The potential regeneration of Heaton Park’s ‘jewel’ is the plan that will capture the imagination of many this week.
21.02.2024 - 07:47 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A detective constable has left Greater Manchester Police in shame after he was found to have repeatedly messaged a 'vulnerable' victim of domestic abuse repeatedly while off duty.
Matthew Scarratt, who had been based in Oldham, resigned ahead an 'accelerated misconduct hearing' held by Chief Constable Stephen Watson who concluded the former officer was guilty of gross misconduct and would have been sacked had he not already left the force.
While he was a detective constable, the officer first encountered the woman in the course of his police work but he maintained contact with her from October 2021 through social media, including when off duty, according to GMP.
Try MEN Premium now for FREE... just click here to give it a go.
Chief Constable Watson, in his published ruling, said the exchanges were 'grossly inappropriate and are clearly suggestive of an intention to forge an inappropriate relationship' with the woman.
The former officer did not attend the hearing held at GMP's headquarters and nor was he represented by anyone else.
"I consider that Mr Scarratt's culpability must be regarded as high. His actions were deliberate, and he is shown to have known his conduct was of the character that if discovered would carry serious consequences," said CC Watson.
"What is clear is that Mr Scarratt in these circumstances held a very particular position of trust and responsibility at the relevant times. His conduct was entered into both whilst on and off duty and involved the exchange of messages and one item of imagery of a wholly inappropriate nature."
The chief constable pointed to the 'heightened state of contemporary public concern' 'about the behaviour of some police officers, adding that Mr Scarratt had brought
The potential regeneration of Heaton Park’s ‘jewel’ is the plan that will capture the imagination of many this week.
Figures released by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) show that more than a thousand pubs across the UK closed their doors in 2023.
On first glance, stepping into the Fox and Pine pub in the centre of Oldham is a bit like walking into a quirky antique’s shop full of nick nacks and oddities. Everywhere you look, there are signs, puppets, pots, and a large number of foxes dotted around every part of the walls. It's anything but subtle.
More than £300,000 has been raked in by Tameside Council in the last three years from bus lane fines alone.
It was the night before Christmas when PC Helena Stone decided to get behind the wheel of a car, despite being too drunk to drive. Now, after being caught red-handed by her Greater Manchester Police colleagues, she has received a ban from driving and from ever serving in the police again.
One in five Greater Manchester children have not had their full childhood immunisations by the time they get to primary school, new figures show. Health bosses say the trend of declining childhood vaccinations 'needs to be urgently reversed', with the ongoing measles outbreak serving as a 'reminder that these diseases have not gone away'.
A ‘10 year’ saga that has dominated Greater Manchester politics is set to finally be resolved. The saga centres around a plan to build 165,000 homes in the region; bring in ‘significant growth’ in the core urban area from Port Salford to the Etihad; address the GM north-south divide in jobs and housing; and support existing ‘economic drivers’ in the south.
Cops are still using a ‘sub-optimal’ IT system that the Chief Constable said would be abandoned two years ago.
People from Bury and Manchester were among 11 interviewed in a nationwide investigation into illegal streaming services. The scam includes providing access to Premier League football matches.
Spring is upon us, bringing with it longer days and, hopefully, better weather. After months of hunkering down inside, it’s a chance to get back outside and out into nature as it wakes from its wintry slumber.
When Richard Midgley's daughter was moving up to secondary school in 2022 she applied to five places, but didn't get in any. The family, of Bowdon, later discovered they were just four metres outside the catchment zone for their first choice, North Cestrian in Altrincham.
Parents in Manchester have responded to the news that fines are increasing for taking kids out of school.
We're just weeks away from the beginning of spring, hopefully a time when the grey skies give way to blue and the flowers will begin to bloom. Across Greater Manchester, there's a number of beautiful gardens, woodlands and parks to watch as the buds of daffodils, bluebells and tulips burst into action.
A Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer has admitted sexually assaulting a young girl while on duty. PC Dean Dempster, who served with GMP in the Oldham division, today (Wednesday, February 28) pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child under 13 last year.
Walk around Stockport town centre and it's easy to get a sense of how quickly the area is changing.
An acclaimed chef from Stockport is set to represent the North West in the latest series of The Great British Menu. The BBC’s ultimate culinary show returned to television screens a few weeks ago, and follows a group of top chefs as they go head-to-head to secure a place at the illustrious Great British Menu Banquet.
Six bank branches around Greater Manchester are set to close this year with some being the last branches available in their respective areas. Around 250 banks are set to close, or have already shut, as financial services continue to be stripped away from UK high streets.
A planning proposal for three new homes to be built on a pub car park has sparked outrage in a community plagued by more than two decades of parking “bedlam”. Permission was granted for the new three-bed flats to take up 15 car parking spaces outside The Grapes in Lees, Oldham.
Greater Manchester is waking up to downpours this morning with heavy rain battering the region. Forecasters are expecting a wet morning across the area today (February 21).
The happiest places to live in the UK have been revealed, with several areas in Greater Manchester making the cut. Each year Rightmove asks thousands of people across Great Britain how they feel about where they live as part of their Happy at Home study.