Inside the plush Manchester suburb where gangsters live side-by-side with celebrities

We never truly know who our neighbours are, do we?

For residents in Hale, a posh village outside of Manchester, that sentiment has proved to be more than true.

Just nine miles south of Manchester, the small village is filled with celebrities – but a darker side shows that crime bosses live right next door.

Another resident, Philip Waugh, 40, supplied military-grade weapons to gangs and blinded a victim with acid, the National Crime Agency found.

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Even as two notorious criminals were caught within the past year, having lived in Hale, the town is still a hotspot for celebrities, including Molly Mae and Tommy Fury.

But locals who have lived in Hale for decades told the Daily Mail that things feel amiss.

A local business owner said: ‘It started in the last ten or fifteen years.

Some of the new shops and businesses just seem to have come from nowhere.

‘How can a shop make money when it’s empty all week?

For me, there are just too many tinted windows, cold stares and mystery.

‘I used to know everyone with a business in Hale, but now I feel surrounded by strangers.

Most of the locals used to drive old Volvos, and it was all fairly low-key.

‘There are rumours that some of the blacked-out Range Rovers have bulletproof glass.

Something has changed.’
Julian Solomon was one of eight men to be caught after police found more than £66 million worth of Class A drugs in the back of a lorry – the biggest drug seizure Greater Manchester Police has ever made.

He then arranged for the drugs to be distributed among dealers across the region.

Seven of the gang were jailed – for over 103 years in total – after being convicted of drug conspiracy charges.

Solomon, 37, was found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine and heroin and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

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