Granada Ashton-Under-Lyne

Two men who threatened shoppers with a machete and told to fill baskets with stolen goods have been jailed fro five years.

Daniel Hamilton from Ashton-under-Lyne admitted robbery and possessing an offensive weapon and Mark Simms from Oldham admitted robbery, disqualified driving and driving without insurance at Minshull Street Crown Court.

At 10.10pm on Wednesday 6 March 2013, Hamilton and another man entered the Co-Op on King's Road, Ashton-under-Lyne. Hamilton, who was armed with a large machete, and his accomplice, stole cash from the till and made staff fill shopping baskets with a large quantity of cigarettes.

They ran off with the cash and shopping baskets filled with cigarettes and got into a waiting red Subaru Impreza, driven by Simms. The car was later found abandoned on Ravensbury Street, Clayton after colliding with a white transit van.

Detective Constable Joe Harrop, from the Tameside Organised Crime Team, said: “This has been a complex investigation - with extensive forensic work linking both suspects to the vehicle and complex analysis of phone data linking them to the offence

Thankfully, due to the efforts of the Organised Crime Team at Tameside, we have been able to provide every person in the shop that day as well as the wider community the best reassurance possible by bringing these two to justice.”

A benefits scheme launched in the North West has wasted more than £30m according to a report.

The spending watchdog claims Universal Credit was set up without bosses knowing how it would work.

It was piloted at the job centre in Ashton Under Lyne. The government says it agrees with the report's findings. Ralph Blunsom has the story:

21 year old Amy says she's been on universal credit for six weeks and hasn't had any money and has had to take out a crisis loan.

A government welfare scheme piloted in the North West has wasted more than 30 million pounds in failed IT according to a new report.

The public spending watchdog claims the Universal Credit payment was set up in without bosses knowing how it would work.

A trial began in Ashton Under Lyne earlier this year.

In a damning report, the National Audit Office (NAO) said the project championed by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith had been beset by "weak management, ineffective control and poor governance".

Universal Credit is due to replace a bundle of means-tested benefits by 2017, with the department estimating it will save #38 billion in administration, fraud and error costs by 2023.