Notorious handbag snatcher slapped with huge jail sentence | UK | News
A robber targeting single women in the Northwest England and those who were kidnapped with their bags were stunned with 14 years of hard prison. Jason Cunliffe, 52, masterminded a series of violent robberies targeting single women in Manchester, Salford and Bury in just a few weeks last summer; He often wrestled women to the ground to get their bags.
He has now pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court to five counts of robbery, two counts of fraud and one each of attempted robbery, burglary and theft. Detective Inspector Natasha Feerick, of Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) City of Manchester Neighborhood Crime Squad, said: “I would like to thank the victims for reporting these incidents to us and allowing us to investigate them fully.
“Thanks to these reports, neighborhood officers were able to quickly identify and arrest Cunliffe.
“His crime will have a lasting impact on the victims and I hope this outcome will provide them with some reassurance moving forward.”
DI Feerick added: “Cunliffe preyed on women and on many occasions physically assaulted them to take items from them. In total he stole bags and other items worth thousands of pounds.
“Seeing the determination of officers in the area to bring justice to those committing robberies and thefts has been impressive and reaffirms our stance on tackling neighborhood crime like this.”
Between August 17 and September 3, 2025, 10 incidents were reported in which a man approached women in public spaces and forcibly stole their bags and other belongings.
In some cases, victims were dragged to the ground and Cunliffe wrestled before escaping on foot.
Seven of the victims confirmed their bags were stolen. All incidents occurred in public places and Cunliffe deliberately targeted women alone or in pairs.
GMP said: “On September 4, officers carrying out proactive patrols of known hotspot areas spotted a man acting suspiciously in Crumpsall. “When he saw the police vehicle, Cunliffe attempted to hide by ducking next to a car.
“Officers saw this and approached, then fled, leading to a foot chase. Officers pursued him and arrested him at the scene.
“Following a home search, officers located 12 handbags and other items, including the iPad, iPhone, Hugo Boss jumper and Samsung tablet that Cunliffe stole. Fortunately, our officers were able to return the stolen items to the victims.”
For the year ending September 2025, Greater Manchester has seen significant declines in several types of neighborhood crime, including a 10% reduction in robberies, a 24% reduction in theft from a person and the same decline in burglaries.
