Stolen Amazon parcels, fires in the night and a machete attack: life on Burford Road

Dear readers — on 17 April this year, a fire broke out in a flat on Burford Road in Whalley Range. Nearby residents were awoken by the sound of fire engines and the thick smell of smoke, and many waited in the street until the early hours of morning until the fire was put out. 

Thankfully, no one was seriously harmed that night, but the fire represented only the latest incident in a bizarre and disturbing series of events centring around one property on Burford Road: screaming in the night, stolen Amazon parcels, abuse shouted at passers-by, the constant smell of cannabis, and worst of all, a random machete attack, all preceded it. 

The property in question is owned by a housing association called One Manchester and is split into seven flats. The events, which have continued on and off for the best part of eight years, relate to not one but a series of tenants in the flat. Neighbours on the street say they can’t let their young children walk to school and are frightened of what will happen next. 

They also say that One Manchester has long since ignored their cries for help and that they have nowhere left to turn. The housing association disagrees: they stress that they are doing all they can and working with external agencies but their powers are ultimately limited. That’s the topic of today’s story.

Your Briefing

🎭 It’s been a difficult few years for the Royal Exchange — pandemic layoffs, low ticket sales, and a Midsummer’s Nightmare that lead to the loss of thousands of pounds and the resignation of chief executive Stephen Freeman. But with a newly appointed executive director (Sheena Wrigley, who is leaving the same role at Factory International) better things may be on the horizon, and the theatre has just announced its 50th Anniversary season: ‘A Homecoming’. Next year’s line-up ranges from musicals, to classics and world debuts, including a reimagination of Noel Coward’s Private Lives, a Sarah Frankcom-directed musical Fun Home, and a new play Shooters directed by debut writer and Bruntwood Prize winner Tolu Okanlawon. Could 2026 be the year that the theatre (which doubles as the Mill HQ) finally gets back on form?

🏛️ Three councillors in Oldham have defected to Reform, bringing the party’s tally of councillors in Greater Manchester up to six. Mark Wilkinson and Sandra Ball from the Failsworth West Independents (not to be confused with the Independent Candidates for Failsworth West) have joined the party, along with Lewis Quigg, formerly of the Conservatives. 

🏗️ Plans to build 212 flats next door to the West Indian Sports and Social Club in Moss Side have caused issues of “racial justice, the country’s housing crisis and the fight to preserve Britain’s social clubs,” to collide, according to The Guardian. The club is the oldest of its kind in the country, having been co-founded in the 50s by Nobel prize winning economist Arthur Lewis, intended as a place of education for the descendants of slavery. Residents in Moss Side have complained that the proposed development would mean noise complaints and unsustainable traffic. “These plans are to the detriment of the last remaining, fully functioning, financially independent, democratic Black-led organisation of the Windrush era,” Tom Nelson, the volunteer leader at the centre, said. 

The Amazon packages had been disappearing for several weeks by the time Katy, a resident of Burford Road in Whalley Range, stood on the front doorstep of her neighbour Jamal Walker-Bailey’s flat. Walker-Bailey was one of the seven tenants of the property adjoining hers to the left, owned by housing association One Manchester. He wasn’t the first of Katy’s neighbours she’d had issue with. Nonetheless, she’d come to believe that Walker-Bailey had been stealing the parcels from outside her front door, in this instance a child’s basketball hoop which had been ordered as a Christmas present for her son, and late last year she decided to confront him. 

Walker-Bailey bluntly denied the allegations being put to him: “Dunno what you’re talking about”. Katy didn’t believe him. His door ajar, she pushed through into his flat to investigate herself and was met by an “overwhelming” smell of weed. The issue wasn’t resolved at the time, but shortly after Katy returned home to her property the basketball hoop was left on her doorstep — it had been opened and signed for. She put the matter out of her mind.

A month or so later, on the afternoon of 23 January, Katy was at home. Her husband, her son and her friend’s son, who lived nearby, were preparing to head over to the friend’s house to watch a football game. Then her husband started shouting in distress. From their window, they watched as an extraordinary scene unfolded: police cars were swarming the road and an officer was repeatedly tasering a young man. Katy’s husband ran into the street, concerned for the man’s well-being. Lying next to him on the road was a huge machete. 

Shocked, Katy got on the phone to explain the situation to the friend whose house the group were meant to be visiting. The friend, hyperventilating on the other end of the line, was already well aware of what had happened. She told Katy that she had just been returning from a parent’s evening with her daughter when a knife-wielding man had attacked their car, smashing its windows. He had also kicked another man to the ground, causing a nasal fracture, and struck a cyclist with the weapon, making contact with his helmet. 

