Police are appealing for the public’s help to trace a wanted man from Salford.

GMP are looking for information on the whereabouts of Ryan O’Neil (04/01/90) who was released from prison in February 2019 but has since failed to abide by the terms of his licence.

He was jailed in August 2018 for driving offences and is known to have links to the Salford area.

Anybody who has any information regarding Ryan's whereabouts should contact the police on 0161 856 5238.

Alternatively, the independent charity - Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

He was deemed fit for release by parole officers but within months of his release from prison he was back to his old form again and it has landed this serial sex-offender back behind bars where he belongs.

55-year-old Melvin Orme from Eccles had set about prowling the Trafford Centre for victims within just five months of being released from a life sentence for an attempted rape committed against a 16-year-old girl back in 1998.

Orme has a string of prior convictions for attempted rape as well as rape & indecent assault. It was disclosed that he had acquired a shocking 30 convictions dating as far back as 1979.

Several women were sexually assaulted by Orme over a four day period starting on October 19th at the popular shopping centre in Trafford - before he was finally arrested on October 22nd after CCTV footage caught him in the act.

In sentencing at Minshul Street the judge sentenced the prolific sex-offender to a further 32 months and made him subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years, he was already previously placed on the sex offenders register for life.

Photo: GMP

Monton graphic designer Ollie Wynn is to honour his late auntie Rita Joyce when he takes part in the Asics Manchester Marathon in her memory on Sunday, April 5 2020.

Ollie, has joined the St Ann’s Hospice team for the event as a thank you for caring for his much loved aunt Rita before she died of cancer 18 months ago aged-78.

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"I'm running for St Ann's because I want to help them continue their amazing work.

"The hospice looked after my auntie and supported our family so brilliantly in her final weeks.

"She was a fabulous woman as anyone who knew her would agree and was loved by everyone. She was a huge character and had a cheeky sense of humour that could light up any room.

"The hospice relies on charitable donations to keep its doors open and St Ann's needs to raise £20,000 a day to continue to provide the care and support so many patients and families need."

 

It will be Ollie’s first marathon after he ran a 10k in his home city and a 5k race in New York.

To sponsor Ollie visit justgiving.com/fundraising/olliewynn

You can help raise money for this beloved hospice based in Little Hulton, details can be found below.

The 2020 course has a new route with a three-mile city centre loop with the finish line at the Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground.

Entry is free for runners pledging to raise £300 for St Ann’s – the amount which could pay for a patient to attend a day therapy session at the hospice.

Perks as a Team St Ann’s member include a #TeamStAnns running vest; fundraising pack; training and nutrition advice; a cheer point along the route; regular meet-ups; post-race reception and an events team supporting runners every step of the way.

Runners with their own place have no minimum sponsorship.  For more details or to join Team St Ann’s for another challenge this year, email events@sah.org.uk or call 0161 498 3631.

Eagle-eyed police officers in Little Hulton spotted a vehicle driving along Cleggs Lane whilst displaying false number plates yesterday (4th Feb 2020).

Attempts were made to stop the vehicle, but unfortunately the driver failed to stop and managed to get away.

Not too long afterwards the vehicle was found abandoned by a patrol in the Bradford Street area of Farnworth.

Police were however able to identify the driver who has since been summoned to court.

It is thought that the vehicle was possibly going to be used in drive off type offences at petrol forecourts around the area as five empty plastic drums were found within the boot area.

Salford is to benefit from the City of Trees project who will be planting 539 of 2000 large trees which are to be planted across Greater Manchester, it will also be receiving a substantial amount of saplings too.

Salford really is becoming greener.

Money made available from the governments £10m Urban Tree Challenge fund will see trees planted around Ordsall Park as well as along grass verges and along roadsides in the city, cutting noise, pollution and helping combat climate change.

City of Trees is an innovative and ambitious project with the aim of re-invigorating Greater Manchester’s landscape by transforming underused, unloved woodland and planting a tree for every man, woman and child who lives here - and they aim intend to do it all within a single generation.

So far 459,529 trees have already been planted as part of the ongoing project and many more are planned.

Jess Thompson, Director at City of Trees said: 

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“This is terrific news for Greater Manchester and the first time we have secured funding at this scale for large urban trees.

“The data gathered as part of ‘All Our Trees’ shows the crucial role trees play in combating climate change and ensuring the city region is more resilient for the future”.

 

In 2019 Salford saw 2845 trees planted as part of the Northern Forrest initiative which is ran by the woodland trust, the aim is to plant 50m trees which will transform the North of England.

