A French Bulldog who was stolen while pregnant from her Devon home 225 miles away has been found in Greater Manchester.
Two-year-old French Bulldog Maggie was sadly taken from an address in Bradninch in Devon on Thursday 13 May, while she was heavily pregnant – but following information from the public, Greater Manchester Police managed to discover that the dog was being kept at an address in Partington.
Maggie was found by officers from the Trafford West Neighbourhood Policing Team at the Partington address on Saturday.
She was in mid-labour when she was found by officers.
All of the dogs were safely recovered and taken into veterinary care, with Greater Manchester Police confirming that they are all doing well and will be reunited with their owners very shortly.
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Four people have been arrested and released pending further inquiries.
A 28 year old woman has been arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods, and a 33 year old man has also been arrested on suspicion of theft, but both have been released under investigation.
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Maggie was found by officers from the Trafford West Neighbourhood Policing Team in Partington on Saturday / Credit: GMP / Devon & Cornwall Police
Inspector Jon Ezard from GMP’s Trafford West Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “This is a fantastic result with a happy ending for Maggie.”
He added: “Maggie and her pups will be reunited with their owner shortly, and I’d like to thank our partners at Devon and Cornwall police for their assistance, as well as the public for working with us to track them down.”
Inspector Ezard also admitted that “French Bulldogs are an extremely popular breed”, which comes after they were recently revealed as the most popular dog bought during lockdown.
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“The price of buying a dog has increased, but dog theft isn’t about money for victims, they are losing a member of the family [so] hopefully this will send a strong message that GMP will not tolerate this kind of criminality, and anyone who commits this kind of crime, will be brought to justice.”
Greater Manchester Police said it encourages anyone with any information – whether that is seeing some suspicious activity relating to dogs, or attempted thefts – to report it by calling 101.
“The information passed to us is looked into and taken seriously.” Inspector Ezard added.
The force also reiterated some helpful advice provided by leading UK charity Dogs Trust on how to keep your pet safe:
Many dogs are taken from homes and gardens every year, so making sure both are secure is a priority for dog owners and ideally, a dog shouldn’t be left on their own in the garden.
Never leave your dog unattended when you’re out and about and always keep them in sight.
Make sure they are trained to come back to you, however distracted they might be.
Ensure your dog is microchipped as having your dog microchipped, and keeping your contact details up to date, gives you the best chance of having your dog returned to you if the worst happens.
Walk in well-lit areas, vary your routes, and be aware of your surroundings.
You can also find more information about protecting your dog from theft via the Greater Manchester Police website here.
Featured Image – GMP / Devon & Cornwall Police
UK News
An old clip of Tyson Fury talking about Oleksandr Usyk has come back to haunt him – twice
Danny Jones
This weekend saw Oleksandr Usyk emerge victorious over Tyson Fury for a second time in less than a year as the Ukrainian won the highly-anticipated rematch on points, and now an old clip of the Manc fighter dismissing his opponent has resurfaced online. Again.
Oh, the irony…
After losing following a split decision for what was his first career defeat back in May, Fury lost following a unanimous decision this time around and while some have questioned the scorecards (as tends to happen with these things), there can be no question over Usyk’s dominance now.
However, rewind to a few years ago before the 37-year-old had even won his first fight against Anthony Joshua and Fury’s naive not to mention controversial comments regarding the possibility of ‘giving’ him a fight look pretty silly now:
Tyson Fury a few years ago refusing to fight Usyk
“I want the big fights and that ain’t one of them. He’s a foreigner in a westernised world. The heavyweight champion should be from Britain or America and nowhere else.”
As you can see in the interview from 2020, the now 36-year-old Wythenshawe-born boxer was pretty dismissive about the prospect of fighting Usyk, who ultimately went on to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000 following the first win over Fury.
Despite already having an Olympic gold, multiple cruiserweight titles and an undefeated record to his name, Usyk had only fought and won two heavyweight bouts at this point, which is perhaps why ‘The Gypsy King’ felt comfortable downplaying his potential back then.
However, although Usyk had a comfortable division debut against Chazz Witherspoon in 2019, he also went on to best Fury’s familiar foe Derek Chisora – a man he’s beaten on three different times but maintains he admires both in terms of personality and ability – so there were signs of what was to come.
Moreover, not only was Tyson clearly foolish enough to underestimate him back then but the divisive and inflammatory nature of his remarks in this clip has been labelled ‘offensive’ and ‘xenophobic’ by many online, both at the time and after reappearing on social media once again.
Regardless, it seems that Usyk was just as unphased by his posturing then as he is now, coming out in the post-fight press conference to shrug off his trash-talking to reiterate his “respect” for someone who ultimately believes is “a good man”.
Nevertheless, Fury has now lost two him twice and still maintains he didn’t get the right decision on both occasions, dubbing this latest defeat “an early Christmas gift” for his opponent.
In the previous clash, the Greater Manchester athlete even claimed that fans and judges unfairly favoured him because of the war in Ukraine – a response which also received plenty of backlash.
You can hear how he believes he was ‘robbed’ along with his full reaction following the fight down below:
Featured Images — iFL TV/Sky Sports (screenshots via YouTube)
UK News
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has increased his stake in Manchester United
Danny Jones
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has increased his investment in Manchester United Football Club, taking his current stake from 27.7% to 28.94%.
The Failsworth-born billionaire officially became a minority shareholder in Man United earlier this year, bringing in the Sports arm of his INEOS petrochemical company and plenty of new personnel with him following an initial £1.25 billion acquisition which saw him buy over a quarter of the club.
While his tenure at Old Trafford has been a somewhat turbulent affair so far – having pleased most fans by taking at least some control away from the family but making a number of less-than-popular decisions of late – he is, at the very least, putting lots of money where his mouth is.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has injected a further $100m into Manchester United and now owns 28.94% of the club. This completes a planned $300m investment pledged at the time of purchase. $200m was paid back then out of Ratcliffe’s personal funds.
As per multiple outlets, the 72-year-old has pumped a further of approximately £79.3m into Man United to increase his overall stake just before the end of the year.
This latest figure payment was actually promised as part of his initial partial takeover which was completed back in February, with a filing listed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirming the final payment this week, with Ratcliffe receiving additional shares in return.
It also detailed that the ownership of the shares has transferred from Ratcliffe personally to the INEOS Group as a whole, who also have stakes in French football club OGC Nice, the INEOS Grenaiders cycling team (formerly Team Sky), as well as Formula 1, sailing, rugby and more.
Although supporters will be pleased to hear that Ratcliffe is committed to investing in the club, Keegan’s article details that the money itself won’t be strictly put towards any potential signings in the upcoming transfer window.
Similarly, Press Associates (PA) understand that the funds will be put towards infrastructure rather than player recruitment, as it is also expected that some squad members could be offloaded this January.
Could Man United’s homegrown number 10 really be on his way out after nearly two decades in red?
News of Ratcliffe increasing his United stake won’t do much for many of his early detractors, however, as the Greater Manchester local has been accused of ‘forgetting his roots’ and ‘betraying the working class’ with some recent internal steps.
Most recently, Sir Jim and his newly rebuilt executive board received immense backlash for increasing ticket prices for remaining games this season to a whopping £66 across the board, with no concessions made for young, old or disabled fans.
With sporting director Dan Ashworth having been dismissed after just five months – a man who spent just as much time on gardening leave at his former club as he did in his actual role at United – it’s fair to say Ratcliffe and co. could have been more economical.
Emily Sergeant -
15th June 2021 
