The Lake District Mountain Rescue Association has spoken out to issue an urgent warning to the public after two walkers from Manchester were rescued from Scafell Pike during a blizzard earlier this week.
The two fell walkers from Manchester, who were described as being “unprepared”, had to be rescued after getting lost on England’s highest mountain during a blizzard conditions and were eventually brought to safety in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Mountain rescuers spent eight hours looking for the men on the Lake District fell, and warned that if they hadn’t been found, it’s likely they would have died.
Richard Warren – Chair of the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association – was part of the rescue team, and explained to the MEN that: “The two lads from Manchester hadn’t done the preparation [as] they hadn’t got the right clothing, they had no waterproofs.
“It was blizzard conditions. They had no compass, no torches [and] they weren’t even sure where they had parked their car.
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“They were very grateful that we found them, but it was very lucky that we did [because] we had great difficulty contacting them on their mobile phone and if we hadn’t found them, they would have had to spend the night on the hill in sub-zero blizzard conditions and then it would have been a very serious, life-threatening situation.
“But we did what we always do and got them warm, put some waterproof clothing on them and took them back to the road where they got a taxi back to their car in Keswick.”
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Mountain rescuers spent eight hours looking for the men on the Lake District fell / Credit: Lake District Mountain Rescue Association
With cases such as this happening in significant numbers, the Lake District Mountain Rescue Association has urged day trippers to properly plan their walks after what was described as an “absolutely chaotic” Christmas period.
Richard Warren said his teams were called out a record 680 times in 2021, and the start of 2022 had been “just as busy”.
Mr Warren said there had been two callouts on Christmas Day in the Lake District, and there had been a “very sad end to the year” when a man died after a medical episode on Skiddaw on New Year’s Eve.
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In the first four days days of 2022, there were another 19 call-outs.
Mr Warren said lockdown has meant many inexperienced walkers are coming to The Lakes for the first time and heading to the fells without proper gear or knowledge, so rescue teams are now pleading with people to check weather forecasts and whether they have the right gear before they take to the mountains.
Rescue teams were called out a record 680 times in 2021, and the start of 2022 had been “just as busy” / Credit: Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team
“We are trying to get the message out about the importance of preparation,” Mr Warren said.
“A lot of rescues are avoidable because people get lost with no map, compass or torch [so] we really we want people to start thinking about what they are doing, when they are doing it and to check the weather.”
All Lake District rescue teams are manned by volunteers and rely on donations from the public.
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Mr Warren told the BBC that he was “extremely proud” of the all the volunteers at the 12 rescue teams in Cumbria, and also praised all those who make donations to keep the teams running – with about £750,000 a year needed across all the Cumbria teams.
“We do it unpaid,” he said.
“Mountain rescuers don’t want to be paid. They do it because they love the mountains and love helping people.”
Derelict Manchester office block to become ‘vital’ accommodation for homeless families
Emily Sergeant
A derelict former office block in Manchester is set to become vital accommodation for homeless families in the region.
Manchester City Council has announced that, subject to planning approval, new temporary accommodation for dozens of homeless families will be created on the site of a derelict former office block in south Manchester, off Nell Lane in Chorlton.
The Council acquired the 1.1 acre site last month with the support of the Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund.
The initiative – which is part of wider plans to boost the city’s stock of quality temporary accommodation – will see self-contained two-bedroom accommodation created for around 55 homeless families built where former NHS offices, Mauldeth House, currently stand.
Mauldeth House has been empty for several years now at this point, and had become somewhat of a ‘blight’ on the neighbourhood, attracting anti-social behaviour along the way and being targeted by squatters – but with the plans for the new accommodation, this could change for the better.
The site, and therefore the new accommodation, is said to be ‘ideally located’ for families, as it’s close to shops, schools, public transport, leisure facilities, and Chorlton Park.
The new accommodation will see families supported by a specialist team based on site to help them move on as quickly as possible into permanent settled tenancies, which is, of course, the long-term goal for many.
The Mauldeth House initiative is cited as being one example of the Council’s drive to increase its temporary accommodation stock across the city to reduce the number of out-of-area placements.
Other successful examples of this initiative include Mariana House in Whalley Range, and The Poplars in Rusholme.
It also comes after it was announced last month that homeless children in Greater Manchester, particularly those who are placed in temporary accommodation out of area for their school, will now get free bus travel to and from school.
“Mauldeth House is a great example of how we can put derelict properties to good use to benefit those experiencing homelessness, as well as making our neighbourhood look better,” explained Deputy Council Leader, Cllr Joanna Midgley.
“We are tackling homelessness on many fronts, the most important one being prevention, but we also need an increased supply of good quality temporary accommodation within the city so that if people do become homeless they are not uprooted from their social support networks.
“One of the ways we are doing this is through the innovative use of existing sites whether they are council owned or we are able to acquire them, as in the case of Mauldeth House.”
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
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Bolton woman who falsely accused 10 men of raping her has been jailed
Emily Sergeant
A woman from Bolton who falsely accused 10 different men of raping her over a six-year period has now been jailed.
Stacey Sharples, 31 from Farnworth in Bolton, pleaded guilty of 10 counts of perverting the course of justice in relation to reports against 10 separate men at Bolton Crown Court earlier last month (2 February 2026), before appearing in court again this week to be sentenced.
The investigation into Sharples was launched after the arrests and questioning of almost all these men, and following the pursuing of all relevant lines of enquiry, which consistently revealed evidence contrary to what had been disclosed by Sharples.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says investigations of this nature are ‘extremely rare’ and the decision to pursue Sharples as a suspect was ‘not one taken lightly’.
“However, it is our duty to act in the public interest and on the evidence and information we uncover and receive, which in this case demonstrated a continuous, wilful making of false allegations, knowing full well the consequences for each of the men involved,” GMP said in a statement following Sharples’ sentencing.
Of the allegations Sharples pleaded guilty to – of which were made over a six-year period between 2013 and 2019 – most of the men were arrested and spent time in custody, with some also undertaking intimate examinations, and almost all spending periods of time on police bail or released under investigation.
Statements from the men accused by Stacey Sharples / Credit: GMP
GMP says there’s ‘no doubt’ the reports and arrests have had an impact on these men, their sense of self and relationships, their wider networks, and how they move forward with their lives.
False accounts also undermine those who have genuinely experienced sexual violence.
Police say it also affects the confidence in the criminal justice system, and that the time spent investigating Sharples’ reports could have been put towards investigating ‘genuine reports of sexual offences’ instead.
Sharples has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison this week after pleading guilty to making false rape allegations.
Speaking following Sharples’ sentencing this week, Detective Sergeant Steven Gilliland, who investigated this case, said: “We took the allegations made by Stacey Sharples seriously, explored all lines of enquiry and swiftly made arrests or interviewed of all the men she accused.
“We gave her multiple opportunities to provide further explanation or information to us, after interviews with the men and subsequent evidence uncovered didn’t align with her first recollection, as we understand that trauma can impact how victims and survivors recount their experiences.
“Ultimately, as the evidence continued to demonstrate that the reports were untrue, coupled with the desire for justice from some of the men who had been falsely accused, it was right that we followed the evidence and pursued the individual who had actually committed a criminal offence.”
Emily Sergeant -
6th January 2022 