A recent study found that there were huge environmental benefits from living in areas with high tree counts, they help tackle climate change and encourage nature-rich landscapes, reduce the risk of flooding in prone areas, create thousands of new jobs in local communities, cool and clean air in polluted towns and cities, and there are also known health impacts with improved health and well-being.

It seems that furniture stores are in a state of perpetual closure, every day seems to be sale day - but for this local store on regent road it really is closing and they are selling off the lot, lock stock and barrel.

After 14 years, cousins have made the strategic decision to close their store located at Regent Road, in Salford and place their entire stock on sale.

In a statement on their website they say:

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"After receiving an offer to purchase the Salford site that we couldn’t refuse, the store has been sold for redevelopment and we will be relocating our business back to the West Midlands, where it will be business as usual."

The Manchester store will be closed to the general public from 6pm on Friday 31st January to 10am on Friday 7th February to mark down prices on their ENTIRE SELECTION of famous name sofas, chairs, dining sets, wall units, bedroom furniture, beds, rugs, accessories and much more which must be SOLD OUT TO THE BARE WALLS.

Nothing will be held back!

Every item will be plainly marked on sale tags, many for immediate pick-up or delivery!
First come, first served. During this sale period, you will be offered special savings on showroom stock and customer special orders too!

The stores owner Mr Shotton said:

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“We expect tremendous crowds because of the low prices we will be offering to clear our entire Manchester stock.

"We must dispose of every single item from every department.

"Everything, including our newest products must be sold during this sale."

 

The store will open from 10am on Friday, February 7, until 8pm. It will also be open 9.30am-5.30pm on Saturday and 11am until 5pm on Sunday.

Police are keen to capture Steven White who is wanted by them after committing several offences that took place in Irlam.

They asking members of the public to help with any information as to where he may be staying, so if anyone can help then please get in touch with PC Mottram via email on 12361@gmp.police.uk or alternatively phone Crimestoppers on 0800 555111

He is from Irlam but could be located anywhere within or around the City.

 

Eccles finest boys and girls in Blue had a busy afternoon carrying out a court warrant upon an Eccles store alongside officers from trading standards.

The police employed the best noses in the business to sniff out over 15000 fake cigarettes, tobacco and a quantity of drugs.

The illicit goods were found stashed away thanks to the smelling powers of GMP's drugs dogs.

A photo released shows sleeves of fake Richmond Cigarettes and pouches of Amber Leaf Tobacco.

Any tobacco can have a dire effect on your body but these unregulated fake products have been known to contain dead flies, high levels of arsenic, asbestos and even human excrement.

People should really think twice about knowingly buying them as the health risks from smoking are bad enough, from fake cigarettes they are horrendous. It is not worth putting your health at risk.

Those selling the products try to stash them as best they can in hidden panels, under floor boards and in walls but they are no match for the nose of a highly trained police sniffer dog.

The shop which was the focus of today's raids can not be identified just yet but prosecutions look sure to follow.

In a post on Facebook, GMP Eccles said:

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"Your local Eccles Officers and Pcso's along with a GMP drugs dog have been busy this afternoon, working alongside trading standards we visited a local store with a court warrant.

"Recovered were more than 15000 fake cigarettes, tobacco and a quantity of Drugs.

"Be careful what you are buying you could be putting your health in even more danger than usual buying fake cigarettes, who knows what is in them!"

 

Photo: GMP Eccles

On Thursday 30th Jan we opened up nominations to find 'Salford's Best Chippy 2020' on the 27,700 member SalfordOnline group and the response was phenomenal. 

The top 5 Chippy's were to be put up for the public vote but after checked and checking again to make sure our maths was right - it was discovered that the 5th spot was a tie and so it was only right and proper to add both into the vote. So 5 became 6 and now the decision is left open to you.

The winner will be awarded our much coveted dodgy certificate in a plastic frame but more important the boasting rights in that they were chosen directly by the people of Salford, Not by fussy food critics or the industry but by REAL people which makes it a real accolade.

How Can We Vote?

Anyone who is a member of our SalfordOnline group is able to cast a single vote for their favourite Chippy, it is totally free and each vote counts.

We have pinned the poll to the top of the group to make it easy to find.

So get voting and let us decide once and for all who makes the best chips, batters the best fish and is the Cities Favourite Chippy.

Almost 400 hundred people have been left without power after this afternoon.

Reports started coming appearing on our SalfordOnline group at around 4.00pm this afternoon with people mainly in Swinton reporting power problems.

