The year 2022 was like no other witnessed by the courts in Bolton.
Though as in any year the courts paid witness to crimes ranging from burglary to assaults, scaling to the heights of the drug trade and even murder, 2022 would bring a sight never before seen in Bolton, or in fact any court anywhere in Britain.
This came when barristers, in full wigs and gowns, took to the picket lines in a last-ditch attempt to shore up a justice system that in their eyes has been crumbling before their very eyes. For those who associated strikes with miners or dockers and preferred to image the law as a more cossetted profession, this came as quite a wake-up call.
What follows is a look back at how the system they worked in functioned, or maybe didn't, over the past year and reminds us why barristers felt they had to go all out in its defence.
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January
As 2022 rolled on, the courts continued much as they had before with trespassers, dangerous drivers and the like brought to the dock. But the case of Daniel Llewellyn, of Dingle Walk, Bolton, and Michael Allen, Bradford Street, Haulgh, in particular stoked public interest.
They had been brought to court after a mass brawl on Bromwich Street the May before. As Llewellyn, 34, and Allen, 33, were brought to justice, with their opponents following not long after, political leaders asked what was behind the upsurge in crime Bolton had seen.
READ MORE: Locked up in January: The faces of 9 criminals
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February
February saw its share of drug dealers and violent criminals jailed. But arguable none had shaken his community like Andrew Cairns, of Rupert Street, Radcliffe, the dangerous driver who had killed 11-year-old Ruby Cropper nearly two years previously.
The contrast between Cairns, 36, branded as "arrogant" by the judge for his conduct during the trial and his victim, who the court heard "brought kindness to all who knew her" could not have been starker.
READ MORE: Locked up in February: The faces of 12 criminals
READ MORE: Judge jails 'arrogant' driver for five years over death of 11-year-old
March
No fewer than 20 Bolton criminals were jailed over the course of March for crimes as varied as assault, rape and drug trafficking.
Michael Hill, 31, of Lodge View Caravan Site, Bolton, was jailed after a summer crime wave that saw him break into businesses across Bolton, represented a more immediate concern to the people of the borough.
Burglary would prove an ever-present concern as the year wore on, with businesses hard pressed family firms battered by lockdown on one side and the mounting cost-of-living crisis on the other hardly needing another reason to shut up shop.
READ MORE: Locked up in March: The faces of 20 criminals
READ MORE: Burglar jailed after Bolton business crimewave
April
Burglary would continue to dominate the Bolton courts as the spring came around. But while burglary, like all crime, hits the very poorest the hardest in most cases Christopher Leigh, 45, of Longfield Road, Bolton, and Martin Maloney, 49, of Dunoon Drive, Bolton, would prove themselves to be exceptions to the rule.
Their crime spree, plotted from Bolton, targeted at least 21 luxury homes across Cheshire. The pair believed the had hit upon the perfect crime before being ensnared in an undercover policing operation.
READ MORE: Locked up in April: Faces of 13 criminals
READ MORE: Burglars from Bolton thought they had discovered the 'perfect crime'
May
Even where the crown courts are concerned, some crimes stand out and test the endurance of those that deal with the aftermath.
So it was with Thomas Green, Sandham Walk, Great Lever, who was told he would most likely die in prison after a two week trial found him guilty of raping one child and sexually abusing another.
Standing convicted in the dock, the 84-year-old was told he had abused children to satisfy his own "perverse and selfish sexual gratification".
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June
The abuse of hard drugs are a constant theme in the day-to-day life of the court. Listen to any defence counsel’s mitigation and it won’t be long before addiction to heroin, cocaine and even the habitual use of cannabis are raised.
Darren Lomax, 36, of Ashton Street, Little Lever, was one of those involved more deeply in the trade, forcing his clients to deliver cocaine and payments for him and even described as "the biggest blagger going" by members of his own family.
READ MORE: Locked up in June: The faces of 10 criminals brought to justice
READ MORE: 'Biggest blagger going' drug dealer used debts and threats to control clients
July
The more vulnerable any person might be in society- it follows that they are more likely to be vulnerable to crime. But as the courts saw in July even civic leaders are not immune.
Bolton learned this when former councillor and mayor Noel Spencer, 83, was attacked and robbed after being followed home by Muhammad Tehseen, 31, of Cecilia Street, Bolton, after the robber had spotted him in a bank.
READ MORE: Locked up in July: The faces of 10 criminals
READ MORE: Thug jailed after brutal robbery of former Bolton mayor
August
Not all criminals terrorise entire communities, some are content to keep their crimes hidden away in domestic settings. So it was with Tyler Lowe, 28, of Montserrat Road, Johnson Fold, who was jailed after non-fatally strangling his partner.
Lowe was the first person in the country to be charged with the offence under a new law specifically designed to deal with people like him.
READ MORE: Locked up in August: The faces of seven Bolton criminals
READ MORE: Bolton thug one of first to be jailed for strangulation crime
September
Again and again, when drug dealers brought to the dock the court will eventually hear how, often addicts themselves, street dealers are simply the front, used and manipulated by bigger players behind the scenes.
Irtiza Bashir, of Chorley New Road, Bolton, an apparently God-fearing businessman, who’s plot to import millions of pounds worth of hard drugs stretched across Bolton and Lancashire was exactly that. The 46-year-old was jailed for more than 20 years after his EncroChat messaging system was cracked by police detectives.
READ MORE: Locked up in September: The faces of four Bolton criminals
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October
Not all crime waves need to be plotted at the highest level. Lee Burbidge, 39, of no fixed address, may not have been involved in any kind of sophisticated crime ring but he still threatened and injured innocent shopkeepers in a wave of supermarket thefts.
As in many such cases, the court heard how Burbidge had struggled with drug addiction and had problems keeping to orders.
READ MORE: Locked up in October: The names and faces of seven criminals
READ MORE: 'Watch your back': Prolific shoplifter threatened staff across Bolton
November
Yet another case of the drug trade interlocking with crimes all over Bolton came as the year drew to a close with Vladimir Dikovski, of Vickerman Street, Bolton. A 29-year-old man of no previous convictions, his life had deteriorated amid personal instability and drug use.
But when he stole a grandmother’s handbag while carrying a knife "simply for protection" as his defence counsel said, the court decided to jail him.
READ MORE: Locked up in November: The names and faces of seven criminals
READ MORE: Homeless man snatched grandmother's handbag while she was out with family
December
Throughout most of the year, the case of Anthony George, 41, had worked its way through the courts.
Having pleaded not guilty in March to the murder of 25-year-old Tyrone Williamson on Battenberg Road last year, George was finally brought to trial this month. Convicted by a jury, George, of no fixed address, was sentenced to life in prison.
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