Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has reissued an appeal for witnesses following the disappearance of a woman one year after she went missing.
24-year-old Alisha Apostoloff-Boyarin from Ashton-under-Lyne was last seen in County Durham in January 2022, but was reported missing by her grandmother on 2 February 2022 after she had not heard from her and became concerned for her safety.
A missing persons investigation then launched shortly after.
After various lines of enquiry were followed initially by police, the search for Alisha then developed into a murder investigation.
A 59-year-old man, from Willington in County Durham, but with connections to Ashton-under-Lyne was arrested on suspicion of her murder in March 2022 after detectives established at the time that, although Alisha was still missing, evidence suggested that she had “come to serious harm” – but he has since been released on bail.
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Although the man is still being investigated, police are still continuing the search for Alisha one year on from her disappearance, and are re-appealing for witnesses.
DCI Liam Boden, of GMP’s Major Incident Team, said: “Alisha travelled as a passenger in a vehicle to the Bishop Auckland area on Friday 14 January 2022, and she was later seen travelling in the same vehicle on Saturday 22 January 2022, leaving Glossop towards Chapel-en-le-frith in Derbyshire.
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“Alisha has not been seen or heard from since.
“The vehicle she was a passenger in is described as a 2003 gold coloured Volkswagen Passat saloon.
“The car has been seized and examined extensively [but] a year has passed now and still Alisha has not been seen by family, friends and loved ones and as the investigation continues it is believed that she may have come to serious harm.”
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Alisha Apostoloff-Boyarin / Credit: GMP
DCI Boden is calling on the public to “cast your minds” back to Saturday 22 January 2022.
“Did you see Alisha? Have you seen the vehicle in question? Do you know where that vehicle went? Did you witness any suspicious activity on nearby lanes or land?,” he said in the appeal for witnesses.
GMP is also appealing to rural communities in Derbyshire, mainly around Glossop, Buxton, and Chapel-en-le-frith, to come forward “if you have seen anything suspicious or vehicles trespassing on private land around these dates”.
DCI Boden continued: “We are looking for CCTV, dashcam footage, images or any accounts of suspicious behaviour around that date as this will bring us one step closer to finding Alisha and help us understand what has happened to her.”
The 24-year-old was last seen in County Durham in January 2022 / Credit: GMP
Anyone with any information on Alisha’s disappearance are urged to call GMPs Major Incident team on 0161 856 6777, contact police on 101, or submit information via GMP’s Major Incident Portal here.
You can also contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Featured Image – GMP
News
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 -
7th February 2023 