Some homes seem to have had power completely cut and others are experiencing intermittent power surges with lights flickering on and off. The lakes medical centre also reportedly lost power for a time.

The problem seems to have been with a High Voltage cable and  Electricity North West has said that power has now been restored to all homes.

This is the second time Salford has seen widespread cuts within less than  a month as homes were previously affected in Eccles, Weaste, Seedley and parts of Ordsall just a few weeks ago.

A list of affected post codes which were affected can be found below, although we have had reports of similar problems in the M6 area.

M27 0SN, M27 0SW, M27 0WE, M27 0WF, M27 6BA, M27 6UN, M27 0WA, M27 4AE, M27 5AA, M27 6BD, M27 6AD, M27 6AZ, M27 6BP, M27 6AG, M27 6AR, M27 6AS, M27 6AT, M27 6AU, M27 6AY, M27 6PA, M27 0GA, M27 0GH, M27 0QB, M27 0PA, M27 0NH, M27 0NF, M27 0NE

Six teenagers who have caused large amounts of damage to a building in Salford, have been hit with injunction orders.

The teenagers who are aged between 12–17 and cannot be named for legal reasons, have been served with a Civil Youth Injunction Order, after entering a residential building on a number of occasions to cause damage to the communal areas, including damage to new fire safety measures.

Housing association Salix Homes, which owns around 8,000 homes in Salford, sought legal action against the teenagers following their persistent anti-social behaviour at Fitzwarren Court in Salford.

Three of the youths appeared at Manchester and Salford Youth Court on 9 January, 2020 where they were hit with a 12 month order. The other three youths who did not attend were also given the same order which prevents them from entering Fitzwarren Court.

The court heard how the teenagers had not only caused damage to important fire safety measures, but had also been urinating on the communal stairways, smoking cannabis, leaving rubbish behind, as well as causing damage to windows.

If the defendants break the terms of the order, which has a power of arrest attached, they could face a supervision order or detention.

Sue Sutton, executive director of operations at Salix Homes, said:

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“Salix Homes will not hesitate to take legal action to protect the people living in our communities and we welcome the judge’s decision to grant the injunction orders in this case.

“The defendants’ behaviour has caused distress to people living at Fitzwarren Court and the fact these youths also damaged fire safety measures at a time when fire safety has never been so important, has been taken very seriously. The safety of our residents is our top priority and we will not tolerate this type of anti-social behaviour that puts this at risk.

“We hope this case will act as a warning to others, that no matter how old you are, if you are acting anti-socially in our communities we will take enforcement action.”

 

Strong gusts of wind have ripped across Salford this morning -slowing traffic on the local motorway network.

Due to the elevated and exposed position of the Barton Flyover Bridge which spans the M60, there has been a 50mph speed restriction imposed between Junction 10 (Trafford Centre) and Junction 11 (Barton) with drivers of high sided vehicles being warned to take care when crossing.

The wet and windy weather is expected to pass over us within the next few hours and it should brighten up later in the day.

At the break of dawn on the 8th of May 2020 it will have been 75 years since the guns of war fell silent and peace was restored to Europe. The horrific war that saw the deaths of millions of innocents had come to an end but sadly it would still rage on in the pacific region until later that year.

For only the second time in the nations history a Monday Bank Holiday will be moved from Monday to a Friday, this time as the 8th of May marks the 75th anniversary of Victory In Europe (VE) Day which is to be marked as a celebration day for the whole country.

The change will enable people to pay tribute to those who served in one of the most significant and bloodied events in our country’s history.

As part of the celebrations, Salford Council is offering free road closures for those who are planning on holding their own street parties reminiscent of the ones that were held across the country to celebrate the coming to an end of the war back in 1945.

Residents/Groups can apply NOW to hold a street party between the dates of Friday 8th May - Sunday 10th May 2020, however you need to act as quickly as possible to do so as the deadline for applications is on Tuesday 31st of March.

Applications take time to process and in some cases road closures may be impractical. 

Salford Council has some great advice on how to organise your party and apply for a road closure HERE.

Events will be put on across Salford and more details will be announced as they become clearer.

Twenty Salfordians are to be given the chance to become headliners at The Lowry’s upcoming WEEK 53 festival thanks to a project called 'The Twenty'.

Designed to give ordinary people the chance to turn their creative ideas into reality – The Twenty will ask people living in the city to submit ideas for events that respond to the Festival’s theme of power.  
 
It has been developed by The Lowry in partnership with Salford CVS.
 
