Oldham MP to meet with police over 'concerning' number of 'gruesome' violent attacks

Oldham MP Jim McMahon has called for a meeting with Greater Manchester Police in response to a shocking number of violent crimes which have taken place across the town.

The Freehold Metrolink stop has been plagued by incidents of anti-social behaviour in recent weeks - the most notable being the gruesome attempted murder of a man who was stamped on, kicked and left for dead on the platform last month.

Yesterday a teenage girl was stabbed on West End Street and, just this morning, armed police were called to Burnley Road in Chadderton to reports that a taxi driver was being threatened with a gun.

Jim has told Key that the public have every right to be worried: "If you've got a child or family member who's using the tram or out in the town centre in the early evening or at night - you will be concerned by the number of attacks that have taken place. On top of that - the attacks have been particularly gruesome.

"Whether it's the knife attack that took place yesterday, the hammer attack that took place at the King Street Metrolink stop or the screw driver attack that took place in Oldham town centre - when you piece all that togehter you can see why the public are concerned."

Jim took to Twitter this morning to share his concerns with constituents and reassure them that he is taking the issue seriously. He'll ask police to put these attacks higher up on their agenda: "At a local level, the police are working very hard and they're trying to cover a lot of ground and it's almost certainly the case that the issue is with resources. It's also the case that the scale of crime across Greater Manchester has increased by around a third and so resources more generally are pressured.

"People just want to be assured that Oldham is a safe place for them to be and for most people that is the case - but we also shouldn't shy away from the fact that there are very real concerns about the number of violent attacks that have taken place and they ought to be treated with the serious that the public expects.

"At the moment we don't know whether the incidents are connected or whether they just happen to be a number of very separate incidents which have happened within a short space of time - we need police to come forward and confirm that sooner rather than later.

""People rightly want to know that those who're responsible for these incidents are held to account.

"I'm consistenly a supporter of the police but we do need to make sure we're getting our share of the resource - recognising that they're stretched and that are fewer of them than there were before - but this is a really important issue for the community and so we are pushing for more visible police officers around the Metrolink stations and the town centre. We also need to deal with some of the magnets that are attracting people to come in to town to cause trouble - the reason why Freehold Station is such a problem is because of the derelict Hartford Mill which acts as a playground for people who want to cause mischief and bother.

"I think most people accept that Oldham is a generally safe place to live with decent people who go about their daily business in a safe and respectful way. But there are some people who don't behave like that and they think that they're above the law - but the message to those people is you cannot behave like that in Oldham and you will be held to account."

• Oldham