling the pillow' out from under her head. She went to take it back, at which point Francis said she had 'hit him in the lip'. He then backhanded her in the face saying 'that's what you get for hitting me' and told her to f*** off. As she tried to flee, he grabbed her by the neck and pushed her upper body out of the window. The woman fought back and hit him, after which he spat blood over her. Francis then shoved her into the boiler cupboard and threw her belongings in the hall. She asked if she could put some clothes on and he threw her into the front room. As she tried to put some clothing on, he forced her to leave naked. Police who attended later observed a deep dark bruise to her right bicep, and three foot prints and a bite mark on her back.
Francis pleaded guilty to possession of a class B substance in November 2024, and was later convicted after trial of assault causing actual bodily harm and coercive and controlling behaviour. Francis, of Cross Street in Sale, was jailed for 26 months.
Paedophile jailed for grooming
A man groomed a young girl over social media before meeting her and abusing her in her own home. The girl was just 13 when she was contacted by paedophile Stephen Lee Hallmark on Facebook. He then began messaging her on Snapchat despite her having told him her age. Hallmark, 28 and from Liverpool, falsely claimed he was 20 and persuaded the girl to tell her family he was just 15, police said. He told officers in interview that he didn't want her to think he was an 'old b*****d'.
Just a month after they began speaking, Hallmark arranged to meet her in person and began sexually abusing her when they met at her home. Sexual activity occurred during three further visits over the following three months, following which he was arrested. As police investigated his crimes, he tried to discourage the girl from speaking to police, telling her to 'go no comment' and threatening to kill himself if she revealed what had happened.
Hallmark, of Allington Street in the St Michael's area of south Liverpool, was jailed for six years after being convicted of meeting a girl under 16 following grooming and four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.
