Police investigating a series of violent robberies across Tameside and the City of Manchester have made an arrest

A 20 year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of robbery. He remains in custody to be interviewed by detectives.

This arrest is in connection with seven robberies that took place at a number of shops and one personal robbery that took place across Tameside and the City of Manchester between Thursday 5 November and Wednesday 16 December 2020. 

During several of these robberies, the offender was armed with a knife and threatened staff members before making off with money from the till. During one of the robberies, at Greggs Bakery on Queen's Walk in Droylsden on Thursday 3 December, a staff member was stabbed twice by the offender.

Emergency services attended and she was taken to hospital with stab wounds to her thigh and hip. She has since been discharged.

Detective Constable Christopher Oldham, of GMP's Tameside district, said: "Our dedicated team of detectives have been working non-stop to investigate this spate of violent robberies and after a number of extensive enquiries we finally have a man in custody.

"I would like to be clear that this arrest does not mean that our investigation is over. A number of innocent staff members were assaulted and left extremely shaken after being subjected to these violent robberies, and we owe it to them to persist in our enquiries, gathering evidence to ensure that the person responsible is brought to justice."