Andrew Bardsley

Courtney Ambrose Lee, 29, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of seven years and 229 days after attacking two women in London and Salford within weeks. He admitted false imprisonment, intentional strangulation and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in the first incident, and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in the second. He was cleared of attempted murder but was found to pose a continuing serious danger. A consecutive 18-month sentence was imposed for breaching a previous suspended sentence.

James Close, a 44-year-old associate of Salford gangster Jamie Rothwell, was found to have benefited from criminal activity worth £1,525,126.45 but has only £546 in available assets, consisting of cash and designer clothing held by authorities. He was given three months to repay the £546 after being convicted of firearms, ammunition, cocaine-supply and criminal-property offences. Close helped adulterate drugs for Rothwell’s gang and was involved in acquiring an AK-47. Rothwell received a 43-year prison sentence for organizing violence, drug operations and firearms activity, while Craig Makinson was linked to £2.5 million of cocaine, heroin and amphetamine dealing and helped finance the rifle. Proceeds-of-crime hearings involving Rothwell, Makinson and others were adjourned until October.

A man was convicted of murdering his sister’s partner after footage from a pet-monitoring camera disproved his claims of self‑defence. Anthony Junior Murray fatally stabbed Joe Burton in his Bury flat on New Year’s Eve, then misled police with false accounts of the incident. Prosecutors argued he used his own combat knife and attempted to hide the weapon while fabricating stories about another attacker. The dog‑camera recording captured the stabbing, leading jurors to reject Murray’s version of events and find him guilty by majority verdict. He will be sentenced on August 7.

A drunk man, Kristen Naylor, assaulted his father, injured a dog, and later threw a Pot Noodle and a flapjack at a police officer in custody, striking the officer in the groin. He received a suspended 12‑month sentence, unpaid work, rehabilitation requirements, an alcohol ban, mental health treatment, and was ordered to pay prosecution costs after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including assaulting an emergency worker.