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18th of September, 2012, Manchester, England. PC's Fiona Bone and
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Nicola Hughes were responding to a reported burglary. As they
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approached the house, they were mercilessly shot dead at point-blank range.
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I was a police officer for 31 years.
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I never saw anything approaching this in all my time
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in the police, and I hope to God I never
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see the like of it again.
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Their families were left devastated.
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You never expect to plan your challenge funeral.
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From then on, it was oblivion.
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They'd been lured into a trap by a notorious gangster,
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29-year-old Dale Cregan. The callous hitman had a vendetta against
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the police.
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What makes Cregan such an evil killer is, firstly, his
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complete lack of remorse, and secondly, it's his narcissism, that
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he is basking in the attention that these murders brought
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with them.
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Driven by revenge, Cregan had been on a killing spree,
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taking four lives, including a father and son. Extraordinarily, he
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was the first criminal to commit murder on British soil
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using a grenade, a weapon of war. All of this
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makes Dale Cregan one of the world's most evil killers.
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The 25th of September, 2012, Manchester in the north of England.
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A week after Britain's first ever killing of two female
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officers in the line of duty, the nation mourned the
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loss of two young women, 32-year-old Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes,
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who was just 23. Greater Manchester Police were coordinating one
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of the biggest manhunts in UK history, as well as
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dealing with the devastating impact of losing two of their own.
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People assume that police officers are immune to dealing with violence.
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We're not.
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We see some pretty horrific things as part of the job.
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But this was different. This had a feel of being
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something different. They were someone's mum, sister. and they had
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an absolute right to go home that night to their
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loved ones, and that animal.
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Took that away.
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Local gangster Dale Cregan had ambushed Fiona and Nicola during
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a routine call-out, then mercilessly fired 32 rounds at the
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unarmed officers.
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The impact on the nation was extraordinary. The killing of
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two innocent policewomen by police A madman, a monster.
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As Manchester lined the streets for Fiona and Nicola's funerals,
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grief brought the community even closer to the police. It
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would change policing in the city forever.
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I think this is one of those cases that people
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remember because the kind of level of fear and anxiety
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that this created was unprecedented. but also it highlighted how
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dangerous this job can be and how police officers put
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their lives on the line every day to keep the rest.
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Of us safe. In the four months leading up to
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the murders, Dale Cregan had already established himself as a
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ruthless killer. He shot father and son David and Mark
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Short dead in two gangland attacks, then used a grenade
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to blow up David Short's body.
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I remember at the time, there was a feeling of
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unease amongst the public. You don't expect grenades to be
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used on the streets of Greater Manchester. That was something
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which had never been encountered before and gave us an
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indication of how dangerous this individual was.
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For Cregan, it wasn't enough to kill his victims.
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He had to completely obliterate them.
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And this signature of the grenade that he claimed for
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himself does give this case something really sinister.
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This killer's story begins on the 6th of June, 1983.
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Dale Cregan was born in Ashton-under-Lyme. He grew up in
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nearby Droylston, a working-class suburb of Manchester. He was one
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of four with a brother and two sisters.
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This was at a time when the city was kind
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of going into a bit of a post-industrial decline. The
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area where Cregan grew up was known for having quite
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a tough reputation. And I think when you look at
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these communities at this point in time, you've got this
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kind of culture of toughness and stoicism and resilience. And
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with that, there comes a particular type of masculinity, a
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kind of quite toxic form of masculinity that values violence.
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And I don't think Cregan had a very easy time
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of it as a child. He was bullied. He was
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smaller than the other kids. He was quite angelic looking.
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And that made him a bit of a target.
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At school, Cregan struggled academically.
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Dale Cregan was a remote, self-centered, ambitious boy who didn't
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fit in. At school, he always thought he was better
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than the rest. But what that meant was that he
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created his own private universe.
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The outsider would escape to the fields and mete out
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his revenge on the wildlife he found.
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Well, as a young age, Cregan started killing animals, and
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this desensitized him to killing. He also wanted to skin
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the animals and just show dominance over them and destroy things,
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destroy living things. It serves as a form of desensitization
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to killing and hurting living things.
