The past 12 months have seen crimes which shocked and appalled our readers in equal measure. Harrowing tales of murder, gangland feuds and brazen frauds were all heard in Manchester's courts.
M.E.N. reporters are in court every day to ensure that justice is done in public. And, as have other years, 2022 has brought a number of high profile cases, many of which have grabbed headlines across the world and not just across Greater Manchester.
As another year comes to a conclusion, we look back on how the work of police and prosecutors, as well as the courage and determination of victims and witnesses, has helped justice to be done.
Here, the M.E.N. recaps some of the most high-profile prosecutions of 2022.
The devoted husband who killed his wife in 'act of love'
Graham Mansfield and his wife Dyanne had three holidays booked in 2020 to celebrate their 40th anniversary. The devoted couple had planned to return to the United States, where they had tied the knot.
The pandemic put those plans on hold, but a much more troubling development was just around the corner. Dyanne, 71, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
The devoted couple made a suicide pact, and planned to kill themselves in the garden of their home in Hale. Mansfield, 73, said his wife told him: "When it gets too bad, don’t leave me to go into hospital. Please do something about it, kill me."
The thought disgusted him. "I said to her, Dyanne it sounds macabre, it sounds horrible, how can I ever dream of killing the woman you love? I just want to be with you forever."
But he eventually agreed, and with Dyanne left with weeks to live, he cut her throat before making several unsuccessful attempts on his own life. He called 999 after the failed attempts while lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen. Mansfield said he didn't want his sister to come across the 'extraordinary' scene.
Two notes were found by police. One, left near his wife's body and written by Mansfield, addressed to police, read: "We've decided to take our own lives." Mansfield, a retired Manchester Airport baggage handler, went on trial and was unanimously acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
Sparing him from prison, the judge, Mr Justice Goose described the killing was 'an act of love, of compassion to end her suffering'. "The last thing you would have wanted was not joining your wife in death," he told Mansfield.
"The circumstances of this case have been a tragedy for you and exceptional in the experience of this court." In July, the judge imposed a two year prison sentence, suspended for two years.
The mass stabbing which brought back dark memories of Arena attack
The shocking case was a grim reminder of one of Manchester's darkest days. Just like in May 2017 following the Arena bombing, police declared a terrorist incident and launched Operation Plato, a pre-arranged response for emergency services during a suspected marauding terror attack.
The response came after Raphael Chevelleau caused terror in the Arndale centre. Chevelleau, 43, had bought a knife a knife from a shop in Blackley before travelling to the busy shopping centre and stabbing people at random in October 2019.
Five people were knifed, including a man in his 50s and four women aged between 19 and 49. As shoppers realised what was happening they ran for their lives, some desperately seeking shelter in shops.
After being apprehended, Chevelleau told police he 'wanted to be treated as a terrorist'. He said he was 'doing this for my people', and told officers it was 'political'.
But terrorism was later ruled out as a motive. "I was gonna stab my ex-girlfriend, but I couldn't be bothered to travel there, so I took it out on someone in town," he said after being brought to a police station.
An investigation found Chevelleau had showed signs of suffering from serious mental illness since his early teens, and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in his early 20s. A psychiatrist who regularly appears in the courts said Chevelleau was 'one of the most ill patients' he had ever come across during his career.
In January, Chevelleau was sentenced under the Mental Health Act, to be detained at Ashworth secure hospital indefinitely.
The drugs empire of 18-year-old, jailed for life for murdering vulnerable addict whose home he 'cuckooed'
A brutal murder of a vulnerable dad laid bare a terrifying modern trend. A teenage boy had cuckooed 48-year-old Leigh Smith's flat, taking it over to use as a base for peddling heroin and crack cocaine.
Jacob Cookson, 18, had taken over up to 20 homes across the city, including Leigh's, making up to £7,000 a week from drugs. At the time of his death, the likeable and well loved dad had no lights or electricity in his flat.
His life had been blighted by drug addiction. He was later murdered by Cookson after the teenage drug dealer set out for revenge.
Cookson had previously been hospitalised after being attacked by another man in Mr Smith's flat. Cookson believed Mr Smith had set up the attack.
Cookson and another teenager, Logan Eaton, 17, went into his flat at Cook Street, Eccles, on June 21 last year. Mr Smith was stabbed seven times to his legs and buttocks.
The pair were both found guilty of murder. In January, Cookson and Eaton were handed life sentences and ordered to serve at least 19 and 17 years respectively.
"Neither of you has shown the slightest remorse," Judge Alan Conrad KC told them. He added: "The sad thing is that he (Mr Smith) was turning a corner before he encountered these defendants."
Brazen fraud by criminals who exploited Government's Covid loan support for struggling businesses
In extraordinary times, the Government stepped in to help businesses who were struggling during the pandemic. But cynical criminals took advantage of the system.
Asif Hussain, the ringleader of an international 'chop shop' ring, which exported stolen Range Rovers and other expensive cars to Dubai, was able to secure £50,000 in such funding. And another member of the gang, Ibraaz Shafique, was able to receive significant loans, firstly for £50,000 then for £45,000.
Both men had previous criminal convictions, with Hussain being a convicted drug dealer. A judge said 'the most basic of checks' would have revealed the fraud.
The gang exported stolen cars to the Middle East, or stripped them down for parts. More than 95 cars were stolen, including Range Rovers, Porsches and Mercedes, worth £3 million.
Hussain was jailed for 15 years for his role in the gang, while Shafique was locked up for five years. Hussain, 44, of Tonge Moor Road, Bolton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, conspiracy to handle stolen goods, conspiracy to export and fraud.
