A paedophile known as ‘Nails’ due to his long little fingernail used to snort cocaine is amongst those who have been locked up this week in Greater Manchester. Christopher Oates had groomed, abused and exploited young girls into sex work in the early 00s, encouraging them to work for him. When one girl said she wanted to go home, he held a gun to her head. He is now behind bars. Also starting lengthy terms this week are a sex trafficker’s right-hand man, who drove vulnerable women forced into prostitution to brothels, and a notorious drugs gang who have finally been brought to justice after a huge six year investigation. Prison terms are handed out to the worst offenders each week. And Manchester Evening News reporters are on hand to cover the most serious cases. Here is a roundup of the criminals jailed this week before our regions courts: This is the face of a Hungarian national who police said acted as the ‘right-hand man’ to sex traffickers. Laszlo Matus – jailed last week – drove vulnerable Hungarian women forced into prostitution to brothels and controlled their lives on a day-to-day basis. His custody mugshot has now been revealed by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU). The sentencing of Matus, 53, follows that of husband and wife Attila Angyal and Melinda Petrovics, both from Bolton . The couple were jailed in December last year for trafficking Hungarian women to the UK to work as prostitutes in brothels. Angyal and Petrovics, then aged 43 and 35 and from Fortune Street in Bolton, were members of a crime gang running a network of brothels, including locations in Bolton, Oldham , Blackburn, Preston and Birmingham, the NWROCU said. Matus, said police, played a ‘key role’ in the UK-wide trafficking network as a ‘trusted enabler’. He was said to have lived with the victims – believed to be four young women who were all Hungarian nationals – and to have monitored their movements. His role was also to transport them to brothels in towns and cities, police added. Matus, from Hungary, was found guilty of conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the travel of others with a view to them being exploited; conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and conspiracy to conceal, disguise, convert, transfer or remove criminal property. At Bolton Crown Court on Friday, he was jailed for seven years. Read the full story here: The face of evil ‘right-hand man’ to sex traffickers A ‘dangerous sexual predator’ who said he wanted to abuse a child has been jailed. David Mitchell’s messages ‘exposed a deeply disturbing and calculated intent to exploit children’, police said after he was locked up for six years. He ‘openly stated a preference for victims as young as eight’ and provided ‘explicit instructions for what he wanted to witness online’, added police. Mitchell, 57, engaged in online communications with an individual who claimed to have a sexual interest in children, but in reality he was speaking to a police officer. Mitchell, of Nookfield, Mosside, Leyland, Lancashire, was found guilty by a jury after trial of attempting to cause/incite a girl under 13 to engage in penetrative sexual activity and arranging/facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child under 13. Read the full story here: Sex offender with ‘deeply disturbing and calculated intent to exploit children’ A paedophile who groomed, exploited and coerced two teenage girls into sex work has been jailed. Christopher Oates, 45, is finally behind bars after subjecting the vulnerable victims to campaign of sexual abuse and violence. He groomed one of the girls from the age of 14. Oates gave her drugs and alcohol; showered her with compliments; gave her cash; and pretended to be her boyfriend. Oates encouraged her into sex work, telling her: “You know you’re so beautiful, you would make a killing. I’ll watch you. It’s only sex.” During one incident, which resulted in a confrontation, the girl said she wanted to go home. Oates then dragged her down an alleyway, attacked her and held a gun to her head. “You do as I say, you’re mine now,” he hissed, before ordering her to go to her ‘spot’. The court heard Oates was in regular contact with the girl despite her living in care. Investigations led police to a second teenage girl who had also been exploited. She only knew him by his nickname ‘Nails’ due to his long little fingernail used to snort cocaine. He would take her to her ‘spot’ at least once a week to carry out sex acts for money. The court heard that during one incident, Oates organised for both girls to have sex with an older man while filming it. Oates is the first person to be convicted following the launch of GMP’s Operation Greenjacket into historic sex offending. Read the full story here: ‘Pimp’ nicknamed ‘Nails’ jailed for 13 years for horrific abuse of two teenagers A huge drugs empire was brought crashing down following a major six-year investigation by detectives. A trio of crooks have been banged up for over 40 years for their roles in the conspiracy. The investigation was launched when officers searched an address in Salford in March 2019, with further raids carried out on a house in Worsley and a commercial premises in Poynton, Cheshire. It revealed the property was being used at the time as part of a commercial drug supply operation. Behind the scenes were ringleader Payden Candland and associates Leo Groves and Ricky Lee, who were buying a kilo of cocaine every week or fortnight and, over a decade, are believed to have purchased and sold on between 260kg to 520kg of cocaine. Payden Candland, Leo Groves and Ricky Lee pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs at Bolton Crown Court after a six-year investigation. On Thursday (June 26), Candland, 33, of Derby Road, Salford, was jailed for 19 years and nine months. Groves, 33, of Swinton Hall Road, Swinton, for 15 years and nine months; and Lee, 33, of Eccles Road, Swinton, for seven years to be added to the 14 years he was serving for previous offences. Read the full story here: A six-year investigation, DNA evidence and up to 拢52million worth of drugs brought empire crashing down