From knitting groups and open mic nights to dance-offs and graffiti battles, each successful project will be given a grant of £500 to help make it happen.
 
It is hoped the project will attract submissions from people who have no previous experience in the arts. The only criteria for entries is that applicants live in Salford and are over the age of 18.
 
Lynsey O’Sullivan, director of learning and engagement at The Lowry and creative lead for The Twenty, said:

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“Everyone has the capacity to come up with a crazy idea for an event – but life can so easily get in the way, be that time, money or space. This project is designed to break down those barriers.”

 

Proposals can be submitted in one of three ways:
 
In writing, by email to: getcreative@thelowry.com (Max 700 words)

In writing, by post to: Lynsey O’Sullivan, The Lowry, Pier 8 Salford Quays, M50 3AZ

In a video of yourself talking to camera, by email to: getcreative@thelowry.com (Max three mins)
 
The deadline for proposals is Friday 14 Feb at 12pm.
 
For more information about The Twenty, visit: www.thelowry.com/whats-on/week-53-the-twenty

A suspected drug dealer was stopped and arrested over the weekend for possession with the intent to supply drugs after officers from Greater Manchester Police caught him in their nets. 

The fishy looking character was found to have digital weighing scales, large quantities of cash as well as a stash of cannabis hidden away on upon his person in what police referred to as 'Tuna Style Cans'.

Drug dealers have become a huge problem in Salford over the past few years and police continue to focus their efforts on both the big fish as well as the small fry.

GMP Salford said on Facebook that their commitment to reducing links to drug dealing and violent crime continues.

As part of Operation Sycamore a man was arrested by officers from Greater Manchester Police on Friday 31st January in relation to a recent spike of burglaries in the Broughton Park area.

He has since been charged and remanded into custody at HMP Forest Bank Prison until a scheduled court appearance at a later date.

Operation Sycamore is GMP's proactive initiative, tackling serious & violent crime across Salford and Greater Manchester.

Walking through the backstreets of Salford can often be a depressing slog, with rubbish seemingly dumped everywhere, bin bags ripped open, bottles, cans, furniture even the occasional bed just casually dumped.

However in Eccles we a one woman army dedicated to fighting the flytippers, I give you Lorraine Naylor a Grandmother of nine children who is on a campaign to clean up her local area.

We met Lorraine on a wet Sunday morning in Patricroft as she showed us around the sites most affected by this blight and what we saw can only be described as disgusting.

Lorraine told us:

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"I love Eccles, I was born and brought up here, but it is breaking my heart to see the place go down the drain.

"I go out whenever the weather is fine armed with bin bags to pick up the rubbish other people have dumped,, some days I can fill 20 bin bags, it's that bad.

"The public footpath that runs alongside the railway lines from St Andrews Church to Patricroft Station is disgusting, the number of times I have cleared up the mess, only to return a week later and find it is just as bad, what is wrong with these people?

"I have called Salford Council many, many times to report the fly-tipping only to be passed from pillar to post, they did tell me that I should contact the rail companies about the rubbish because that footpath has nothing to do with them, which I find hard to believe.

"They must be sick of me but I have told them I am not going away and will continue to highlight this problem until they do something about it.

"I do feel sorry for the residents of the flats near Nelson Street were the rubbish is piling up, there is simply not enough communal bins for them, it's obvious, the flats were designed for single people but now families are living in them, you can't blame them, they need more bins or more collections." 

 

We did take photos of the rubbish and hopefully local councillors can help out, surely it's within their realms to sort this mess out or at least work on behalf of the residents to sort the problem with the rail company that apparently owns the land?

Lorraine is appealing for volunteers to help her on her crusade to make the area a cleaner, healthier place to live.

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"I would love it if say, 10 people or more could meet me one Sunday morning and we could go out and tackle this problem, I know we shouldn't have to do this but I want to restore some pride back into our community"

 

How about it? perhaps a few councillors and members of the community could tag along along and help out?

Salford Council has been fighting an uphill battle with fly-tippers and rubbish dumpers who are blighting this city and causing unnecessary misery to residents. It seems that no sooner have the council removed rubbish a new pile turns up in its stead. 

Our own Karl Davison has been documenting the problem for over five years now and in that time he has come to have a unique perspective and understanding of the issue. 

Karl said:

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"It is pretty easy to just blame the council but in all honesty the truth of the matter is that much of this problem simply comes down to the fact that a small section of society feels that it doesn't need to comply with the rules.