The attacker, it transpired, was Katy’s neighbour and suspected Amazon parcel thief: Jamal Walker-Bailey.

Out with the old…

Eight years prior to the machete attack, Katy moved into her house on Burford Road. Her son was one year old and the property, purchased from her mother, had a lot of perks: a large garden at the back chief among them. But shortly after making the move, she started having neighbour trouble. 

A lot of noise had been coming from the property next door, where a man named Jamie (not his real name) lived in a flat that shared a wall with her property. He would listen to blaring music until late, becoming aggressive if Katy asked him to lower the noise, and smoked large amounts of weed, the smell of which would drift through the shared filter and fill the family bathroom. Katy started frequently flagging the issue to One Manchester, but says little action was taken at first.

Jamie had mental health problems that became much worse when he didn’t take his medication. During the Covid-19 lockdown matters worsened. He’d stand in the street screaming, making what Katy describes as “gutteral noises”, and refuse to re-enter his flat as he believed people inside it were listening to him. On one occasion he started screaming at a young woman in the street, causing her to run away. 

Jamie’s situation manifested in a repetitive cycle: periods where he’d fail to take his medication, during which time the noise and associated problems would escalate, followed by him being sectioned and thus absent from Burford Road, before his eventual return. Katy estimates he was sectioned six times during the period he lived there, and would often run away if the police were called, with her husband chasing after him and trying to calm him down enough to go with them. 

Matters with Jamie worsened still when he had a “huge fight” with another resident of the One Manchester property on the front lawn. The other resident was also familiar to Katy as he’d been known to cut the lawn in just his underpants, an obvious cause of concern given the property’s close proximity to a primary school. He’d also been causing issues for a couple living two doors away from Katy (the neighbours to the other side of the One Manchester house), trimming their hedges unsolicited then demanding cash payments. After the fight, the other resident was removed from the property, though Jamie remained.

Eventually, Katy says she was able to convince One Manchester to send out an employee who installed a recording device in her son’s bedroom, which was the worst affected room, so they could understand the degree of the noise disturbance themselves. Shortly after, Jamie was sectioned again. He never returned. The issue that had hung over Katy and her family for the best part of eight years finally appeared to be over. 

…in with the new

The woman who moved into the flat vacated by Jamie was in her mid-thirties, and was distinctive by the Bengal cat she’d occasionally be seen carrying up the road on her shoulder. She could also be heard singing in the flat many nights — Katy’s children would often come through and tell her it was affecting their sleep — but the situation was tame in comparison to what they’d experienced with Jamie. Moreover, their other new neighbour, Jamal Walker-Bailey, would soon be causing far greater issues.

Walker-Bailey, in his own telling, spent the days leading up to the 23 January barely sleeping. He was smoking large amounts of weed and watching videos of the conflict in Gaza, as well as of Axel Rudakubana, who had just pleaded guilty to the murders of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport. On the day he wandered out on Burford Road, shouting incoherently about Israel, he said he was in a state of near-psychosis, induced by the cannabis and loss of sleep. He also said he had taken some sleeping tablets given to him by a man in the park. 

He later told a court he remembered nothing of the machete attack that lasted for between 5 and 10 minutes, leaving two people with injuries and a mother and a child traumatised after he smashed through their car window with the weapon. “I had images in my head of children being killed, of people retrieving bodies,” he said. 

Hayley, who lived in the property on the other side, having purchased it from the previous couple following lockdown, also remembers the day unfolding. Her husband caught the tail end of it from an upstairs window, seeing someone flee from Walker-Bailey down the street. By the time Hayley had been alerted and came to the downstairs window, the police were already tasering their suspect. Worse still, her young children saw the scene playing out.

In the aftermath of the attack, One Manchester visited to tell residents they were aware of the situation in the property. Katy and Hayley both hoped the incident would signal a moment of reckoning, where the issues that had been going on would finally be taken seriously. 

Instead, things only got worse — much worse. The woman who had moved into Jamie’s old flat had, until that point, caused little issue beyond the frequent singing. But then she started screaming and shouting in the middle of the night. “I couldn’t tell if it was directed at anyone or if she was alone,” Katy says as we chat on the phone.

Hayley, on the other side, began frequently emailing One Manchester as she believed the woman’s mental health was deteriorating. In an email on 19 March, after the woman had been “shouting” all afternoon, she wrote: “Do you know when someone will be able to visit? I called an ambulance last night to do a welfare check as I was concerned she was going to harm herself, but I don't believe they sent anyone… this has been going on since the new year”. The email went on: “There are children living in properties on both sides who are very disturbed by the noise, in addition to a school and Sure Start Centre opposite. I don't know who else to contact but she is obviously currently a risk to herself.” 

