It looks like a scene from a movie, but the story behind the image of Khayam Ali Khurshid being captured by armed officers in the streets of Amsterdam days after murdering Cole Kerssaw is a very real one.
Last Friday (May 21), three men were sentenced for the murder of Cole, a young boxer from Bury, after a comprehensive investigation by Greater Manchester Police which eventually spanned an ocean.
GMP’s Major Incident Team of fugitive finders crossed the English Channel to get their final man, after Mohammed Izaarh Khan handed himself in at Bury police station and gunman Kamran Mohammed was found close to home in Rochdale just days after the murder took place in August of last year.
The fatal shooting, which happened on Chesham Road, made headlines around the UK at the time, and in the days following, a large scale manhunt was already underway.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Butterworth, Senior Investigating Officer, explains: “The Critical Wanted Unit completed numerous extensive and meticulous enquiries, including phone work around the location of Khurshid, before we got word from the border agency that he was on the Channel tunnel en route to France.
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GMP // Cole Kershaw, pictured above, was gunned down in Bury
“The unit were then able track him down as being in Amsterdam and we knew from financial transactions that he was planning to board a flight to Dubai, but he actually missed this flight as he didn’t have a COVID certificate.
“The work of the Dutch authorities continued before they tracked him to a nearby street and sent me a picture to check it was him; it was and then the next message I had was that they’d got him!”
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Following the dramatic detention by armed officers in the Dutch capital, it was then the job of the Force Extradition Unit to go to the Netherlands to arrest Khurshid and bring him back to the UK, where he would ultimately face justice for his actions.
The arrest was one of nearly 100 arrests made by GMP’s Critical Wanted team in 2020 – 48 of them being Greater Manchester’s most high-profile fugitives.
A further 46 arrests were made of suspects believed to be assisting those on the run and being involved in other serious crime such as drug supply and assault.
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DCI Butterworth added: “We couldn’t have brought every one of these men to justice had it not been the tireless work of the Critical Wanted Unit, and it’s a team that is vital in securing the arrests of the most serious of suspects we have in our region.
“Any investigation, particularly one as big as this one, is not just about one detective or one team – it is a big team effort from so many people across the force and the Force Critical Wanted Unit, for one, played a crucial role in this case.”
GMP // Kamran Mohammed, Mohammed Izaarh Khan and Khayam Ali Khurshid were jailed for life
Detective Inspector Simon Akker, head of GMP’s Force Critical Wanted Unit, said: “Once again our team have gained a brilliant result for all the painstaking hours of work that they put into ensuring that Greater Manchester’s most dangerous individuals are behind bars instead of on the streets.
“While a lot of our work is domestically alongside the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit and National Crime Agency, it is not uncommon for suspected criminals to flee the country in a bid to avoid facing the consequences of their crimes, but this case epitomises our dedication of going to whatever lengths possible to bring offenders to justice.
“Here we worked collaboratively with the Dutch authorities, and even now we are still liaising closely with them to catch today’s fugitives who, while they may be at large, should know that all of our international partners have the shared endeavour of ridding these people from our streets and we will do what we can in order to achieve this.”
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Over 350 hours of video footage, including 75 CCTV cameras, were meticulously viewed through the course of the investigation, and over 250 people were spoken to as part of the operation – codenamed Landseer.
Kamran Mohammed (28/03/2001), Mohammed Izaarh Khan (19/04/1999), and Khayam Ali Khurshid (20/03/1992) – all from Bury – were each sentenced to life on Friday 21 May 2021 after being found guilty of murder and possession of an offensive weapon with intent to endanger life.
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Girls Aloud to release ‘Sarah’s Version’ of ‘I’ll Stand By You’ for BBC Children In Need 2024
Danny Jones
Pop royalty Girls Aloud are set to release a special edition of their 2004 song ‘I’ll Stand By You’, simply dubbed ‘Sarah’s Version’, for this year’s Children In Need broadcast.
The iconic British girl group returned earlier this year with a huge comeback nationwide tour which obviously sold out and they also won over crowds with their touching on-stage tributes to late singer Sarah Harding during their live performances.
Harding, 39, sadly passed away back in 2021 following a battle with breast cancer and was mourned across the country, especially here in the North, with a commemorative plaque and large mural of the Stockport-born songstress thrown up in her hometown back in May.
And now, as a way to help raise money for the annual BBC telethon and honour her once again, Girls Aloud will be re-releasing the well-known ballad.
