A former police and prison officer who was in an undisclosed relationship with a man serving a life sentence for murder has been jailed.
Stephanie Heaps, now known as Stephanie Ramsden, who was formerly a from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer based in Bolton, did not declare that she was in an intimate relationship with Leon ‘Layton’ Ramsden – who is on a life sentence for murder – while she worked in her previous role at HMP Wymott in Leyland.
The 32-year-old Heaps had worked as a prison officer since March 2018, before pursuing a career in the police and joining GMP as a PC based in Bolton in July 2019.
During this time, she did not declare any links to criminals or criminal activity.
An investigation carried out by GMP’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) – which began in September 2019, under supervision of the Independent Office of Police Conduct – not only revealed Heaps’ levels of deceit in getting a job in the police service, but also found her links to an organised crime group associated to Ramsden, which was involved in money laundering, drug dealing, and a conspiracy to burgle an address in St Helens in November 2019.
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DCI Adams said: “It’s clear Heaps should never be trusted to serve the public, and it is testament to the investigation team that she was only in uniform for a matter of months before she was taken away from frontline duties for good."
— Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) July 4, 2024
After four months of what GMP called “tireless investigative work”, sufficient evidence to prove Heaps often visited Leon Ramsden in prison was uncovered, as it was found that she had been contacting him via illicit phones he had in his cell, and even shared sensitive police information with him.
Heaps was arrested in January 2020, and detectives then probed her with the mount of evidence that they had compiled, but according to GMP, she gave a ‘no comment’ interview.
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Only weeks later, she resigned from the force.
GMP worked with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the prison service to produce a “compelling case” that led to Heaps pleading guilty in October 2022 to offences such as misconduct in a public office, as both a police officer and a prison officer, intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence after conducting telephone conversations with Ramsden through illegal mobile phones, and conspiracy to commit burglary.
Close to the entrance of H.M.P Wymott, where Heaps worked as a prison officer / Credit: Google Maps
She also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transfer, conceal, and convert criminal property regarding the money laundering of Ramsden’s drugs money.
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At an accelerated misconduct hearing in October 2023, Heaps was barred from policing, and then, at Bolton Crown Court today last Thursday (4 July), she was sentenced to serve four years and three months behind bars.
Ramsden, now of HMP Berwyn, was sentenced to five years and seven months, to run concurrently with his current sentence.
Featured Image – GMP
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Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Emily Sergeant -
8th July 2024 