Ibraaz Shafique, 23, of Camberwell Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen goods, conspiracy to export and fraud. Judge Anthony Cross KC demanded an investigation into the Covid loan fraud.
Woman killed by doctor after going to hospital for routine medical procedure
Shahida Parveen had attended hospital with a husband for what she expected to be a routine medical procedure. But she would never come home and see her three children again, after a rogue doctor killed her while carrying out a 'highly dangerous' version of the treatment.
Mrs Parveen died aged 48 after attending the Royal Oldham Hospital for a bone marrow biopsy. Dr Isyaka Mamman, aged 81 at the time, did not use the conventional technique and continued even as she and her husband 'begged' him to stop and she 'screamed' in pain.
The doctor, aged 85 by the time he appeared in court in July, had tried to take a sample from the hip bone, but was unsuccessful and instead took a sample from her sternum. He inserted the biopsy needle but missed the sternum 'altogether', and caused a fatal puncture wound to the pericardium which encloses the heart.
After Mrs Parveen collapsed, her husband came running out of the room shouting: "He killed her! I told him to stop three times and he did not listen. He killed her."
Three years earlier, Dr Mamman carried out the same procedure on a 64-year-old man who suffered a cardiac arrest the same day. He survived but was left permanently disabled and suffering with mobility problems.
Mamman, from Royton, was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence.
Teenage boy chased by 'pack of wolves' and murdered in the street
"All I can say is thank you for showing me your true colours," Kelly Brown told one of her 16-year-old son's killers after he made a 'cutthroat' gesture towards her after receiving a life sentence.
Marquis Richards was one of three young men convicted of murder after Rhamero West was hunted down and chased by a 'pack of wolves' through the streets at rush hour. A motive for the brutal killing of Rhamero, a nephew of ex-Man City and England international Shaun Wright-Phillips, was not put forward by prosecutors.
Rhamero was driving a stolen BMW and was with friends when he was spotted on the Princess Parkway at rush hour at about 6pm on September 9 last year.
Richards got out of one of the two stolen BMWs while Rhamero's car was stationary in traffic, and started attacking the car with a 'large knife'. Rhamero desperately tried to get away, driving too fast and crashing into another car and ploughing into a tree.
Richards chased Rhamero while armed with a knife, and Ryan Cashin joined the foot chase. Cashin took the weapon from Richards before stabbing Rhamero to the legs in a front garden on Norton Street.
Giovanni Lawrence, a driver of one of two stolen BMWs which had pursued Rhamero, was also convicted of murder under the joint enterprise law.
In May, Cashin, 19 and Lawrence, 20 were jailed to life to serve a minimum of 24 and 21 years and respectively. Richards, 17, was sentenced to the youth equivalent of life and locked up for at least 18 years.
Taxi driver murdered after telling passenger to stop eating in his car
Connor McPartland and Martin Treacy had been on a night out in Oldham before deciding to head to a house party on Halloween. By the end of the night, the pair, who had never been in trouble with the law before, would become killers.
They had been picked up by Uber taxi driver Ali Asghar in Oldham and were heading towards Rochdale. Treacy, 18, started eating a chicken burger and chips in Mr Asghar's new Mercedes.
Mr Asghar pulled over on Queensway after he refused to stop eating. After challenging him, Mr Asghar, 39, was brutally attacked by the pair, being punched and kicked to the head.
He was pushed over and hit his head on the wheel of his own car, injuries which led to his death two weeks later. A judge said Mr Ali was 'in no way to blame'.
"Ali Asghar was 39-years-old when he had the misfortune to meet you two, a pair of drunken and entitled louts," Judge Alan Conrad KC told the killers. "He was a hardworking and decent man, carrying out a valuable public service to provide for his family.
"By your drunken violence over the period of a few minutes you have ruined your lives, but that is as nothing in comparison with the damage you have done to others by your savage and brutal behaviour." McPartland, of Hollins Road, Oldham, and Treacy, of Gawsworth Close, Oldham, were both found guilty of murder after a trial.
In May, the pair were both handed life sentences. McPartland will serve a minimum of 14-and-a-half years, and Treacy a minimum of 13-and-a-half years.
Salford crime family launched audacious robbery of notorious Liverpool outfit, stealing £1 million worth of cocaine
During the pandemic, the sight of delivery drivers handing over packages at front doors became increasingly familiar. But in one case, it was the precursor to an extraordinary gangland crime.
A Salford gang launched a meticulously planned armed raid at the stash house of a notorious Liverpool outfit. A hired hand for the gang, 30-year-old Ben Monks-Gorton, 30, posed as a delivery driver, carrying an empty box and knocking on the front door prior to the brutal attack.
Two men were dragged around the property and attacked as the house was left covered in blood. The raiders left with several bags containing about 30 kilos of cocaine said to be worth about £1 million. The brains of the operation, Jason Cox and his associate Richard Caswell, had used tracking devices to discover the location of the stash house.
Cox, alongside his brothers Jason and Lee, also peddled huge amounts of cocaine and cannabis. They had previously been customers of the Liverpool outfit.
Jason Cox, 35, of Warrington; Craig Cox, 33, of no fixed address; Caswell, 40, of no fixed address; and Monks-Gorton, of no fixed address, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob. Jason Cox, Craig Cox, Lee Cox, of Oaklands Road, Salford and Michael Nevin, of Egerton Road, Fallowfield, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis and conspiracy to possess criminal property, Caswell also admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin and possessing criminal property.
In April, Monks-Gorton was jailed for six years and nine months. Nevin, 35, a courier who described himself as a 'gangster transporter' for the 'tight knit' Cox gang, was sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison.
Caswell and the Cox brothers are due to be sentenced in the New Year.
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