‘I’ll Stand By You (Sarah’s Version)’ features Sarah on lead vocal throughout using vocals we discovered in the vault from the original recording sessions. The track played a key part in our ‘The Girls Aloud Show’ arena tour this summer & was an emotional moment for us all 🎙
Originally a cover of the 1997 track by The Pretenders and given that they were still so early into their career, the Noughties hitmakers naturally did multiple takes before landing on their final edit.
That being said, a version that has been rediscovered in digging through the archived recording sessions features Sarah Harding on lead vocals and now the band are set to let her voice shine through.
Airing for the first time on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Wednesday, 6 November, ‘Sarah’s Version’ has already gone down an instant hit 20 years from its release, with the emotional punch of hearing Harding’s clearly hitting listeners hard.
‘I’ll Stand By You’ went straight to the top of the UK Singles Chart when it was first released and was their second-ever number one. We have a very strong feeling that the importance of this re-release will see it do exactly the same – just in time for Christmas, no less.
Fans were left spellbound during what was casually referred to as ‘Sarah’s moment’ on the Girls Aloud reunion tour, where they truly did allow her singing to become the star of the show:
As if the charity single wasn’t a tear-jerking enough prospect already, ‘I’ll Stand By You – Sarah’s Version’ is also set to be released on 15 November, just two days before what would have been Harding’s 43rd birthday. We’re not crying, you are.
In aid of The Christie and the Sarah Harding Legacy Project, more than £1 million has been raised in the Stopfordian’s memory and for breast cancer awareness through initiatives like the creation of the mural and members of the hospital doing charity runs, bike rides, swims and more.
Speaking on social media, the band added: “The track played a key part in our ‘The Girls Aloud Show’ arena tour this summer & was an emotional moment for us all.”
BBC Children in Need 2024 takes place next Friday (15 November) and highlights from their reunion tour, where ‘Sarah’s Version’ was first heard by the masses, will be shown on ITV at 8pm the following Sunday.
Featured Images — BBC Children In Need/The Christie
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Benjamin Mendy wins legal case against Manchester City over unpaid wages
Danny Jones
Ex-Manchester City player Benjamin Mendy has officially won the legal case against his former employers over unpaid wages.
The French defender was suspended from Man City without pay in September 2021 after being charged with six counts of rape and one instance of sexual assault before ultimately leaving the club last June.
Despite multiple allegations and the high-profile case going to trial in August 2022, Mendy was eventually cleared of all counts in July 2023 and has been demanding he receive his ‘lost’ finances earned at the Etihad ever since.
Mendy took legal action against City last November and now, nearly a full year on, the 30-year-old fullback has won his claim against them and is expected to receive most of the outstanding wages accumulated while he was in custody and on bail, as he was still unable to play due to FA sanctions.
As detailed in an official judgement summary, “The result of this decision is that Mr Mendy will be entitled to receive the majority of his unpaid salary, although not all of it.”
BREAKING: Benjamin Mendy has been successful in his employment claim against Manchester City 🚨
In her judgement, published on November 6, Judge Joanne Dunlop's concluded that Manchester City were not entitled to withhold Mendy's pay while he was not in custody. pic.twitter.com/dRWmfHpfgO
The former Premier League star initially entered into an employment tribunal to claim around £11 million in compensation for the wages he missed out on during the period between his suspension in September 2021 and City letting him go in the summer of 2023.
Mendy’s wages were worth around £500,000 a month after joining the Manchester club back in 2017 for a then-world-record fee for a defender, £52m. While he was unsuccessful in claiming all unpaid wages back, City are expected to hand over approximately £8.5m.
Writing on social media, the Frenchman welcomed the decision which found that the club had “unlawfully made deductions from my wages for a total period of 16 months and 23 days.”
Mendy urged the club to do the “honourable thing” and pay the outstanding wages promptly, along with other amounts included in his contract, so as to “finally put this difficult part of my life behind me.”
He went on to conclude the statement by thanking family, agent and legal team for their support and while it’s unclear how soon Man City will be forced to cough up the sum, the footballer will be playing this weekend as usual. You can read his full statement down below:
The club themselves are yet to respond to the decision but will be required to pay out the number within a certain period by law. Mendy has been back playing football in his home country at Ligue 2 club, FC Lorient, who he signed for just days after being acquitted even despite huge backlash.
Meanwhile, their well-publicised case against UEFA and the outstanding 115+ charges regarding FFP and PSR has now begun but isn’t expected to be settled for some time.
The Manc -
24th May 2021 
