BECKHAM
14-06-2013, 09:22 AM
A man who lured two police officers into a gun and grenade attack with "premeditated savagery" while on the run for murdering a father and son was told on Thursday that he would spend the rest of his life in jail. Dale Cregan, 30, described by Greater Manchester police's chief constable, Sir Peter Fahy, as a "scourge on our society", was given a whole-life sentence at Preston crown court by Mr Justice Holroyde QC at the end of a four-month trial that laid bare the brutality of Manchester's underworld.
The crown had alleged that last summer's violence was sparked by a "longstanding feud" between two rival Manchester families.
Cregan was already on the run for the murders of his criminal rivals David Short, 46, and son Mark, 23, when he killed police officers Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32, in a horrifying attack. After shooting the women, firing 32 bullets in barely half a minute, he threw a grenade at their bodies.
Sentencing Cregan, Holroyde said: "You drew those two officers into a calculated trap for the sole purpose of murdering them in cold blood."
On 18 September last year he lured the unarmed officers to an address on the Hattersley estate in Mottram, a suburb east of Manchester, by making a bogus 999 call. After attacking the women, Cregan drove to their police station in Hyde and handed himself in, saying he had just "done" two police officers.
Outside court Bryn Hughes, father of PC Hughes, said: "We can only imagine what thoughts and feelings she experienced in those few seconds it took for this person to pull the trigger and for Nicola to draw her last breath. Our lives have been shattered beyond belief and will never be the same again, to have a child taken from you in such a cruel and meaningless way is without doubt the worst thing any parent can wish to imagine."
Paul Bone said of his daughter: "Not a day goes by without thinking of Fiona."
http://www.egymiza.com/up/uploads/13711944271.jpg
Cregan, who claims he lost an eye after getting into a fight with a Thai policeman with a knuckleduster, had been on the run for four months since shooting dead Mark Short, a well-built amateur boxer who ran a drug dealing and extortion racket in east Manchester with his father, David.
When Cregan, who relished his hard man image, was caught on CCTV shortly after killing David Short at his home in Clayton, in August last year, Greater Manchester police offered a £50,000 reward for his capture, alongside his accomplice, Anthony Wilkinson. But the reward was never claimed. Many people in east Manchester said Cregan had been seen as a hero in many quarters after "taking out" two of the area's least popular criminals in David and Mark Short.
Police officers searched more than 100 addresses across the country and abroad and eventually arrested Anthony Wilkinson in a park in Manchester. Yet still Cregan evaded capture. Fahy insisted more could not have been done to catch him: "In a society where we police by consent, you cannot police such evil."
He added: "Those responsible for the murders of Fiona, Nicola, Mark and David Short are established criminals who are a scourge on our society. These men, and others like them, ... make themselves out to be 'Mr Bigs', glamourising themselves as some kind of folk heroes who rule through violence, intimidation and reputation, but in reality they spent their miserable lives looking over their shoulders to see who is coming after them and their families. If the rest of civilisation contributed the same as these individuals, we would all still be living in caves."
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Fahy described his officers' murders as "the worst event in the history of Greater Manchester police and arguably the worst in the history of British policing since the murder of three officers in 1966".
He said the use of "military-calibre weapons" and extreme violence was a threat to that civilised society.
Sentencing Cregan and five of his friends for their involvement in the Short murders, the judge noted that he had seen "no hint of any real remorse or of any compassion for your victims."
Cregan smiled as he heard the foreman of the jury find him not guilty of attempting to kill a woman called Sharon Hark shortly after murdering David Short. He shook hands with some of his fellow defendants as he left the dock to begin his life sentence.
His co-accused Wilkinson, 34, looked directly at the public gallery, where the victims' families were seated, with a broad smile on his face. He was given a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 35 years before he is eligible for parole after pleading guilty mid-trial to killing David Short. Cregan, too, had admitted all four murders once the trial was well under way.
Leon Atkinson, 35, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Ryan Hadfield, 29, from Droylsden, and Matthew James, 33, from Clayton, were cleared of the murder of Mark Short in the Cotton Tree pub and the attempted murders of three others in the pub. Luke Livesey, 28, from Hattersley, and Damian Gorman, 38, from Glossop, were found guilty of those charges.
Francis Dixon, 38, from Stalybridge, was acquitted of the murder of David Short, the attempted murder of Hark and causing an explosion with a hand grenade. He was out on life licence for past serious convictions when the murders took place – a fact kept from the jury.
