Drug dealer shot by police as they swooped after carrying out surveillance

Lewis Hanson was blasted to the elbow

A drug dealer was shot by armed police as they swooped on him after carrying out surveillance.

Lewis Hanson, 20, was blasted to the elbow by an armed officer in Whitefield, Bury, after the cop ‘felt compelled’ to discharge his firearm. Police later discovered a converted gun in a flat in Radcliffe where Hanson stored cocaine and cannabis for onward sale.

Previously, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it has launched an investigation into the firearms operation which ended in Hanson being shot.

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During a sentencing hearing today, (August 26) Manchester Crown Court heard that Hanson, now 20, has been dealing cannabis since the age of 14, and had been trying to sell the gun prior to its seizure.

He will learn his fate tomorrow (August 27) after pleading guilty to drug and firearms charges. Another man, Paul Houghton, 40, who allowed Hanson to use his flat to store the drugs, was handed a suspended prison sentence.

Prosecuting, Caleb Suggitt said that police had been carrying out observations of Hanson, who was driving a white Cupra Ateca, on May 22 this year.

He was seen visiting flats on Chapelfield in Radcliffe, Bury, in particular a flat owned by Paul Houghton. Hanson used the flat to store cocaine and cannabis before selling it on at street level.

Mr Suggitt said that police stopped Hanson’s cat at 3.10pm at the junction of Bury New Road and Chestnut Avenue in Whitefield. The prosecutor said that during the course of Hanson’s detention, ‘one of the attending armed officers felt compelled to discharge his firearm’.

He was shot to the elbow and was rushed to the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Following searches of Hanson’s car and the flat, police seized £3,520 worth of drugs. They also found a gun in a bedroom in the flat.

It was found to be a Retay 17 blank firing pistol, similar in design to a Glock 17. It was manufactured in Turkey as a blank firing pistol, but had been converted to discharge live rounds, although the weapon was found not to be able to self load.

Police also searched the home where Hanson lived with his mother. Officers found two black face coverings, an anti-spy radio detector, described as being a ‘portable device designed to locate hidden microphones, wireless cameras, and GPS trackers by scanning for radio frequencies’, as well as a lock knife.

Officers also seized a Gucci sweatshirt with the £1,150 price tag still attached. Receipts relating to the purchase of designer clothing worth just over £1,000 were also discovered.

The seizure of a mobile phone provided evidence of Hanson having sold cannabis ‘in every year from 2020 when he was just 14 years of age, to the date of his arrest when he was 20’, Mr Suggitt told the court. He said his involvement was shown over 29 individual months between that period.

Mr Suggitt also said that messaging showed Hanson was speaking about thousands of pounds in conversations. He said voice notes were recovered, recorded in the days prior to Hanson’s arrest, which revealed Hanson was trying to sell a firearm.

The court heard this was the same gun which was seized from Houghton’s flat. Further phone evidence showed that Houghton became involved through being a customer of Hanson’s.

Houghton told Hanson the flat was vacant because he was living elsewhere with his partner. Houghton was arrested at an address in Radcliffe on May 26.

Defending Hanson, Mark Friend said the defendant questioned ‘whether there was a need’ for him to be shot by police during the course of his arrest. But he said Hanson pleaded guilty which he argued was evidence of ‘remorse and contrition’.

“He knows he did wrong, he knows there are consequences for that and he will accept them,” Mr Friend said. “None of the offences to which Mr Hanson has pleaded guilty do him any credit at all.”

Mr Friend said that Hanson came to deal drugs after initially becoming a user. He said another person was involved in Hanson’s bid to ‘make a profit’ selling the gun, which the barrister argued showed Hanson was not high up the chain.

Mr Friend claimed Hanson has not received the physiotherapy that he was told he needed following his injury, while on remand in prison. Hanson had ‘left his family down’, Mr Friend said. “He wears that burden very heavily indeed,” he added.

Dan Gaskell, for Houghton, said the defendant was not ‘exploited’ but was offered the opportunity to obtain ‘free cocaine’ from his involvement. He said Houghton works full time as a roofer and has stayed out of trouble for long periods.

Hanson, of Parr Lane, Bury, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of a class B drug, conspiracy to sell a prohibited weapon, possessing a prohibited firearm, possessing ammunition without a firearm certificate, possession of a class A drug with intent to supply, and possession of a class B drug with intent to supply. He will be sentenced tomorrow (August 27).

Houghton, of Roch Crescent, Whitefield, pleaded guilty to permitting his premises to be used for the sale of class A and class B drugs. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. He was ordered to complete a three month alcohol treatment programme, 40 hours of unpaid work and five rehabilitation activity requirement days.

The IOPC released a statement in the aftermath of the incident. It read: “The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has begun an investigation into a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) firearms operation in which a man was shot.

It happened in Bury New Road, Whitefield, at 3pm on Friday 22 May during a policing operation in which officers attempted to stop a vehicle. During the incident, the driver of the car was shot in the arm by a GMP officer and suffered a broken elbow. The injured person, a man aged 20, was the car’s sole occupant.

“We have verified that one of the officers discharged a single shot during the incident, causing the injury, while another single shot was fired shortly afterwards by another officer to deflate a tyre on the vehicle.

“GMP referred the matter to us shortly after the incident, and we declared an independent investigation at 6.57pm that day. Our investigators attended the scene of the shooting to preserve evidence, plus the post-incident procedures (PIP) where the firearms officers involved in the operation gave their initial accounts of what happened. We have secured two police firearms for examination and officers’ body worn video recovered and viewed.”