"Much of the stuff I spot dumped on the streets could easily have been sorted and put into the correct bins, thus cutting down on the amount of waste that is too often ending up in black bins as well as in some cases upon our streets.

"There are instances in which better solutions are required and in some cases as in the photo below, some communal bins are just inadequate to serve the homes that rely on them. However, adding more bins will not stop people simply bagging up mixed rubbish in a black bag and dumping it out for the council to clear away. What is needed is a change in attitude of those causing the problem and that will sadly only come if the council gets tough with them and hands out fines.

"Both the council and councillors are in a situation in which it has become an unending task and I feel that the public anger would be better suited at being aimed at those actually causing the problem and not those tasked with cleaning it up.

"Yes it is true that the three week black bin collections have had an impact but when recycling is done properly it works- but all it takes is a few households not to comply in each area and it has a massive impact on us all."

 

On Nelson Street we found that much of the dumped rubbish could have easily been sorted and put into the correct bin, sadly it seems that some would sooner let the council deal with the problem, this has a direct impact and costs the council hundreds of thousands of pounds to continually deal with. Money that comes out of tax payers pockets, that said, even taking that into account, the bins that are there are totally inadequate for the homes in the area and that in our opinion needs to be addressed.

In recognition of Lorraine's commitment to her neighbourhood we have awarded her one of our Community Champion Award. It is people like her who make a positive impact and they should be recognised for trying to make out communities better, cleaner and safer.

Greater Manchester Police have made an arrest after a 34-year-old man stole a mobile phone from a patient at Salford Royal Hospital over the weekend.

The phone was quickly recovered by police officers from the opportunistic thief and it was returned to its rightful owner.

In a statement via the GMP Salford Facebook page, police said:

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"34-year-old male detained having entered Salford Royal & stolen a mobile phone from a patient. Phone recovered and returned to the owner."

Salix Homes will be holding monthly Universal Credit drop-ins to support their tenants with both existing and new claims.

Their Universal Credit advisers will be on hand to offer their customers guidance, including information on how their benefits could change, along with advice on budgeting and saving.

They’ll also be able to support anyone with complex appeals or new claims.

The next drop-in will be held in the Community Hub at Diamond House on Wednesday, 26 February.

Each session will be held from 10am-4pm on the last Wednesday of everyone month, until the end of June. 

Here are the dates for the upcoming drop-ins: 

Wednesday, 26 February 

Wednesday, 25 March

Wednesday, 29 April 

Wednesday, 27 May 

Wednesday, 24 June 

So what is universal credit?

Universal credit is a benefit for working-age people, it replaces six benefits by merging them into one single payment:

income support

income-based jobseeker's allowance

income-related employment and support allowance

housing benefit

child tax credit

working tax credit

It was designed to make claiming benefits simpler but in trials across the UK it seems to have caused a lot of problems and confusion for those switching over to it.

A single universal credit payment is paid directly into claimants' bank accounts to cover the benefits for which they are eligible.

Claimants then have to pay costs such as rent out of their universal credit payment which can cause issues with rent arrears - though there is a provision for people who are in rent arrears or have difficulty managing their money to have their rent paid directly to their landlord.

The latest available figures show that there were 2.6 million universal credit claimants as of October 2019. Just over a third of those claiming were in employment.

For more information about Universal Credit, visit our Help Hub or give us a call on 0800 218 2000. 

Photos: Salix

We have been made aware by Salford City Council that they have had reports of doorstep callers asking for jobs they can do in the M6 area this afternoon.

salford.media has also had reports of a couple of suspicious individuals knocking on doors offering to either clear guttering or to fix broken gates and fences on Weaste Lane and Chandos Grove earlier this morning in M5.

One of the individuals reportedly smelled strongly of Alcohol, both were wearing Blue Jeans and Hi Vis Jackets.

Salford Council is warning to be very cautious as this could be a scam and also to please warn family and friends to be on their guard when answering the door to unexpected callers.

Never give anyone money to do a job at the front door and always ask to see identification, if someone is claiming to be working on behalf of a company then close your door on them and phone the company to check. If they are genuine they will usually stick around, if not then chances are they were scammers.

This is not the first time in recent weeks that scammers have been operating within Salford, earlier this month we had reports of similar on-goings around the Little Hulton and Walkden areas.

The police have been made aware in case.

There’s useful training online here about how to recognise scams https://www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/

Friends Against Scams is a National Trading Standards (NTS) Scams Team initiative, which aims to protect and prevent people from becoming victims of scams by empowering people to take a stand against scams.