— Fallowfield, Withington, Levenshulme Police (GMP) (@GMPFallowfield) May 1, 2023
Superintendent Paul Walker of Greater Manchester Police said: “Firstly, I want to reassure the local community that we believe this incident to be a targeted attack and there is no risk to the wider public.
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“Thankfully no injuries were reported and we are following up a number of lines of inquiry to trace and arrest the person responsible.
“We have increased the number of patrol officers around the local area and if you have any concerns I would urge you to speak to them as they are on hand to help and reassure you.
“We are now appealing to members of the public who might have witnessed something or might have information that could aid our investigation to please come forwards and share it with us.”
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Ray Ali, 37, from Drip said: “There were two members of staff in at the time and a customer. It must have been terrifying for them.”
He added: “I just have no idea why we would be targeted. I am not in trouble with anyone.”
Anyone with information or footage – including CCTV, doorbell or dashcam – related to this incident is urged to contact GMP. You can do so by calling 0161 856 6051 or 0161 856 6063 and remember to quote log 3453 of 30/04/2023. You can also make a report via the LiveChat function on GMP’s website: www.gmp.police.uk
Alternatively you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Featured image: Google Maps
News
Man arrested at Manchester Airport after fleeing country during child sex offences trial
Emily Sergeant
A man has been arrested at Manchester Airport after he previously fled the country while he was on trial for child sexual offences.
Hassan Mahmood, of Gigg Lane in Bury, had been found guilty on four counts of child sexual offences in August – including engaging in sexual communication with a child, and even engaging in ‘penetrative sexual activity’ with a child.
But the 23-year-old fled the country on the second day of the trial.
The trial then continued in his absence, despite the fleeing, and he was subsequently sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.
Now though, following his arrest at Manchester Airport as he returned to country this week, Mahmood is now awaiting sentencing for the fleeing, and is due to appear at court to begin the formalities of receiving his sentence.
#JAILED | Hassan Mahmood (11/10/2001), of Gigg Lane, Bury, who was found guilty on 4 counts of child sexual offences in August, fled the country during his trial, but has since been arrested after he return to the country, & will soon begin his 5-&-a-half-year sentence. pic.twitter.com/GHogQo1PC9
Mahmood’s original conviction and sentencing came following an extensive investigation carried out by the Bury Complex Safeguarding Team.
He was described as being ‘cowardly’ by GMP investigating officers.
“Mahmood cowardly left the country to evade punishment for his vile crimes, and I am glad he will now be behind bars where he belongs,” commented Detective Constable Shaheen Saleh, from GMP’s Child Criminal Exploitation Team.
“We are committed to locking up those responsible for child sexual offences, and we will always ensure that they are brought to justice, no matter where they try to hide.
“We remain in contact with the victim of this case and have been supporting her throughout the process.”
Further details of Mahmood’s sentencing are set to be announced in due course.
Featured Image – GMP
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Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | September 2025
Danny Jones
‘Hello… is it more Manc tunes you’re looking for?’ because if so, you’re in the right place, as it’s time to reel off a whole new list of new music and Manchester artists we’ve been listening to over the past 30 days or so.
Give or take – you know how months work.
If you are new around here, it’s all very simple: every few weeks, we round up a load of local bands, duos, solo acts and everything in between to help spread some love and exposure to the wonderful talents that have been stuck in our rotations and so on.
Honestly, it really is that straightforward, and there’s no point in faffing around any longer, so let’s just get stuck into September’s Manc artists of the month.
Manchester music we’ve been listening to lately
1. SHADE
Now, this first one is rather bittersweet, because despite having just gotten back into SHADE, we’ve sadly learned that the lads are seemingly looking to wrap things up as a musical unit in just a matter of days with their final ever headline show right here in Manchester.
The native four-piece band have always managed a good balance of the indie-rock split and, in our opinion, only gotten better with time; the instrumentation is tighter, Luke Owens’ vocals have come into their own, and the overall music itself is better produced.