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The hunting and skinning of wild rabbits meant young Cregan
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also became adept at using a knife. This progressed into
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something more sinister.
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He started with a fascination of knives and an increase
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to weapons and to guns. Anything involved with killing, destroying, weapons, hurting, violence,
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this all was very interesting to Cregan, and that was
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part of his personality.
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Hurting people or animals gave Cregan a sense of reality.
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He knew full well that he could use violence to
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re-tip the scales. He thought that it made him more powerful.
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Through his hunting adventures, Cregan also escaped the troubles at home.
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When he was young, his father walked out on the family.
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Basically, Cregan decided that he would take on the adult role.
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He would man up. and look after the family. And
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that altered the way he saw himself.
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At the same time, he's been bullied and demeaned and
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suffering the effects of that. He has to kind of
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step up and be the man of the household. So
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he's quite conflicted. And I think this is.
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Something that underlies the violence he goes on to commit.
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At the age of 16, Cregan left full-time education. The outcast,
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who was once bullied, found a new sense of belonging
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and the respect he craved by joining local gangs.
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Cregan wanted to make his mark in Manchester, which was
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dominated by gang culture. Gangs were everything. If you were
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in one, you were a man, you were someone to
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be respected. If you weren't, you were nobody. Cregan embraced
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that completely. He wanted to be part of a gang,
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a man to be feared. It gave him a sense
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of belonging.
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There's a sense of territorialism, and very often you don't
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have a lot of empathy for who you consider to
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be your enemies. His role models are violent men. The
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people that the community look up to are people who
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aren't afraid.
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To use physical force to get the things that they want.
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So it's incredibly important in shaping him.
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Although he touted himself as a plasterer, soon Cregan made
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his real money on the side as a drug dealer,
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selling cannabis on his local patch.
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At school, Cregan had experimented with cannabis. As soon as
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he left, he started selling. He also started using and
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selling cocaine. It was something that he felt gave him
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power and control over vulnerable people. He was someone to
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be respected and taken seriously.
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At the age of 19, Cregan set off on a
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working holiday to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Here, he
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had his first taste of organized crime, persuading elderly holidaymakers
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to invest their life savings into a timeshare racket.
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Cregan was eminently believable. He could persuade people, perhaps who
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were a little gullible, to part with many thousands of
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pounds for a timeshare, which, in fact, didn't exist. But
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that was one of Cregan's great abilities, one of his talents.
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Cregan stealing money from older people doesn't surprise me at all.
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Older people are weak. They're a target. He could get
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over on older people. And so he'd rip them off.
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That means nothing to him. This is how he sees
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the world. He was anti-social to the core. This is
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the lifestyle he chose.
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Here we've got somebody who is not afraid to break
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the rules to get what they want, where that's instrumental
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things like money or whether that's expressive things like power
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and a feeling of worth, status, or recognition.
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Cregan returned to his drug dealing. He made a lot
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of money quickly, and this funded exotic trips to all
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corners of the globe. One, though, would cement his reputation
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as a hard-man criminal.
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Cregan allegedly lost his eye in Thailand, where he tried
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to rip off a local gangster, and that local gangster
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had tortured him and gouged out his eye.
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Now, for most people, this kind of thing.
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Would be incredibly traumatic and very destabilizing, but Cregan took
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it as something that he could use to carve out
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a brand, to carve out an identity.
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He used his gouged out eye as a badge of
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honor to show just how tough and how ruthless he is.
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In the wake of the loss of his eye, he
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looked terrifying. Cregan was now what He wanted people in
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Manchester to think of him. Swashbuckling, frightening, hard man.
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28-year-old Cregan had built up a reputation as a violent,
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drug-dealing criminal with 17 convictions, including affray and assault. He
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was deeply entrenched in organized crime.
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Cregan was very well known to the police. He was
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a violent, serial offender. He was a prominent member of
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the organized crime groups. He was a vile individual and
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a blister on the side of Greater Manchester. He was
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a threat to anybody who he encountered.
