A man from Eccles has been jailed after scamming his vulnerable elderly neighbour out of more than £100,000.
It comes after an extensive investigation by detectives in Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) Economic Crime Unit, which was launched after a reported to police that it believed ‘suspicious activity’ was taking place in a 76-year-old man’s bank account.
It was quickly established that the victim was a neighbour of Lee Hodson and his girlfriend Jennifer Picken in Eccles.
Hodson was able to dupe and deceive his way into being named on the victim’s financial accounts by creating online access while posing as the victim, which he did by stealing confidential post, personal paperwork, and the victim’s private information – such as date of birth, phone numbers, previous addresses, occupations, and his National Insurance number, all in order to pass online security checks.
Hodson successfully impersonated the victim and proceeded to set up online accounts using his own contact details, and also used his girlfriend’s bank account to launder the money.
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That’s not all either, as Hodson also sadly updated the victim’s pensions and state benefits so that they would be paid directly into his own account without flagging bank security.
#JAILED | An investigation led by our Economic Crime Unit was launched after a bank reported to police they believed suspicious activity was taking place in a 76-year-old man’s bank account.
The victim’s bank finally contacted the police after a total of was £230,742.39 was withdrawn from the victim’s account to Picken’s bank account in June 2021 – with the money then being withdrawn, spent, and dispersed across multiple accounts and family members.
After police obtained enough evidence, Hodson was charged with multiple offences including fraud, burglary, escape from lawful custody, assault with intent to resist arrest, and money laundering, while Picken was also charged with fraud and money laundering offences.
Hodson was sentenced to five years and four months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering, escaping lawful custody, impersonating a police officer, and burglary offences.
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Picken was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and 150 hours of community service.
Speaking following the sentencing, Detective Inspector Tim Flint, who leads a team of fraud detectives in GMP’s Economic Crime Team, said: “We were investigating a well-planned fraud which ultimately targeted an elderly gentleman out of £100,000.
“It was heartless and they preyed on him because of his age.
“Their despicable actions have had a devastating impact on the victim who has now sadly passed away and now his surviving relatives have had to endure a trial.”
Featured Image – GMP
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Life-saving defibrillators to be installed on dozens of trains travelling through Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Life-saving defibrillators are set to be installed on dozens of trains travelling through Greater Manchester.
Rail operator TransPennine Express (TPE) has started work to install the units on all 51 of its Class 185 trains over the next two months, and can be used by both staff and passengers if someone goes into cardiac arrest.
The defibrillators will be fitted by technology company Siemens Mobility, and will be located in an emergency equipment cupboard in the middle of the train.
Every defibrillator being installed on the trains has step-by-step, spoken word instructions built in to them, which explain how to use on someone in an emergency, so passengers and staff need not panic if they’re unsure what to do.
Computers inside the defibrillators will work to analyse a person’s heart rhythms to find out if an electric shock is needed, and if required, electrodes then automatically deliver the shock.
⚡Work has started to fit defibrillators across more than 50 TransPennine Express trains
🚆 The life-saving units will be installed on all 51 of our Class 185 trains by the end of March
The defibrillators – which are already installed on TPE’s Nova 1 trains – have been purchased from the British Heart Foundation charity, which is the biggest independent funder of heart and circulatory research in the UK.
The news that the defibrillators are being installed on trains travelling through Greater Manchester and across the UK come after it was announced back in 2023 that the machines were being installed at more than 100 Northern stations to help save people in cardiac arrest.
Speaking on the installing of the defibrillators on trains, Bushra Khan, who is the Head of Engineering at TransPennine Express, said: “Our defibrillators are a huge benefit to both our customers and the communities we serve.
“This rollout will ensure that people travelling on our services will feel safe and confident that defibrillators are available to help in the event of an emergency, potentially saving lives.”
Featured Image – TPE
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One of Manchester’s oldest surviving Victorian mills to be repurposed into ‘distinctive’ rental homes
Emily Sergeant
A multi-million funding deal has been agreed to repurpose one of Manchester’s oldest surviving Victorian mills.
After £55 million plans to reimagine Talbot Mill into a 10-storey apartment block began back in May of last year, social impact developers Capital&Centric have now agreed a £37 million deal with Paragon Bank to finance the restoration of the historic mill and repurpose it into 190 new distinctive properties for rent.
Built in 1855 overlooking the canal, the imposing red-brick mill on Ellesmere Street in the Castlefield neighbourhood was the product of Manchester’s textile boom.
One of the city’s last massive mills to be restored, it was Talbot that spearheaded the rapid transformation of the Cornbrook area from undeveloped land to a powerful industrial hub in the late 19th century, before going on to dominate the local cotton industry in the early 1900s.
It was even used as a mushroom farm in the 1980s, while more recently, it has been the set of a period drama and a massive art exhibition.
But when the restoration is complete, over half the development will be newly-built and will offer residents of the nearly 200 ‘distinctive’ apartments a lush hidden garden, with plenty of green spaces to meet and hang out, while still managing to celebrate the mill’s past and retain loads of original features.
Capital&Centric is developing Talbot Mill as an investment, which it will retain for rent once finished.
This is something the developers have already done successfully on a number of sites in recent years, especially in its lengthy run of restoring Manchester’s iconic listed buildings and mixing the old in with the new.
One of Manchester’s oldest surviving Victorian mills will be repurposed into ‘distinctive’ rental homes / Credit: Capital&Centric
“We love to restore and repurpose historic buildings,” explained Tom Wilmot, who is the joint managing director at Capital&Centric.
“But as one of Manchester’s oldest mills, Talbot Mill is something a bit different, so we’re buzzing to be bringing it back to its former glory, [as] it had a huge role to play in the industrial revolution in the city and now it gets to be part of the city’s future.
“We’re retaining as many features as we can, to keep the history of the mill alive and so that our residents can enjoy becoming custodians of the past whilst enjoying all the trappings of modern-day living.”
Emily Sergeant -
17th February 2025 