Unfortunately, the lads never quite got the following we feel they deserved, and for whatever reasons, they confirmed they’re calling time after five years with one last gig at Gorilla. There’s a farewell after-party at Night and Day too, so come help us sing ‘Neverdie’, ‘Break Out’, ‘Lost in The World Together’ and more one last time.
2. Roxanne
From an example of a group coming to the end of the journey to one just at the beginning of theirs, number two is fellow Manc indie and alt-rock outfit Roxanne, who look to be developing a slow-moving, haunting, ethereal wave/shoegaze sound. It’s still too early to tell, but we’re certainly interested.
These guys recently caught some attention via grassroots events at the likes of Stage and Radio, and Mother Mary’s; now they have ours. A minor gripe, ironically, is that these lot are yet to put on the red light and record much studio material – at least nothing that they’ve dropped as far as we can find so far.
On the upside, you can at least be in from the ground floor for when they do finally release stuff, and even from the little demo teasers they’ve shared on social media so far, we think it’s well worth keeping an eye on how their first proper releases fare.
In at number three is someone at the opposite end of the spectrum: New Jersey-born BC Camplight – real name, Brian James Christinzio – who’s been around for some 20 or so years now, releasing plenty of music, but that we’ve somehow only just started cottoning onto now he’s based in Greater Manchester.
Camplight released album number seven just this past June, and it’s nothing short of one of the coolest, most creative, candid and most surprising things we may have EVER listened to. It feels abstract, post-modern and absurdist at times, but the highly idiosyncratic and anecdotal lyrics remind us of John Grant and a slightly calmer sounding Petey USA.
We’ll definitely be working our way backwards through his discography over the coming weeks to see how he’s developed such a unique sound over the decades, but for now we’ll reccommend you start with ‘The Tent’ and ‘Two Legged Dog’, which features Abigail Moss from The Last Dinner Party, as well as the title track, ‘A Sober Conversation‘. Some truly staggering and style-sprawling work.
You can help but wiggle your head and shoulders within seconds of hitting play.
4. Mae Grace
Switching from post-modern vibes to post-punk, next up is a fledgling five-piece fronted by, you guessed it: Mae Grace Williams. Another product of BIMM (British and Irish Modern Music Institute) University’s city centre campus, like Roxanne, they’re also still very early days, but there’s undeniable talent there.
Backed by the monthly ‘New Cult’ nights, which are hosted by indie record label Heist or Hit and held at NQ pub turned live music venue, The Rat and Pigeon, not only must we praise the showcase itself, but we’re not the only ones who have been intrigued by their embryonic stages.
There are elements of spoken word and prog rock guitar at points; we don’t know exactly what genre we’d call it or what they’re even going for in their infancy, but with another gig this autumn supporting Adult Leisure on Sunday, 2 November, your best chance of judging for yourselves is seeing them live.
Last but certainly not least is another Manchester-based project we’ve only just come across, but with just three songs to their name on Spotify, we don’t think we’ve been quite this excited by a local debut for a while now. And for bloody good reason, we think.
Moss Side Sauna Club isn’t just one of the best band names we’ve heard in ages, but the highly alternative, DIY, almost garage-rock act which throws in all manner of distortion, electronics, pedals, and more to build their deeply-layered and admittedly rather noisy experience. MSSC is its own sonic profile.
Even with all the processing and effects, it somehow doesn’t sound too cluttered either – at least not on tape, anyway. We’re yet to see them live for ourselves, but the triumvirate consisting of Will Brooks, Maddy Storm and Sam Craighan have got us gassed with their first trio of tracks. Watch. This. Space.
Would you look at that? We’re done with September’s round-up of new Greater Manchester music we’ve been listening to lately, just like that.
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It wasn’t intentional, but by and large, we really did spotlight some very up-and-coming acts on the scene for the most part. We love finding musicians right at their inception or riding the crest of a fresh wave of interest.
As always, we’ll be back again next month with more for you and in the meantime, you can always look back at Manchester bands and artists, be they new, current or old, that we’ve spotlighted in the past.
Daisy Jackson -
2nd May 2023 
