Whitestone Solicitors, Rochdale, News

28/08/25

A lift engineer who stole luxury watches and jewellery worth more than £103,000 from a £7 million Belgravia mansion has avoided jail.

Jacques Woods, 25, was part of a team servicing the 8,000 sq ft property in West Eaton Place — complete with a high-speed modern lift — on 28 June 2021 when he pocketed two designer watches and a Cartier ring.

28/07/25

Tom Hayes, the former Libor trader whose 2015 fraud conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court yesterday, is considering suing for compensation. Hayes, who served five and a half years in prison, said he would seek legal advice on potential civil claims, which could target his former employers, UBS and Citigroup.

"Whether I have any civil claims is yet to be determined," Hayes said. "I'm not ruling it out, but I don't yet have enough information. In the U.S., most people whose convictions were overturned went on to sue their former banks and reached settlements."

19/06/25

A woman who claimed she slipped on a rogue chocolate truffle while leaving a fine-dining restaurant has lost her £100,000 damages claim.

Rosina Malik, 62, said she twisted her ankle and broke her wrist after stepping on a caramel-filled truffle dropped by a waiter at Chapter One in Farnborough Common, Kent. The incident occurred as she stood to adjust her dress at the end of a three-course meal with friends.

21/05/25

A woman who was among four people injured in two separate collisions in Rochdale on Saturday has died, Greater Manchester Police have confirmed.

The woman was airlifted to hospital after being struck by a vehicle on Whitworth Road. Three other pedestrians, including a child, were injured in an earlier incident on Woodgate Avenue, approximately two miles away. They suffered minor injuries and have since been discharged from hospital.

25/04/25

A former military clerk has been jailed for playing a central role in a sophisticated fraud scheme that siphoned nearly £1 million from the Ministry of Defence.

Aaron Stelmach-Purdie, 34, from Oldham, Lancashire, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison at Southwark Crown Court after being found guilty of fraud and money laundering. The court heard that he orchestrated the scheme while working as a clerk at the MoD's administrative headquarters in central London between November 2014 and January 2016.