News

Man, 19, arrested after driving car ‘at speed’ towards police officer in Cheadle

He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 27th January 2025

A police officer has been left with serious injuries after a vehicle was driven ‘at speed’ towards her in Cheadle.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) explained that it received a report of people acting suspiciously inside a vehicle in the car park of a retail park on Wilmslow Road in Cheadle last Saturday night (25 January 2025).

Police officers subsequently responded by attending the scene to investigate.

As the responding police officer walked towards the vehicle in the car park, she reported that the vehicle was driven “at speed” towards her, hitting her in its path and leaving her with serious injuries, which she was taken to hospital for treatment for.

Following the distressing incident, a 19 year-old man has now been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, GMP has confirmed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Chief Inspector John Picton, of GMP’s Stockport district, said the police officer is currently “recovering well” and being supported by her colleagues.

Addressing the incident as investigations progress, CI Picton said: “This incident is truly shocking, and shows how quickly situations our frontline officers attend can escalate.

ADVERTISEMENT

“There is absolutely no explanation as to why this incident needed to end the way it did. Our officers go to work every day to provide an outstanding service to the communities they serve, and achieve fantastic results in situations that are often challenging.

“Assaults on our officers are completely unacceptable and won’t be tolerated.

Read more:

“In this case, the officer suffered serious injuries… [but she] is being supported by all of us at the Stockport district and recovering well.”

Featured Image – GMP

News

A provocative Donald Trump painting has appeared in Manchester city centre

Danny Jones Danny Jones Controversial Donald Trump painting Manchester

Following the recent US presidential election, a controversial new painting featuring Donald Trump has appeared in a Manchester city centre shop window.

Popping up in a small and largely empty outlet on Deansgate, the striking political cartoon is now one of the first sights you see heading down the main strip from the Castlefield direction and is already turning heads.

Created by acclaimed Manchester artist Michael J Browne – who is known for recent works such as a collaborative exhibition with Eric Cantona at the National Football Museum – the piece is quickly gaining attention and resulting in plenty of discussion as intended.

Entitled America First – Trump, Putin, China, it is now on display in the window of a ground floor unit of Great Northern Warehouse.

We don’t think the construction work was part of the plan but there’s some ironic about it. (Credit: The Manc Group)

Known for blending Renaissance-inspired techniques with modern social and political themes, as per an official press release, his new large-scale oil painting “dives into the dynamics of power and ego, up against sacrifice.”

As you can see, the piece features a hulking green Donald Trump attached to a crucifix, concealing a sacrificial Jesus, framed by an American flag and a flock of sheep in the background. To the right, Vladimir Putin appears as a modern John the Baptist, quoting “I must decrease, so he can increase”.

Meanwhile, a modern Chinese couple in traditional Han clothing represents “an element of China’s old tradition, with a quote reserved for its royal dynasties ‘Mandate of Heaven'” with scorched earth around them pointing towards the continued environmental destruction of the modern world.

Taking six weeks to complete, Deansgate‘s provocative Trump painting was actually started way back in March 2024 and was also inspired by Browne’s last piece of work.

Having previously spotlighted the Black Panthers movement in mid-1960s America in For 30 pieces of silver, his follow-up is another commentary on power and could be described as a high-end political cartoon like those drawn in newspapers for centuries.

For 30 pieces of silver features both Trump and Putin, as well as Chinese leader Xi Jinping. (Michael J Browne 2023)

Also drawing inspiration from the ‘Isenheim Altarpiece’ – a widely-admired German Renaissance masterpiece depicting suffering and redemption – this time the Moss Side artist has managed to weave together biblical allegory with current affairs and global geopolitics.

Commenting on the rather stark imagery, Michael says “It’s superimposed power, aggressiveness. Removing God’s Grace! […] The pursuit of power is leaving destruction in its wake—socially, politically, and environmentally.”

Taking cues from ‘Saint Anthony’s fire’, (a disease now referred to as ergotism that is often depicted as a very religious plague), the feeling of skin being on fire is transferred to the landscape itself; “The pursuit of power is leaving destruction in its wake—socially, politically, and environmentally“, he adds.

Michael also coincidentally painted bullets and used shells around Trump’s feet months before the former 45th and now returning 47th US President narrowly survived an assassination attempt on his campaign trail.

Read more:

America First – Trump, Putin, China can be checked out in full public view on the corner of Great Northern in Deansgate as we speak.

Information for viewers will accompany the painting which is also available for purchase.

Based over at GRIT Studios who have two Greater Manchester locations along with several other local artists, you can find out more about Michael’s work HERE.

What do you make of it?

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Supplied (via Michael J Browne)/The Manc Group

News

Former Manchester personal trainer jailed after sexually assaulting teenage girl

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A former personal trainer from Manchester has been jailed after grooming and sexually assaulting a teenage client.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) first received information that Matthew Lawrence was having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old child while he was a personal trainer in a gym at the time, and had befriended her by offering to train and help her with her diet and nutrition.

At first, the manager of the gym was said to be “concerned” that the victim was not over the age of 16, as per the gym’s membership requirements, and approached Lawrence advising him to terminate her membership.

Lawrence, however, replied stating: “Don’t ban her, in case she goes to the police.”

In past conversations, Lawrence had said he preferred dating younger girls as he liked their “innocence”, and had also bragged to another member of the gym that he had been exchanging indecent images with the victim, which, of course, led staff at the gym to become concerned by his behaviour and were become fearful that he had groomed her.

Thankfully, they reported the matter to the police, and Lawrence was subsequently circulated as wanted.

Matthew Lawrence was sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court this week / Credit: Flickr

After detectives managed to track down several witnesses who stated that they were in the presence of Lawrence when he learned the victim was just 15-years-old, as well as gathering further evidence from his mobile phone, the victim bravely confided in her mother in August 2023, and told her that Lawrence had tried to kiss her, and physically forced her to commit sexual acts on him.

When interviewed by specially-trained officers, the victim disclosed that Lawrence had taken her to the cinema as a reward for training so hard in the gym, before sexually assaulting her in his locked car.

Phone analysis conducted also showed that there were over 3,000 calls and texts between Lawrence and the victim in the space of just a month, many of a sexually explicit nature.

He was arrested by GMP officers at London Airport on the 1 September 2023, which prevented him from starting a new job as a personal trainer on a cruise ship.

Read more:

After Lawrence pleaded guilty to sexual communication with a child, and two counts of sexual activity with a child at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday 28 January), he was eventually sentenced to three years and nine months in jail.

He is also subject to an indefinite restraining order and sexual notification order, and a 10 year sexual harm prevention order.

Featured Image – GMP

More News

Art & Culture

What’s going down between Aitch and Central Cee?

Audio

Central Cee announces HUGE gig in Manchester this year

Boroughs

Viral TikTok eatery Spudbros announce FIRST EVER Manchester site

Audio

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Eats

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches