Word From the Streets W/C 4TH January 2009

In 2007 Kasha Peniston, 19, received a two-year sentence for manslaughter after killing his 12-year-old sister at his family home in Gorton. Now the teenager has pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court for possessing a gun again five months after his release from a Young Offenders Institution in May 2008.

A young man from Middleton has been sentenced to seven and half years for carjacking offences. Niall Kiernan targeted high-powered vehicles in the Rochdale area during the 15-month crime spree. In one attack he terrified a woman and her 6-year-old daughter, the young girl can now only sleep with the light on. Arran Crossan, 19, from Middleton was sentenced to three years and nine months for his part in the offences. Detective Sergeant Martin Soutter said: ‘Two very dangerous criminals have been brought to justice following an intensive police investigation. Kiernan was relentless in his addiction to steal high-powered cars. The sentence he has received is a reflection of the anguish he put his victims through.’

Children have been putting their lives at risk by playing on the frozen Rochdale canal. CCTV footage has shown children running across the canal. Cllr Mark Alcock said: ‘Do not encourage your children or animals onto the ice. A small dog died earlier this week chasing a stick thrown by its owner onto the ice.’

Four men aged 18-20 broke into a home in Atherton, Wigan and threatened the owner with an axe. They got away with Technic music decks.

A man was stabbed in his Rochdale home when a gang of three men, in their 20s, broke into his home and demanded money, taking an amount of cash. The 28-year-old victim suffered three stab wounds.

Thomas Burton, an 88-year-old man who is wheelchair-bound, has jailed been for the abuse he carried out against two sisters over 40 years ago. He will serve a two years sentence for his crimes committed between 1962-68. One of the women had originally tracked him down in 1992 at his home in Middleton, Rochdale, but police said they could not prosecute on that occasion. The women tried again in 2008 with her sister and the police pursued the case to a successful conclusion.