Jermaine Ward, 24, burst into tears after being found guilty of the murder of David Short. The court heard he acted as a getaway driver – something he freely admitted to doing, but "under duress". Already in prison for drug offences, he was given a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 35 years before he is eligible for parole.
Mohammed Ali, 32, from Chadderton, was found guilty of assisting an offender, and given a seven-year sentence.
The crown had alleged that last summer's violence was sparked by a "longstanding feud" between two rival Manchester families.
Cregan was already on the run for the murders of his criminal rivals David Short, 46, and son Mark, 23, when he killed police officers Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32, in a horrifying attack. After shooting the women, firing 32 bullets in barely half a minute, he threw a grenade at their bodies.
Sentencing Cregan, Holroyde said: "You drew those two officers into a calculated trap for the sole purpose of murdering them in cold blood."
On 18 September last year he lured the unarmed officers to an address on the Hattersley estate in Mottram, a suburb east of Manchester, by making a bogus 999 call. After attacking the women, Cregan drove to their police station in Hyde and handed himself in, saying he had just "done" two police officers.
Outside court Bryn Hughes, father of PC Hughes, said: "We can only imagine what thoughts and feelings she experienced in those few seconds it took for this person to pull the trigger and for Nicola to draw her last breath. Our lives have been shattered beyond belief and will never be the same again, to have a child taken from you in such a cruel and meaningless way is without doubt the worst thing any parent can wish to imagine."
Paul Bone said of his daughter: "Not a day goes by without thinking of Fiona."
http://www.egymiza.com/up/uploads/13711944271.jpg
Cregan, who claims he lost an eye after getting into a fight with a Thai policeman with a knuckleduster, had been on the run for four months since shooting dead Mark Short, a well-built amateur boxer who ran a drug dealing and extortion racket in east Manchester with his father, David.
When Cregan, who relished his hard man image, was caught on CCTV shortly after killing David Short at his home in Clayton, in August last year, Greater Manchester police offered a £50,000 reward for his capture, alongside his accomplice, Anthony Wilkinson. But the reward was never claimed. Many people in east Manchester said Cregan had been seen as a hero in many quarters after "taking out" two of the area's least popular criminals in David and Mark Short.
Police officers searched more than 100 addresses across the country and abroad and eventually arrested Anthony Wilkinson in a park in Manchester. Yet still Cregan evaded capture. Fahy insisted more could not have been done to catch him: "In a society where we police by consent, you cannot police such evil."
He added: "Those responsible for the murders of Fiona, Nicola, Mark and David Short are established criminals who are a scourge on our society. These men, and others like them, ... make themselves out to be 'Mr Bigs', glamourising themselves as some kind of folk heroes who rule through violence, intimidation and reputation, but in reality they spent their miserable lives looking over their shoulders to see who is coming after them and their families. If the rest of civilisation contributed the same as these individuals, we would all still be living in caves."
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Fahy described his officers' murders as "the worst event in the history of Greater Manchester police and arguably the worst in the history of British policing since the murder of three officers in 1966".
He said the use of "military-calibre weapons" and extreme violence was a threat to that civilised society.
Sentencing Cregan and five of his friends for their involvement in the Short murders, the judge noted that he had seen "no hint of any real remorse or of any compassion for your victims."
Cregan smiled as he heard the foreman of the jury find him not guilty of attempting to kill a woman called Sharon Hark shortly after murdering David Short. He shook hands with some of his fellow defendants as he left the dock to begin his life sentence.
His co-accused Wilkinson, 34, looked directly at the public gallery, where the victims' families were seated, with a broad smile on his face. He was given a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 35 years before he is eligible for parole after pleading guilty mid-trial to killing David Short. Cregan, too, had admitted all four murders once the trial was well under way.
Leon Atkinson, 35, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Ryan Hadfield, 29, from Droylsden, and Matthew James, 33, from Clayton, were cleared of the murder of Mark Short in the Cotton Tree pub and the attempted murders of three others in the pub. Luke Livesey, 28, from Hattersley, and Damian Gorman, 38, from Glossop, were found guilty of those charges.
Francis Dixon, 38, from Stalybridge, was acquitted of the murder of David Short, the attempted murder of Hark and causing an explosion with a hand grenade. He was out on life licence for past serious convictions when the murders took place – a fact kept from the jury.
Jermaine Ward, 24, burst into tears after being found guilty of the murder of David Short. The court heard he acted as a getaway driver – something he freely admitted to doing, but "under duress". Already in prison for drug offences, he was given a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 35 years before he is eligible for parole.
Mohammed Ali, 32, from Chadderton, was found guilty of assisting an offender, and given a seven-year sentence.