Greater Manchester’s Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner has joined the critics who have been slamming a judge’s comments after he let a violent and controlling abuser walk free, and is calling on the Attorney General to urgently review the case.

Mustafa Bashir was given a suspended prison sentence despite admitting two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Manchester Crown Court which included hitting his wife with a cricket bat.

Judge Richard Mansell said his decision on the sentence was guided by the fact his then wife was not vulnerable as she was “an intelligent woman with a network of friends” and a degree.

Speaking after a Manchester judge gave Mustafa Bashir, from Cheetham Hill, a suspended sentence because he didn’t believe the victim was vulnerable, Tony Lloyd said:

“It is astonishing that in this day in age, a member of our judiciary can come out with comments that are not only dangerous but are ignorant and perpetuate the myths and misconceptions that in Greater Manchester we have worked so hard to break.

“Very few of us will agree with the judge’s comments around the vulnerability of the victim. All of us are vulnerable at some point in our lives and anyone can become a victim of abuse – men and women. Domestic abuse does not discriminate and neither should the criminal justice system.

“This man subjected his wife to a life of torment, fear and violence, the scars of which will be with her for a very long time to come. Justice must be done, and must be seen to be done – and in this case justice has failed.

“I call on the Attorney General to urgently review this case and restore public faith in our criminal justice system and bring hope to victims.”

Tony is writing to the Attorney General and the Justice Secretary Liz Truss calling on them to review the case and address the comments made by Judge Richard Mansell QC yesterday.

There are also concerns the judge may have been misled after Bashir’s lawyer told the court his client would sign a contract with Leicestershire County Cricket Club if he was spared jail.

A spokesman for the club said it was “bemused” by the claim and said that any suggestion it had offered Bashir a contract was “completely false”. He added: “The club have never spoken to Mustafa Bashir or an agent, nor offered a contract to the player.”

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