Ashlie Blakey

Norwegian teenager Johannes Kongsnes Natland was convicted at the Old Bailey of conspiring to murder an unidentified person in the UK after travelling to Manchester under instructions from the Foxtrot Network, a criminal operation associated with activities on behalf of Iran. Police arrested him in a Huddersfield hotel two days after his arrival and found a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver, 19 rounds of ammunition and cash. Digital messages, CCTV and recordings showed he had received detailed instructions and a proposed €25,000 payment. Natland had already pleaded guilty to firearms and ammunition offences and is due to be sentenced in October.

Emergency services recovered the body of a woman in her sixties from the water in the Island Lodge area of Bury, with police confirming no suspicious circumstances. The incident occurred on Sunday evening near Mill Street in Tottington. It followed two other water-related emergencies in Greater Manchester over the weekend involving teenage boys, one found dead in a reservoir in Stalybridge and another still missing in the River Irwell in Salford.