A drunk holidaymaker who had to be handcuffed to a chair during a flight was among the criminals jailed this week in Greater Manchester.
The captain of the flight from Cancun to Manchester Airport was on the verge of diverting the plane due to Alexander Rogers’ behaviour. During the ‘appalling’ display, Rogers, who later told police he had six double vodkas before boarding, called one member of cabin crew an 'Arab b****'.
Others to have been jailed this week included a murderer who killed his mother, a drugs gang and a thug who battered the mother of his children when she refused to make him a brew.
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Prison terms are handed out to the worst offenders in court each week. Manchester Evening News court reporters are on hand to cover the most serious cases.
Alexander Rogers
A drunk holidaymaker who shouted vile abuse at cabin crew on an eight-hour flight from Mexico back to Manchester Airport has been jailed.
Two off-duty police officers on the TUI flight from Cancun were forced to step in to try to calm self-employed scaffolder Alexander Rogers, 40, who was subsequently handcuffed to a chair, a court was told. Rogers - who later told police he had six double vodkas before boarding - called one member of cabin crew an 'Arab b****'.
The court heard that after being handcuffed, he shouted: "You can't f******' cuff me. Black Lives Matter. I am not a terrorist. I am not a danger to the plane. I am not a terrorist."
Rogers, from Rochdale, pushed the shoulder of another member of cabin crew and said to her: "Just f*** off. Get f*****"
A judge, who heard children and families were forced to move seats, called his behaviour 'quite appalling' and said everyone on board was a victim as they couldn't go anywhere at 36,000ft. The captain was even on the verge of diverting the plane, Manchester Crown Court was told.
Judge Paul Lawton said Rogers boarded the flight drunk and continued drinking. Sentencing him, he said he behaved in a 'quite appalling manner'.
Judge Lawton said children were moved because of him and said: "The victims are everyone on that flight. No one has anywhere to go at 36,000ft. It is not a pub, where people can walk out. There are people who say they will not fly again when they see people like this."
Rogers pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Manchester Magistrates' Court to being drunk on board an aircraft; a racially or religiously-aggravated harassment charge and assault by beating. He was jailed for six months.
Stephen Ball
A mother was murdered by her son in unexplained circumstances during a ‘sustained’ and ‘violent’ attack.
Stephen Ball, 32, was told he would serve a minimum of 15 years before he can be considered for release after he killed his mother, 55-year-old Suzanne Galvin. Police were called to the house they shared in Bury after receiving reports from neighbours of a disturbance, Bolton Crown Court heard.
Ball had been heard shouting 'thieving b****' and 'Mum, let me in'. He had called his grandmother who lived in Ireland, claiming that he had discovered his mother injured in the flat and struggling to breathe. She also alerted the emergency services in England.
When the emergency services arrived at the property on Pear Avenue on September 16 last year, they discovered that Ms Galvin had suffered ‘serious injuries’ as a result of a ‘violent assault’. She died two days later from head injuries sustained by ‘blunt force’.
A pathologist noticed that she had sustained ‘distinctive’ bruising to her face which were ‘consistent with kicks or stamping’. The bruising was also consistent with the sole of Ball's Asics trainers. Ms Galvin had also suffered bruising to both arms and both of her forearms were fractured.
When the emergency services arrived at the property on Pear Avenue on September 16 last year, they discovered that Ms Galvin had suffered ‘serious injuries’ as a result of a ‘violent assault’. She died two days later from head injuries sustained by ‘blunt force’.
A pathologist noticed that she had sustained ‘distinctive’ bruising to her face which were ‘consistent with kicks or stamping’. The bruising was also consistent with the sole of Ball's Asics trainers. Ms Galvin had also suffered bruising to both arms and both of her forearms were fractured.
Ball was found guilty of murder after a trial.
John Watson
A thug who battered the mother of his children when she refused to make him a brew told a court: "I'm not a horrible person." On another occasion, John Watson, 37, got the woman in a headlock and threw a shoe at her when she didn't respond quickly enough to his request to use her vape.
Watson has now been jailed after a court heard details of his 'truly atrocious' criminal record. Watson, of Sherdley Road, Crumpsall, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH); and battery. The hearing was told he has 83 convictions for 159 offences.
The author of a pre-sentence report said Watson told them that 'agencies always believe birds' and 'don't believe men's side of the story'. "Not exactly the best indication of remorse," judge Angela Nield said.
Watson, appearing via videolink from HMP Forest Bank, repeatedly interrupted barristers and the judge during the hearing. He said: "I was with her for years. I looked after her, I was good to her, but none of that gets mentioned.”
Judge Nield sentenced Watson to a year in prison. She told him: "This is clearly a relationship that has been troubled on and off for some time and characterised, on and off, by the use of drugs and alcohol. You originally faced more serious charges but these have not been pursued.
"At 37-years-old you have a quite appalling record of previous convictions. Many of them are of a similar nature to these offences. However, there does not appear to be an escalation in the level of violence committed. The guidelines suggest a level of sentence however your case is significantly aggravated by your record."
Samuel Yagoub, Zakaria Haffow and Khalid Yahya
Three men who ran drug lines that sent out thousands of messages flogging Class As have been jailed.
The drug lines, named 'Nasty' and 'Tyrone', sent and received just over 100,000 calls and messages between December 21, 2023 and October 31 this year, Manchester Crown Court heard.
The phones would routinely send out a series of ‘flare messages’ advertising the sale of the drugs, letting customers know substances were available for delivery.
Behind the operation was Samuel Yagoub, Zakaria Haffow and Khalid Yahya. They were eventually caught out following an investigation by GMP's specialist County Lines Team.
Haffow and Yagoub pleaded guilty on the second day of the trial to being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and heroin and cocaine. Yahya admitted to running one of the Tyrone lines and Haffow another. Yagoub admitted to running the Nasty line.
Yagoub, 25, of Briercliffe Road, Bolton was jailed for six years; Haffrow, 21, of Beaconsfield Street, Bolton was jailed for seven years and Yahya, 22, of Netherfield Road, Bolton was jailed for four years and three months.
