Greater Manchester Police has confirmed that a man who lunged at five people with a knife when running through Manchester Arndale in October 2019 has been given a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.
In a statement released by the force yesterday, GMP explained that 43-year-old Raphael Chevelleau – who lived in Blackley, Manchester – was arrested by officers responding to reports of multiple people being stabbed at the shopping centre on the morning of Friday 11 October 2019.
Chevelleau had initially been held under the Terrorism Act following the incident, but was deemed by medical specialists to be initially unfit for interview and has been in a secure hospital under Mental Health Act ever since.
Detectives from Counter Terrorism Policing North West found no ideological motive for the attacks, but were however authorised to charge Chevelleau for three counts of wounding with intent and two counts of attempted wounding, with extensive CCTV enquiries eventually forming a sequence of Chevelleau’s movements that morning.
Giving further insights into his movements, GMP revealed he began at a local store in Blackley where he purchased a knife for £1.50, before putting in his coat pocket and heading towards the nearest bus stop.
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After exiting the bus at Shudehill, Chevelleau went across to the Arndale where he walked through the shopping centre to the toilets to dispose of the packaging for the knife and return to the mall, before proceeding to go on a 90-second rampage where he first attacked a man in his 50s and subsequently inflicted injuries on four women aged between 19 and 49.
Thankfully, GMP said none of the injuries were life-threatening, but the man has since had his use of his right-hand severely affected, and all the victims had to be offered support for any psychological harm caused as a result of the attacks.
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After pleading guilty at an earlier hearing, Chevelleau was eventually sentenced yesterday to a hospital order at Manchester Crown Court for three offences of wounding with intent, and two offences of attempted wounding.
The court heard that Chevelleau – who was a regular cannabis user – suffers from a schizophrenic illness, which has been resistant to treatment.
He was admitted to hospital in 2006 for a psychiatric illness, while his mother said he was diagnosed in prison with schizophrenia when he was 21, and a consultant forensic psychiatrist had previously told the court he thought it was “highly unlikely” Chevelleau would have committed the offences if he had not been suffering from schizophrenia.
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He said there was “a wealth of evidence” that – unknown to medical practitioners and family members – his mental state deteriorated ahead of the stabbings.
Raphael Chevelleau was arrested by officers responding to reports of multiple people being stabbed at Manchester Arndale / Credit: Greater Manchester Police
Despite being arrested under counter-terrorism legislation due to the nature of the incident and comments made during his arrest, CTPNW investigators said they did not find evidence of an ideological motive.
Detectives said they spoke to over 160 witnesses to compile enough evidence to compel Chevelleau to plead guilty to all five stabbings and be sentenced to a hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act subject to restrictions under section 41 of the Mental Health Act.
“This was a shocking and unprovoked attack and the Crown Prosecution Services thoughts remain with the victims and those directly affected by the actions of Mr Chevelleau,” said Nick Price – Head of the CPS Counter-Terrorism Division – following the sentencing.
“I am pleased that Mr Chevelleau has taken responsibility for his actions through his guilty pleas and that as such the victims and other witnesses who have provided statements are not required to give evidence in court.
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“The sentence imposed by the court today reflects the seriousness of Mr Chevelleau’s actions and the level of danger he poses to the public.”
Featured Image – Greater Manchester Police
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Police uncover more details in investigation into remains of ‘Baby Ava’ found in Little Hulton park last year
Emily Sergeant
More details in the investigation into the remains of a baby found in a park in Little Hulton last year have been uncovered.
Detectives have now released images of clothing found next to the baby’s remains.
Need bringing up to speed? It was on 20 November 2024 that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) received a call from a member of the public reporting the discovery of what appeared to be human remains in a park in the Little Hulton area of Salford – but it was only when officers and detectives attended the scene that they determinted the remains to be that of a baby girl.
At the time, police referred to the baby simply as ‘Baby A’, but it was revealed that they later chose to name her Ava.
Since that day, a dedicated team from GMP’s Major Incident Team has worked ‘tirelessly’ to uncover the truth about who Baby Ava was and what led to her being left alone.
