Three police officers who chased and detained a man carrying a gun in Manchester have been nominated for a bravery award.
PC Jack Ginger, PC Jessica Hamblett, and PC Richard Hayes from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have been nominated for The National Police Bravery Awards after they put themselves at what was said to be “a significant risk to their own wellbeing” while chasing and eventually apprehending a gunman in Harpurhey back in March 2021.
The trio were in plain clothes on mobile patrol in a plain vehicle when PC Hamblett noticed a number of individuals “loitering together”.
According to GMP, due to the suspicious behaviour of this group, PC Hayes turned the vehicle around, and as they did so, the officers heard a loud bang – which they believed to be a firearm discharging – and a few seconds later, they saw a man running down the street carrying a black bin liner and seemingly trying to conceal its contents.
Due to the way he was acting and the loud bang, the trio then identified themselves as police officers and the man ran off towards a black Ford Focus – which was parked up with two other men inside.
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PCs Ginger, Hamblett, and Hayes immediately chased the man, and he tried to get into the Ford Focus, but it eventually made off and left the man with the gun behind.
PC Jack Ginger, PC Jessica Hamblett, and PC Richard Hayes have been nominated for The National Police Bravery Award / Credit: Greater Manchester Police
The man then ran off and was pursued on foot by PC Ginger, followed by PC Hayes, and supported by PC Hamblett in the police vehicle, and after a pursuit through a number of back streets, PC Ginger managed to detain the man with the assistance of his colleagues, while PC Hayes conducted a search along the route of the pursuit to find the black bin bag discarded near where the offender had tried to get into the car.
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The bin bag did in fact contain a converted blank-firing Retay handgun, with the cartridge still in the chamber – which is a prohibited firearm.
“What a tremendous trio of colleagues,” said Greater Manchester Police Federation Chair Lee Broadbent.
“The actions of Jack, Jessica and Richard in pursuing a male who was armed with a firearm, which they believed had just been discharged, was exceptionally brave.
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“The officers acted fast to detain this man and prevent any harm to members of the public, at significant risk to their own wellbeing [and] not only was the suspect apprehended, but their excellent commentary during the pursuit directed other officers to support, and the subsequent scene management ensured the recovery of the weapon and other important evidence.
“The actions of these officers has brought a very high-risk individual into custody, which will have had a significant impact on protecting and reassuring the local community.”
The offender was charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and as his fingerprints were found on the bag which the gun was found inside of, he was remanded into custody.
The offender was jailed for five years in July 2021.
Featured Image – Greater Manchester Police
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Every Greater Manchester borough to get 24-7 night bus services as part of Bee Network improvements
Emily Sergeant
Every borough of Greater Manchester is set to get a night bus service in what is hoped to be a ‘boost’ to the night-time economy.
Widespread improvements are coming to bus services across the whole region are coming later this year, as Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has today (Thursday 18 March) announced 36 service changes in total – many of which are said to be the ‘most significant’ and ‘wide-ranging’ upgrades the Bee Network has seen since bus franchising was completed early last year.
The announcement comes after the Mayor gave a major update yesterday on plans to deliver a ‘decade of good growth’ in Greater Manchester, backed by at least £500 million of investment from the National Wealth Fund, taking the GM Good Growth Fund to almost £2 billion.
The Bee Network insists this raft of new changes have ‘only been made possible’ by bringing buses back under local control.
As mentioned, the most major improvement is set to be the introduction 24-hour night buses throughout Greater Manchester – with five new night buses launched to bring a 24-hour service to parts of the region that haven’t previously had them, like Oldham, Stockport, Tameside, and Trafford.
Every Greater Manchester borough is set to get 24-7 night bus services / Credit: TfGM
It’s hoped around 625,400 people in jobs that operate late into the night, as well as those enjoying everything the region’s nightlife has to offer, can get home safely.
Some of the other changes announced include a selection of brand-new bus services, more frequent buses during the day and at the weekends, and overall better connections to key employment and leisure destinations like Manchester Airport, Trafford Centre, MediaCity, Middlebrook Retail Park, Kingsway Business Park, and Logistics North.
“These changes will benefit people right across Greater Manchester,” commented Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham.
“They have come about as a direct result of your feedback and support for the Bee Network and have been made possible by the decision we took to bring our buses back under local control.
“By expanding Bee Network night buses to every borough, and providing more frequent services to key employment locations, we are creating more ways for people to access jobs and opportunities across the region.
“This is just the start. As we continue to lead the way on economic growth, so will we continue to lead the way on transforming the Bee Network, setting us up for another decade of good growth so that everyone in Greater Manchester can live a good life.”
Featured Image – TfGM
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‘Deeply worrying’ figures reveal one in seven NHS staff were physically attacked last year
Emily Sergeant
The NHS is ‘deeply worried’ after figures revealed one in seven staff were attacked by a patient or member of the public last year.
According to the latest NHS staff survey, 14.47% – which works out to almost one in seven staff members – were physically attacked by a patient or the public in the last year, which sadly works out to be the highest rate for three years.
On top of this, the shocking statistics also saw a record percentage of staff say they were subjected to ‘unwanted’ sexual behaviour, rising steeply to almost one in three ambulance staff (31%).
It also found that nearly one in 10 staff (9.26%) said they were subjected to discrimination from patients and the public, which is the highest on record.
The 2025 NHS Staff Survey results are now published.
Thank you to all NHS staff who took the time to share their experiences.
The survey helps us understand what’s working well and where improvements can be made.
Presumably because of figures like this, the survey revealed that the number of staff who would recommend their workplace to others fell slightly to 58.05% in 2025, which is down from 60.79% last year in 2024.
“These figures paint a deeply worrying picture of the abuse our hardworking NHS staff face,” commented Danny Mortimer, who is the Director General (People) for NHS England.
“Staff safety and wellbeing is paramount, and we want everyone experiencing any kind of unwanted incident to feel confident enough to report it. But while that behaviour is completely unacceptable, we must look at what more we can do to support the people who keep our services running.
‘Deeply worrying’ figures reveal that one in seven NHS staff were physically attacked last year / Credit: rawpixel
“We know about the everyday pressures staff face and we haven’t moved fast enough to fix them.
“Staff have worked so hard to improve NHS performance and deliver care over winter as shown in the latest performance figures. These survey results show it is now for the NHS to deliver improvements for staff because there is so much more to do to make the NHS a better place to work.”
However, despite all of this, an overwhelming 87.78% of respondents did say they felt their job ‘made a difference’ to patients.
As mentioned, all of these statistics have been revealed as part of the latest NHS staff survey, where more than 766,000 workers in England responded – providing what is said to be ‘vital data’ for employers and stakeholders about the staff experience.
Emily Sergeant -
7th June 2022 
