Police have jailed a man they found hiding in a bin after a burglary in Oldham.
Lee Ullah was wearing the coat of the woman he’d stolen from when officers found him.
The 47-year-old, of no fixed abode, had previously smashed his way into another property through the roof.
Ullah has now been jailed for three years and nine months.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary and criminal damage on 15 February at Manchester Minshull Street Court.
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Police were first called to reports of a burglary at Robinson Street in Chadderton by a victim who woke up at 6am to find Ullah inside her house.
The victim noticed her TV was missing during the incident on Thursday 25 November and, after confronting the burglar, he fled the scene wearing her coat.
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Officers in Oldham later found the burglar hiding in the bin, still wearing the coat.
He had also tried to burgle a house on Whitstable Close, smashing a large hole in the roof of a building and climbing through, causing £10,000 worth of damage.
Ullah has also been charged for a commercial burglary on Yorkshire Street on 7 July 2021.
In that incident, he caused £10,000 worth of damage and stole property worth £10,000.
He was found to have been trying to sell one of the items at a local shop.
The investigation and subsequent charges were carried out by GMP’s Oldham Divisional Crime Team.
Featured image: GMP / Unsplash
Oldham
The Bee Network officially rolls out in Oldham and Rochdale as more buses join local transport system
Danny Jones
The Bee Network just keeps getting bigger with a new fleet of eco-buses having now rolled out in Oldham and Rochdale as Greater Manchester continues to integrate its new transport network.
With many city centre buses having been franchised across the likes of Wigan and Bolton since the Bee Network officially launched back in September 2023, the new centralised public transport system is becoming a real hive of activity (pardon the pun).
Now making up approximately more than half of the region’s wider bus network, with more bright yellow buses put into service across the likes of Bury and Salford as well, the vision for the Bee Network is slowly starting to take shape.
Celebrating this latest phase in the long-term plan for a universal and centralised public transport network across all ten boroughs, Mayor Andy Burnham hopped on board one of the new vehicles to show off the improvements made to bus journeys here in Greater Manchester.
As you can see, not only are the new Bee Network buses an obvious upgrade on many existing lines running in and around the city centre for the past two decades, but there are more of them on more key routes, including 50 new zero-emission vehicles and 84 new, best-in-class low emission buses too.
Reducing costs for the likes of those travelling in and out of Oldham, Rochdale, Bury and Salford is also a massive win since these routes have come under local control too, with the combined tram and bus tickets – making most journeys 20% cheaper, to be more precise.
As per the latest stats from Transport for Greater Manchester, the Bee Network is already proving to be offering more reliable service than prior to franchising, with 74.30% of buses on time between 1 January and 19 March compared to 67.62% of commercial services and 62.75% during the same period in 2023.
The number of people using Bee Network services has also increased, with the average number of weekday passengers having grown by over five per cent and hitting a high of 141,720 on 6 March across more than 17 million journeys since it began. The results are plain to see and they’re stopping there.
The goal is to have all of Greater Manchester‘s buses fold into the Bee Network by January 2025 and whilst we’re still in the early days of this centralised shift, it’s great to see such progress being made so far and how it’s already benefiting locals around the region.
This latest chapter comes just a week or so after the brand-new Stockport Interchange was officially opened to the public as well, a borough which is also hoping to see more buses and potential plans for an extension of the Metrolink tram system coming their way.
Featured Images — Bee Network/Michael Ely (via Geograph)
Oldham
Pet owners warned to ‘be vigilant’ after rescue home finds resident cat beheaded
Daisy Jackson
A local cat shelter in Oldham has shared that one of their resident cats has been murdered, after her decapitated body was found near the rescue centre.
Oldham Cats has urged pet-owners to ‘be vigilant’ after the shocking incident, which left their ‘precious girl’ Poppy dead.
The 13-year-old tabby had been a resident of the shelter since May 2019 and has been described as ‘the sweetest, most gentle and loving of creatures’.
In a ‘very distressing’ post shared on Facebook, Oldham Cats said that Poppy’s decapitated body had been found close to the shelter on Wednesday evening.
They also said that her head has still not been found.
The shelter wrote: “It angers, sickens and breaks our hearts that Poppy was beheaded and her head is still missing.”
Oldham Cats also said that they are now locking their remaining resident cats inside in the evenings for their own safety.
A JustGiving page has been set up for donations, which will go to building a ‘catio’ – a safe space added to the main building where the cats can be kept at night.
The new space will be named Poppy’s Palace in her honour.
Oldham Cats said: “Please do be vigilant with your own cats within the vicinity of this area. No animal should have to endure what our sweet little Poppy was subject to.
“Understandably, all our volunteers are heartbroken beyond belief: traumatised, angry and shocked by such an horrific act of animal cruelty.
“Poppy was so innocently sweet, we’d all become her family over the years…her whole world.
“Good night and God bless you Poppy, our forever angel. You’ll forever be in our hearts.”