‘I am not a stupid individual, Mr Ross’
Danny Ross was caught with the woman in Manchester city centre(Image: Google)
A homeless man who was caught with a woman he was banned from seeing claimed it was a ‘chance encounter’ in Manchester city centre.
Danny Ross, 45, was handed a restraining order which prohibited him from contacting the woman after he was sentenced for battery and criminal damage offences against her last March. On November 14, 2025, he was handed a suspended sentence for a separate offence of affray at Burnley Crown Court but was released too late to check in to the accommodation he had arranged for the night.
Preston Crown Court heard how on December 1, he and the woman were seen together on a fire escape near the Arndale Centre in Manchester. A police officer asked them to move on and took their details.
However when she ran them against the police computer it emerged the woman was protected from Ross by the five year restraining order. As he was arrested for the breach, Ross said he believed the woman was going to have the order removed – saying they had been together ‘for years’.
He asked for his bag to be given to the woman but was advised that was not a good idea. Ross was remanded in custody and appeared at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to breach of a restraining order and breach of a suspended sentence.
Judge Michael Maher, sentencing, said: “You claimed this was a chance meeting. I am not a stupid individual, Mr Ross.
“It is said that as a homeless person, even travelling between Burnley and Manchester, that you move in limited circles. When arrested you asked for your possessions to be given to (the woman) which plainly indicates you had been together for some time.
“Exactly how long you had been breaching for is not clear to me but this is not a chance, one-off meeting. I have to acknowledge that from the footage I have seen, the woman did not seem to be intimidated by your presence, even though she is entitled to the protection of the court.
“Your barrister says you are long in the tooth but want the opportunity to break the vice like grip that drugs have exercised on your life .”
The judge activated the 12 month suspended sentence but said it would be time served due to a period spent on remand. He also made a 12 month community order for breach of the restraining order with a six month drug rehabilitation requirement and 30 days rehabilitation activity requirements.
He warned: “Do not leave here and make your way to this woman’s house. She is still the subject of a restraining order.
“If you want to apply to discharge it, she has to make an application to court to change it. That does not mean you putting pressure on her to do that.”
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