One Manchester said the situation would be reviewed. They also stress that while they take mental health concerns seriously and can make referrals to external agencies they cannot carry out assessments themselves. As they cannot comment on specific cases due to data protection it isn’t clear what action, if any, was taken in this case.

Regardless, the problem only got worse. Katy was returning home from a run one morning when the woman started banging at her from her window and shouting abuse. The same then happened to her husband, only this time the abuse was racially targeted. He called the police and reported what was happening.  

On 17 April this year things again escalated dramatically, when Katy was jolted awake by her husband in the middle of the night. “He was like, ‘Oh my god, she’s set the flat on fire,” Katy says. They both ran to the sitting room where they could smell smoke. 

Outside the window were four fire engines, as well as police, who had to bash down the door of the flat to get the woman to safety. The other residents of the building had to wait outside until 4am to be allowed to go back in and sleep. 

The following day, in another email to One Manchester, Hayley wrote: “This is the second time in less than 12 weeks that I’ve had to think ‘it’s lucky no one was killed’ on my street right outside my home.”

The woman who started the fire was moved out for a period of time following that night. Katy understands she has now returned. 

‘A broken system’

On 4 August 2025, Jamal Walker-Bailey was sentenced to eight years in prison after being found guilty on two counts of attempted GBH. His actions were designed to “intimidate the public and .... advance an ideological cause,” according to the judge. 

During his court case, it transpired that Walker-Bailey had served two previous prison sentences, including one assault. When applying for One Manchester properties residents are asked if they have any criminal background, but ultimately the company handling the flat allocations on behalf of the housing association don’t actually have any legal powers to vet potential tenants. It’s not clear whether or not Walker-Bailey flagged their previous convictions when applying for the flat.

Ultimately, the question hanging over this bizarre series of events is one of culpability. More specifically, can One Manchester really not be doing any more to keep Katy and Hayley’s families safe?

Both women say they’ve found themselves at a loss, at once accepting that people have a right to a home, especially vulnerable people with complex mental health issues, but equally frustrated in their feeling that nothing is being done to protect them despite repeated attempts to flag ongoing issues. “There’s no due diligence — it’s not a lot to ask,” Katy says. “And it’s a massively broken system – [if they] come off their medication it’s like no one is responsible for them.” Hayley points out that her daughter is now old enough to be able to walk to school by herself and is asking why she isn’t being allowed to. “What am I supposed to tell her?” she says.

One Manchester says they are doing as much as they can, but have no powers to make mental health assessments or vet for criminal records. Nor, understandably, can they give much detail on individual cases given data protection requirements. The issue for Hayley and Katy is that they’re left wondering what they are meant to do, often finding themselves in the dark. 

In response to questions from The Mill, a spokesperson for One Manchester gave the following statement: 

“We take the safety and wellbeing of our residents very seriously. We’re aware of incidents at Burford Road and have been working closely on any reports. We continue to do everything within our power to take timely and appropriate action, in partnership with other agencies. Our allocations process follows legal and regulatory frameworks and safety is a priority, assessing properties and support needs during the allocation process and throughout the duration of tenancies. Where risks are identified, we work with partners to manage them appropriately.

We remain committed to supporting our communities and ensuring safe living environments for all and encourage residents to report any incidents to us.”

Our weekend To-Do list

Friday

🍲 If you’re after an incredible hot lunch on a cold day, the legendary (in our circles anyway) Soop Daddy is putting on a pop-up in Ancoats. This week there’s smoky tomato soup and Moroccan lamb meatball pitta.

🎸 And over at the Carlton Club (the Prestwich one — not Whalley Range) All That Malarkey is raising funds for Young Lives vs Cancer. There will be poetry, a live band, a raffle, and a disco. £10 donation gets you in.

Saturday

✂️ There’s a sewing and chatting session over at the People’s History Museum. The Fabric of Protest will focus on the role of women self organising in guilds.

🦇 And I know we already recommended a bat walk but here’s another bat walk, this time on the autumn equinox, at Alexandra Park.

Sunday

🕊️ It’s International Peace Day on Sunday — and Manchester Museum have a digital peace trail through their Chinese Culture Gallery. You can write a peace-themed poem, and fold your own origami peace-themed crane.

🪩 And Niamos are putting on a Sunday Soul All-Dayer. There’ll be six hours of Northern Soul, R&B, and Motown, plus a film screening. Tickets just shy of a tenner.

Got a To-Do that you’d like us to list? Tell us about it here.