Here's our round-up of some of the court cases dealt with in the region over the past seven days.

Former footballer spared jail after admitting sexually assaulting woman

Chris Killen

A former Manchester City player who sexually assaulted a sleeping woman following an eight-hour drinking binge has been spared jail.

Ex-pro Chris Killen - said to have been in a ‘stupefied state’ from alcohol - got into bed with a stranger and touched her bottom.

He had entered the house through unlocked patio doors while a group of women slept.

The 35-year-old father-of-two, who also played for Oldham Athletic, got under the covers next to the woman who was lying alongside her friend. Another woman was also sleeping in the room.

Killen’s victim, who had been drinking, suddenly became aware of a man next to her in bed and ‘froze’, then felt a hand on her bottom over her underwear, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

She cried out to her sleeping friend, who used her phone to light up Killen, who removed his hand and sat up in bed amid demands to know who he was and what he was doing there.

Killen was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months and ordered to do 20 hours rehabilitation activity and 200 hours community service.

Man posted indecent pictures of woman on dating website

Jordan Travis

A man who got drunk and posted indecent pictures of a woman on a dating website in ‘revenge’ has been jailed.

Jordan Travis, 25, from Bury, put images of the woman on the Plenty of Fish site – taken when she was underage and in a relationship with someone – along with her contact details.

He told her: “If you want attention from men other than me, you can have it.”

The victim was bombarded with hundreds of unwanted texts from men who saw the pictures.

Travis pleaded guilty to disclosing private sexual films and photographs with the intent to cause upset and distress.

He was jailed for six months and banned from contacting the woman for three years under the terms of a restraining order.

Holidaymaker necked half a litre of vodka on flight from Malaga

A holidaymaker who necked half a bottle of vodka on board a flight from Malaga was so drunk police had to remove him from the plane.

Bradley Underwood had bought the one litre bottle from the airport in Spain for his son - but while on the short flight to Manchester he drank half of it.

The 58-year-old labourer remained in his own seat on the Jet2.com aircraft on July 28 but crew said he was ‘shouting’ - although he was not aggressive or abusive.

After landing police were called and stated Underwood was slumped in his seat and his speech was ‘slurred’. He was arrested.

Underwood pleaded guilty to being drunk on a flight was fined £200 and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £30.

Former footballer Peter Beagrie guilty of punching girlfriend in drunken rage

Peter Beagrie

Former Manchester City footballer Peter Beagrie has been found guilty of punching his girlfriend in a drunken rage.

The 51-year-old avoided jail after the court was told he was heard shouting 'I'm going to rip your f****** throat out' and 'f*** off you c***' moments before the midnight attack, a court heard.

Witnesses said they saw someone believed to be Beagrie, striking Zarah Blake 'two or three' times with his left fist.

Magistrates heard Beagrie assaulted Ms Blake in the street in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, shortly after the couple had left the Blue Bar in the town where they had been drinking.

Beagrie, of Killinghall, North Yorks., pleaded not guilty to one charge of assault by beating but was found guilty by Skipton magistrates.

He was handed a 12-month community order and 15 days rehabilitation for alcohol and was ordered to pay £625 court costs and an £85 surcharge.

Fraudster set up fake conservatory companies and scammed customers

James Simpson Taylor

A man who set up fake conservatory companies to scam customers out of more than £175,000 has been jailed.

James Simpson Taylor, of Ivy Green Drive in Oldham , took payments for roofing work that was never carried out.

After taking deposits of between £1,000 and £2,000 the company stopped trading. Then Taylor set up a fresh company and repeated the process four times.

When customers tried to contact him, the 57-year-old changed his phone number and used different names to avoid them.

He also fobbed them off by lying that his mother had died of cancer or his partner was in a coma.

Taylor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, five counts of fraudulent trading and making an article for use in fraud.

He was jailed for 36 months at Minshull Street Crown Court.

Drugs gang found with cocaine, heroin and cannabis worth £3m in their flat

Abid Hussain and Mariam Akhtar

A couple from Rochdale are among a gang jailed after police found drugs with a street value of £3m in their flat.

