A teenager is among four people who have been arrested after police in Bolton conducted patrols to “deter serious violence from streets” this past weekend.
As part of Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) ongoing ‘Operation Venture’ – which was set up back in 2022 to tackle violent crime and serious criminality across Greater Manchester – officers were deployed to Bolton this past Saturday (29 April), and spotted a “suspicious car” parked up on Chorley Road while they were doing their rounds.
According to GMP, the officers decided to act on their suspicions and initially approached to search the car and the occupants under the misuse of drugs act, before further searches led to the seizure of “a significant amount” of snap bags containing what is believed to be cocaine and around £1,000 in cash.
On top of this, another vehicle was stopped a short time later on Victory Street in a different area of Bolton, and following searches, three sealed packages were found in the boot.
The sealed packages were believed to be of class A drugs around 10 kilos in weight, according to GMP – with an estimated street value of £1 million pounds.
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After the day of targeted searches, in the end, four men Four men between the ages of 16 and 49 were arrested on suspicion of Possession with Intent to Supply, GMP has confirmed, and they were each taken into custody ahead of being questioned by officers.
Speaking on the success of Operation Venture in Bolton so far, Chief Inspector Justine Topping from GMP’s Bolton District said: “Having additional resources available to deploy through Operation Venture means that we can tackle serious crimes robustly to make Bolton a safer place to live and work.
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“The action highlights our endeavour to take illegal supply from our streets.
“Officers from Operation Venture are out and about every night working hard and patrolling hotspot areas to keep communities across Greater Manchester safe, so if you see our officers out and about, you can speak to them about any concerns you might have.
“We all have a part to play in fighting, preventing and reducing crime.”
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Victory Street in Bolton / Credit: Google Maps
Greater Manchester Police is also encouraging anyone with any information about crime in their area to report it, no matter how big or small.
This can be done through GMP’s LiveChat facility at gmp.police.uk, or alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, while 11-17 year olds can pass on information anonymously through the dedicated platform Fearless.org.
“In an emergency, always dial 999,” GMP concludes.
Featured Image – GMP
Bolton
Milk Maids, Bolton – The family-run ice cream parlour on an award-winning farm
Daisy Jackson
Ice cream doesn’t come much fresher than those served at Milk Maids – in fact, you’ll be standing right on the family farm where the cows that produce the milk live, as you tuck into your scoop.
This unassuming dairy farm in Bolton has been in operation for decades, and in the same family for generations.
But it’s when sisters Fiona and Rebecca saw the full potential of all that award-winning milk being produced on their farm that Milk Maids was born.
This ice cream parlour on Dearden’s Farm in Over Hulton is now one of the hottest spots in Greater Manchester, especially when the weather is similarly hot.
Every month they release a whole batch of flavours, all made fresh daily (you can literally see Fiona legging it across the yard with buckets of milk to make fresh batches), with May specials including white chocolate and sea salt caramel, raspberry cookie, and passionfruit pavlova.
Milk Maids, Bolton – The family-run ice cream parlour on an award-winning farm
Cones can be filled with molten chocolate or pistachio creme before your ice cream is scooped and pressed into the cone.
Or you can have your chosen flavour whizzed up into a milkshake, served in a milk bun, or presented in an insulated take-home box for later.
We could wax lyrical about how good this ice cream is, but the queues really do speak for themselves, and you should go and get in it right now.
Bolton grooming gang ringleader who ‘preyed upon young teenage girls’ jailed
Emily Sergeant
The main offender of a group of sexual predators who preyed upon young teenage girls in Bolton has been jailed.
Ashley Darbyshire appeared at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday (Monday 28 April) was found guilty of grooming, raping, and sexually assaulting underage girls in the Blackrod area of Bolton between 2016 and 2018.
He was convicted of three counts of rape, 12 counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and one count of making indecent photographs of a child.
Darbyshire was sentenced alongside three other men who were part of the group, with the remaining set to be sentenced today (29 April).
#SENTENCED | Three men part of Blackrod grooming gang have been sentenced today 28/04/25 for sexual offences against girls under 16.
Ashley Darbyshire (01/01/1997), of Bolton, was sentenced to 15 years, at Liverpool Crown Court.
According to Greater Manchester Police (GMP), the offences began in 2016 when the primary offender, Darbyshire – who was 19 at the time – first came into contact with the primary victim, a girl aged 13, and then went on to introduce her to nine of his friends, who each ‘used and abused her at their disposal’ on numerous occasions into 2018.
The men – who were all aged from between 17 and 29 at the time when the offences began – also approached the other victims, all girls under the age of 16, via private messaging and social media platforms, and got to know them from where many local teenagers would hang out and socialise near the community centre.
The men plied some of the victims with alcohol and drugs, GMP explained, while some of them would send indecent images of their private body parts to the girls, as well as initiate sexual conversations with them on messaging platforms.
The other two grooming gang members sentenced on the same day as Darbyshire / Credit: GMP
The offences eventually came to light after an incident involving one of the victims and another defendant on Sunday 17 June 2018, after which the police were notified, and an investigation was subsequently launched.
The group of men were all convicted of a range of sexual offences, with over 30 convictions between them.
Darbyshire has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, and is set to serve 10 years in custody, as well as being placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
On the same day as Darbyshire’s sentencing, another man from the group, Ross Corley, was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child and sentenced to 28 months in prison, and another unnamed man was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16, and was sentenced to 15 months, suspended for two years.
According to GMP, many of the men ‘showed no remorse’ for their actions in court when sentenced.
Emily Sergeant -
3rd May 2023 