Police have uncovered more details in the investigation of Baby Ava’s identity / Credit: GMP
Detectives have followed up on hundreds of public tips, conducted thousands of hours of house-to-house enquiries, reviewed extensive CCTV footage, and collaborated with police forces and agencies across the country in pursuit of identifying who baby Ava was and securing justice for her.
Now, fast approaching a year since the investigation began, police are sharing with the public some new details they have uncovered – including pictures of ‘distinct’ clothing found next to Baby Ava’s remains.
#APPEAL | Detectives leading the investigation into the discovery of Baby Ava in Little Hulton last November have reappealed on @BBCCrimewatch today.
We continue to appeal directly to Ava’s mum or dad to come forward and speak to us.
Following detectives’ earlier updates, where they revealed a piece of fabric had been recovered from the scene, they have now been able to confirm that this fabric is a pair of ladies’ size large underwear, with a ‘distinct pattern’ of what they believe is cartoon donkeys on them.
Enquiries so far have led police to believe the underwear is not manufactured in the UK, but can be shipped wholesale.
“We hope given their distinctive nature that somebody recognises them,” GMP said in a statement.
The ‘distinct’ underwear found by detectives at the scene / Credit: GMP
Unfortunately, DNA recovered from the underwear, as well as trawls of several public databases, have not furthered the search for Baby Ava’s parents as of yet, however GMP says it does believe Ava was born at around 38 to 39 weeks gestation, and that the pregnancy may have been ‘concealed or unregistered’.
Police have also revealed that Baby Ava was found on top of a layer of snow next to an area that may have been disturbed by animals, so they believe she had been buried initially.
Anyone with any information that may be of assistance is asked to contact police on 101, quoting log 1319 of 20/11/24, or by heading to the Major Incident Public Portal here.
Featured Image – GMP
News
Royal Mail fined £21m by Ofcom failing to meet its delivery targets
Emily Sergeant
Ofcom has fined Royal Mail a whopping £21 million for failing to meet its delivery targets in the last financial year.
Each year, it’s the watchdog’s job to look at and measure Royal Mail’s delivery performance against nationwide annual delivery targets, and for the 2024/25 season, the company was required to deliver 93% of First Class mail within one working day of collection, and 98.5% of Second Class mail within three working days.
If Royal Mail misses its annual targets, Ofcom will first consider evidence of any ‘exceptional circumstances’ beyond the company’s control, and whether it would have achieved its targets had those events not occurred.
However, even after accounting for extreme weather events, Royal Mail was still found to have fallen short of its targets… and this time, they’ve been fined their highest sum so far.
We have fined Royal Mail £21m for missing its 2024/25 delivery targets, without justification.
The company must now urgently publish, and deliver, a credible improvement plan.
This is the third time in a row that Ofcom has found the company to be in breach of its regulatory obligations, after it was first fined a substantial £5.6m in November 2023, and then a further £10.5m in December 2024.
Royal Mail only delivered 77% of First Class mail and 92.5% of Second Class mail on time between April 2024 and March 2025.
Ofcom says it has therefore decided that the company breached its obligations by failing to provide ‘an acceptable level of service’ without justification, and took ‘insufficient and ineffective’ steps to try and prevent this failure.
“Hiding behind the pandemic as a driving factor in failures at Royal Mail does not cut it.”
Royal Mail has been fined £21m by Ofcom failing to meet its delivery targets / Credit: Royal Mail
The watchdog says this is likely to have impacted millions of customers who did not get the service they paid for.
“Millions of important letters are arriving late, and people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp,” explained Ian Strawhorne, who is the Director of Enforcement at Ofcom.
“These persistent failures are unacceptable, and customers expect and deserve better.
“Royal Mail must rebuild consumers’ confidence as a matter of urgency, and that means making actual significant improvements, not more empty promises.
“We’ve told the company to publicly set out how it’s going to deliver this change, and we expect to start seeing meaningful progress soon. If this doesn’t happen, fines are likely to continue.”
The Manc -
18th January 2022 
