This week has been full of cases at our region's courts and the M.E.N was there to cover some of the most serious prosecutions.
And prison sentences were handed out for all manner of criminal offences.
There was the man who spent his 24th birthday in Strangeways after being jailed for sending an obscene message to a young boy.
Then there was the shocking case of a 'jealous and controlling' thug who was sentenced to life imprisonment for stabbing his ex-partner to death at her own front door.
In another despicable case, there was the homeless drug addict who was jailed after he stole a woman's iPhone and car keys while she lay on the floor having an epileptic fit.
Here is a run-down of the criminals sent down in the last week:
Drink driver killed 'amazing, bingo-loving' gran and left her friend with life-changing injuries
A drink driver who killed a grandmother and left her friend with life-changing injuries has been jailed.
Lynne McDermott, 56, died in hospital the day after she was hit by a BMW 330i being driven by Leon Kay.
Her friend Deborah Barton, 57, suffered multiple fractures to her left shoulder, arm, hip, ankle and pelvis in the crash on February 2 and still requires support for her injuries.
On Tuesday Kay, 33, was jailed for eight years and nine months and banned from driving for nine years and four months after pleading guilty to death by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drink-driving.
Preston Crown Court heard how Kay, of Lydia Street, Accrington, hit an empty, parked Ford Ecosport and the two women on Station Road in Fleetwood at around 9.10pm on February 2.
The paedophile who sent an obscene message to a schoolboy - then tried to frame an innocent bodybuilder
A bodybuilder was arrested after being framed by a stranger who posed as him to send sexual messages to a young boy, a court heard.
Brandon Cooper spent his 24th birthday in Strangeways on Tuesday after he was jailed for 16 months at Manchester Crown Court.
Cooper, from Salford, was 'jealous' of the entirely innocent Connor Siddall, who has 'tens of thousands' of followers on social media.
The night Mr Siddall was arrested he was due to be enjoying a meal with his grandparents, but the 19-year-old instead spent three hours in a police station being grilled by officers.
Since the false allegations were made, Mr Siddall, who has never met Cooper, was warned that 'half of Salford are after him', the court heard.
Cooper, who is said to have an 'extremely low IQ', set up a fake social media profile using Mr Siddall's name.
In August last year, using the fake profile, Cooper sent an obscene message to a young boy while posing as Mr Siddall.
Cooper, of Brookhouse Avenue, Eccles, pleaded guilty to one count of inciting a child under the age of 13 into sexual activity.
He will have to sign the sex offenders register for ten years, and be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for life.
Drunk driver 'could have been killed' when he walked into the middle of road after crashing his car
A drunk driver 'could easily have been killed' when he walked into the middle of the road after crashing his car, a court heard.
Zharque Patterson, 21, has been jailed for more than a year following the incident in the early hours on Chester Road, near Stretford Mall .
Manchester Crown Court heard that at about 4am on March 17, Patterson was driving a car onto the junction near the shopping centre while 'heavily intoxicated'.
The court was told that Patterson had been at a party with friends, and 'on the spur of the moment' he had 'far too much to drink'.
He has no recollection of the crash or the aftermath, how he came to be in the car and doesn't know whose car it was, the court heard.
Judge Michael Leeming sentenced Patterson, of Scafell Close, Urmston , to 56 weeks in prison.
Patterson pleaded guilty to four offences, one count of dangerous driving, one count of driving while disqualified, one count of failing to provide a specimen and one count of driving with no insurance.
Former GMP officer posted pictures of young cadets to vile websites
A former police officer abused his position by collecting thousands of images of female officers and police cadets as young as 12, before posting manipulated sexualised pictures on sick paedophile websites, a court heard.
Christopher Dunn, 33, was told his actions had 'undermined public confidence in Greater Manchester Police', as he was jailed for four years and four months.
While working as a cadet leader Dunn led a 'double life', taking pictures of young and often 'vulnerable' cadets for his own sexual pleasure.
On some occasions he even manipulated pictures of young girls to make them sexualised, before posting them to online networks for the pleasure of other paedophiles.
He also did the same with adult female police officers, either taking pictures or collecting them from social media and sometimes manipulating them before uploading them to sick porn websites.
Dunn, of Moss Lane, Swinton, pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent images of children, two counts of misconduct in a public office and two counts of possessing indecent images for distribution.
Police dash-cam footage shows moment car-jacker crashes stolen Mini during high speed chase
Police dash-cam footage showed Jason Rae attempting a handbrake turn before speeding through a crossroads in Moston where the Mini ploughs into another car.
In a shocking robbery the day before Jason Rae had dragged a 70-year-old woman out of the Mini by her hair before stamping on her legs.
Rae, 49, of no fixed address has now been jailed for four years.
Rae was jailed for four years and will serve a further four years on licence after pleading guilty to robbery, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, failing to stop and failing to provide a sample of breath.
He's has also been banned from driving for 44 months.
Woman having epileptic fit was dragged into alley and had phone stolen
A homeless drug addict who stole a woman's iPhone and car keys while she lay on the floor having an epileptic fit has been jailed.
The judge said Noel Steadman, 46, had committed a 'despicable' act which would 'disgust right thinking people'.
The victim, 39-year-old Leonora Royce, said the late night incident in Manchester city centre has 'shaken me to my core'.
Manchester Crown Court heard on Thursday how Steadman, a prolific thief who suffers from epilepsy himself, was caught after shocking CCTV footage was published by the M.E.N. and other media.
It showed Steadman and another man, who has not been caught, carrying Mrs Royce into an alleyway off Nicholas Street.
After laying her down, Steadman, seen to be wearing grey trousers in the footage, stole her iPhone and her car keys, before opening her Kia Sorento and looking for anything else he could steal.
Steadman pleaded guilty to offences of theft and vehicle interference.
Stabbed 18 times on her doorstep - the 'grotesque' murder of a mum whose ex was furious she had a new boyfriend
A 'jealous and controlling' thug who stabbed his ex-partner to death at her own front door has been sentenced to life in prison.
Vernon Holmes, 47, denied murdering Alison Hunt, 42, saying he spent the evening at his Salford home on the night of the killing.
But a jury at Manchester Crown Court saw through his lies and found him guilty of murder.
On Friday, after a judge said there was 'no mitigation whatsoever' in the case, he was given a life sentence with a minimum of 25 years.
Holmes, of Caroline Street, Irlam, Salford, must serve a minimum sentence of 25 years before he can be considered for parole.
Disgraced children's nursery boss due to celebrate 40th wedding anniversary is behind bars after being exposed as a sneak thief
A children's nursery manager due to celebrate her 40th wedding anniversary is now behind bars after she was unmasked as a sneak thief who plundered £59,000 from her workplace to fund her son's wedding and pay credit card bills.
Grandmother Hazel Leece, 59, gradually stole the money over period of up to five years after being allowed access to the nursery school's bank accounts for the day-to-day running of the business.
Unsuspecting boss Anne Grundy, 79, who owned the family-run Casson Fold day nursery in Westhoughton, near Bolton, only discovered the extent of the pilfering when she noticed a suspicious £78 transaction from M&S in her business accounts.
Leece initially claimed it was for staff uniforms and tried to refund the money but then broke down and confessed when other thefts were identified during an audit.
She later she had been in ''financial crisis'' due to a £65,000 mortgage on her home and a £10,000 bill for her son's wedding and she had helped herself to regular sums of money ranging from £80 to £200. She begged Mrs Grundy not to fire her but was dismissed from her job.
At Bolton Crown Court, Leece who now lives in a caravan and works in a supermarket, wept as she was jailed for 34 weeks after she admitted theft as husband Rodney watched from the public gallery.