Abid Hussain and Mariam Akhtar were found to be concealing heroin, crack cocaine and cocaine in their home on Meadowcroft Lane in August last year.

Taxi driver Yasrab Mahmood, Hussain’s uncle, also from Rochdale , acted as a full time courier for the pair.

The investigation into the gang initially focused on Ibrar Ashraf, from Blackburn, who was distributing around 1kg of cocaine every week across east Lancashire.

It soon became clear he obtained the drugs from Hussain, who was the main supplier to Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire.

His partner, Akhtar, passed drugs onto Mahmood and received money from him when Hussain was not available.

Several members of the drug gang were jailed at Preston Crown Court.

Hussain, 28, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, two counts of converting criminal property and one count of possessing criminal property. He was jailed for 16 and a half years.

Akhtar, 31, was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, two counts of converting criminal property and one count of possessing criminal property following an earlier trial. She was jailed for three and a half years.

Man found hiding two kilograms of cocaine in secret van compartment

Stephen Allen

A man who was found hiding £70,000 of cocaine in a secret compartment of his van has been jailed.

Stephen Allen, 37, was arrested in July at Manchester Airport after the drugs were discovered.

Preston Crown Court heard Allen was stopped on the M55 by police as he was travelling towards Blackpool, on February 17 this year.

Police conducted a routine search of his VW Caddy, but after a two hour search nothing was found.

However, a police dog at the scene reacted to indicate drugs were on board so the vehicle was seized.

Officers later searched the van again and discovered a purpose-built void behind the passenger seat, which was concealing 2kg of high purity cocaine.

The drugs were estimated to be worth around £70,000, but could sell for more on the streets.

Allen, of Warrington Road, Prescot, was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison.

Drunk newlyweds in airport row after missing honeymoon flight

Darren and Nadia Stanway

Police were called to deal with a drunk newlywed couple who were rowing at Manchester Airport because they missed their honeymoon flight.

Darren Stanway, 39, had been drinking wine and beer with bride Nadia, 34, in their taxi on their way to the airport - but the pair had a bust up when they turned up too late to catch their plane to Malta.

A worker at Terminal Three at Manchester Airport encountered a drunken Mrs Stanway complaining about her husband's aggressive behaviour whilst he was overheard shouting: "Stupid b***h - it’s all your fault".

As the pair sat at the empty boarding gate, Stanway was heard to go on: "I was here at gate 48 and you put a tannoy call out for me to go there", before he stormed off to the bar in the departure lounge.

Police were called to speak to him as he sat drowning his sorrows, but Stanway, from Congleton, Cheshire was arrested after he retorted: "I’m going to f***ing sit here and drink my f***ing beer - I know I’m in control of my f***ing behaviour."

He was charged with pubic disorder while his wife was given a £90 fixed penalty notice.

At Manchester magistrates court, Stanway - who claimed his wife had knocked back three bottles of wine during the 17-mile cab ride - admitted using threatening behaviour and was fined £260.

He was ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £35.

Teen girls who were spared jail following a drink-drive smash went straight to the pub

Kaitlyn Morris and Alesha Peers

Two teenage girls who were spared jail following a drink-drive smash went straight to the pub - despite telling a court they were ‘ashamed’ of their actions moments before.

Alesha Peers, 18, who had no driving licence, got drunk on white wine before taking her mother’s Honda Civic to her local corner shop in Newton Heath so she could buy cigarettes with best friend Kaitlyn Morris, 19.

Just 500 yards down the road, Peers lost control of the car and ploughed into a parked vehicle propelling it into a garden wall on Surbiton Road.

The owner of the wrecked car came out of a house to find Peers slumped at the wheel of the Honda and Morris drunk in the passenger seat.

At Manchester magistrates’ court, Peers pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, aggravated vehicle taking, driving without insurance and driving without a licence.

Morris pleaded guilty to being willingly carried in a vehicle taken without the owner’s consent.

Peers was ordered to complete a 12-month community order plus 100 hours unpaid work and was banned from driving for 22 months. Morris was ordered to be electronically tagged for two months between 7pm and 7am each night.

Both girls must pay £85 prosecution costs and £85 victim surcharge at the rate of £5 a month.