Police issue statement after ex-officer admits trying to murder woman in Manchester hotel

Police have issued a statement after a former police officer admitted attempting to murder a woman in a Manchester hotel. James Riley, 28, from Preston, Lancashire, has today (November 7), pleaded guilty to trying to kill the woman on November 10 last year.

Riley, who served with Lancashire Constabulary up until January this year, had previously denied the offence and was due to face trial at Manchester Crown Court next week but changed his plea at a pre-trial review hearing. He was further remanded in custody by Judge Patrick Field KC after he entered his plea via videolink from HMP Forest Bank in Salford.

Greater Manchester Police previously said that officers were called to a report of concern for the welfare of a woman at a hotel on Upper Brook Street, Manchester, at about 11.30pm on November 10, 2022. Emergency services attended and the woman was taken to hospital.

READ MORE: 'It should not take someone to lose their life': Residents' horror as woman, 25, killed

READ MORE: Today's top Manchester Evening News stories

Riley, from Jepps Avenue, will be sentenced on January 12, 2024. He was dismissed by his employers in January this year, it is understood.

Lancashire Constabulary has now issued a statement about the former officer. In the statement, the police force said that Riley was off duty when the offence took place and his victim sustained life-threatening injuries.

Deputy Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett said: “People will quite rightly be shocked and appalled to hear the detail of James Riley’s crime. It is utterly abhorrent that a police officer should act in this way. Riley’s behaviour clearly fell very far short of what we demand of our officers and staff, both on and off duty.

“The vast majority of our