13 held in festive blitz

A man is arrested in Royton for an alleged sexual assault

THIRTEEN people were arrested in Oldham yesterday on the first of 12 high-profile days of action to tackle the traditional spike in crime in the run up to Christmas.

Among the first to be held was a man arrested in Royton for an alleged sexual assault. Following his arrest another 12 were made for offences including criminal damage, domestic violence, robbery, harassment, rape and common assault.

The operation, codenamed Bauble, involved up to 1,000 officers across Greater Manchester.

On each of the 12 days, local officers will be joined by specialist teams including traffic, tactical aid, automated number plate recognition (ANPR), intercept teams, mounted and dog units.

The teams will blitz areas and weed out individuals intent on committing crime and preying on vulnerable people.

But the crackdown also focused on motorists and in Oldham four cars were seized and a number of spot penalties imposed on people not wearing seatbelts and drivers using mobile phones behind the wheel.