LOCKED UP, TWO TEENS BEHIND HUGE CRIMEWAVE
SPREE ‘MADE IT APPEAR LAW AND ORDER HAD COMPLETELY BROKEN DOWN’
TWO teenagers have been locked up for their part in a crimewave which made it appear there had been ‘almost a complete breakdown in law and order in north and east Manchester.’
The pair showed ‘complete disregard’ for the police and thought they were ‘above the law,’ a judge said.
They ran amok, terrorising residents in areas such as Newton Heath, Harpurhey, Moston and Collyhurst.
Kyron Blackley, 18, from Harpurhey, committed 41 offences during a period of around nine months last year.
These included four robberies in which a knife, machete or hammer were used. The victim of one incident – a disabled man – considered ending his life.
Another, a Deliveroo rider who sought refuge in the UK, now wants to leave the country.
Blackley and his associates ‘bragged’ about their crimes on Snapchat. During one incident, he kicked an elderly man in the face before turning to the camera and laughing.
A judge at Manchester Crown Court said ‘a message had to be sent’ that long prison sentences would follow for such offences – ‘regardless of age’ – as he sent Blackley down for nine years.
A 16 year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to five years behind bars.
On July 11 last year, a disabled man and his friend were robbed at knifepoint near a cashpoint in Newton Heath at around midnight by Blackley, the 16-year-old and an unknown male.
They took £190 in cash from the woman and £20 and a mobile phone from the man. In a powerful victim impact statement, he said he had considered taking his own life, but was given incredible support by police.
“I have just felt terrible, due to the fact I was so defenceless and was unable to protect myself from these thugs,” he said, adding he was now too scared to go out.
On July 29, Blackley and the 16-yearold were part of a group of between 10 and 12 yobs who attacked three moped riders and tried to steal their bikes.
Blackley, on an old-style Triumph bike, tried to ram one of the riders off the road, before a man was set upon.
He had to be taken to hospital after being hit over the head and legs with a hammer during the attempted robbery at the junction of Briscoe Lane and Alan Turing Way near the Etihad Stadium.
None of the bikes were stolen as firefighters from the nearby Phillips Park station came out and intervened – and the group drove off.
On August 16, Blackley was a passenger in a car which pulled up alongside a Deliveroo rider on a moped. He leaned out of the window and pushed the worker off his bike.
A struggle followed, during which the man was hit over the head with a machete, causing a dent in his helmet. Blackley then rode off on his moped.
In a victim impact statement, the man – from wartorn Eritrea – said he had come to the UK via Uganda as a refugee 11 years ago. He has had his home burgled and been robbed twice.
“Despite all I have been through, this was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life,” he said.
“I came here for a better life, to work hard, and to be safe. But I am going to return to Uganda as I am just not safe here. I have been left with nothing.”
Blackley, of Thorntree Close, Harpurhey, denied three counts of robbery, but was found guilty after two trials. At previous hearings he admitted another count of robbery; attempted robbery; possession of an offensive weapon; threatening behaviour; assault; affray; theft; handling stolen goods; two counts of vehicle taking; driving without due care and attention; 10 charges of driving without a licence; and 13 of driving without insurance.
He was banned from driving for a decade.
The 16-year-old was also convicted of three counts of robbery after a trial. At earlier hearings, he admitted attempted robbery; two counts of burglary; going equipped; three counts of vehicle taking; handling stolen goods; witness intimidation; two counts of driving without a licence; and two of driving without insurance.
He was banned from driving for seven years.
I am going to return to Uganda as I am just not safe here. I have been left with nothing Robbery victim
Adam Lodge, defending the 16 yearold, said he was a ‘young man determined to turn his life around.’ Martin Callery, defending Blackley, admitted the offences were ‘despicable, cowardly and had ‘frightened the community.’ “The defendant gave no thought whatsoever to the community of Manchester,” he said.
Judge Anthony Cross QC told Blackley he had ‘chosen a life of crime.’ He said: “From January 2019 to September last year, individually and collectively you two, and a significant number of other youths and young men, were responsible for what must have given the appearance of an almost complete breakdown in law and order in north and east Manchester. “Dishonesty, armed violence – you showed a complete disregard for the police and the communities in which you lived resulting in serious harm being caused to those communities. “Harm to the very many law abiding people of those areas.”