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Two rival criminal families, the Shorts and the Atkinsons, had
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been involved in sporadic clashes, both vying for control of
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their local turf. The Shorts family was headed by its patriarch,
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David Short.
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At the time, we were well aware that, There was
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a really dangerous situation brewing, and some quite drastic measures
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had to be taken to try and intervene and arrest
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the offenders.
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And arrests were made at the time.
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But we work in a criminal justice system as checks
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and balances, and it's very, very difficult to take people
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off the streets.
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On the 13th of May, Manchester City had beaten arch-rivals
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Manchester United to the top of football's Premier League. At
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the Cotton Tree Pub in Droylston, drinks had been flowing
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all day, and tempers between the Shorts and the Atkinsons
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began to fray.
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Football rivalry gone mad, but it gave Dale Cregan the
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opportunity to redress the balance amongst the Manchester gangs, and
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it started with a bottle thrown away.
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These are two individuals who are associated with apparently rival
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families in this area, and because this isn't the kind
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of thing that is left to lie, it was never
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going to end with this.
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Dale Cregan was close to the Atkinson family, so he
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wanted to settle the score on their behalf. To do this,
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he had rival patriarch David Short clearly in his sights.
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Because of this apparently meaningless incident, everything was ratcheted up
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a notch or two, and revenge was necessary. Cregan decided
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that he would take it on behalf of the Atkinsons.
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Two weeks later, on the 25th of May, Cregan and
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three accomplices drove to the scene of the first argument,
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the Cotton Tree Pub in Droylston. He was armed with
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a 9mm Glock pistol.
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I think for Cregan, this was something that was very significant.
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This was going to cement his reputation as this fearsome
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gangster who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
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11.49 p.m., CCTV shows a car pulling up outside the
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cotton tree with its hazard lights flashing. Inside the pub,
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David Short and his 23-year-old son Mark were playing pool
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with family and friends. Armed and wearing a balaclava, Cregan
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ran into the pub.
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In less than half a minute, Cregan had fired seven shots.
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With David Short nowhere to be seen, Cregan shot son
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Mark three times in the chest. Three men with them
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were also wounded. CCTV shows Cregan's getaway. The whole incident
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lasted just 24 seconds.
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It's just utter devastation in this pub.
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And just to give some sense of how quickly this happened,
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David goes off to the toilet, leaves everybody having.
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A good time, playing pool, having a drink.
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And when he returns, he finds that his son is
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fatally injured.
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Other people are injured as well.
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David Short sobbed as son Mark died in his arms.
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They wanted to kill Short's father. The father wasn't there,
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so he killed the son. Kill somebody in the family.
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It was a revenge killing.
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But soon, David Short's grief would turn to anger.
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This is an absolute blitz on this family, on this community.
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It's absolutely shocking stuff.
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Cregan.
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realized at once that only killing Mark Short and not
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his father David left him with a big problem. There
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were going to be repercussions, and there were going to
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be violent repercussions. Revenge was necessary.
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Despite David Short potentially having a clear idea of the
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identity of his son's murderer, in his gangland world, it
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00:15:53.870 --> 00:15:56.889
wasn't as simple as relying on the police to bring
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Cregan to justice.
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Not surprisingly, David Short wasn't keen to talk to the police.
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That would be to break the omerta of the Manchester gangs. No, no,
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there was never going to be any firm evidence. It
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00:16:13.379 --> 00:16:14.679
was going to be done privately.
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In order to avoid the revenge of the Short family
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and awkward questions from the police, Cregan fled to Thailand
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while the dust settled.
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00:16:25.990 --> 00:16:28.889
I think it reveals how hedonistic he is, that he's
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only concerned about him having a good time and is
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00:16:32.250 --> 00:16:35.299
prepared to just kind of draw the line and forget.
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That he's just murdered somebody.
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00:16:36.789 --> 00:16:39.080
But also, I think he would have feared for his
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own life at this point and feared that retaliation, so
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he needed that distance to figure out what he was
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going to do next.
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When Cregan flew back into Manchester on the 12th of June,
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the police were waiting for him at the airport. He
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00:16:53.740 --> 00:16:56.779
was arrested and taken in for questioning, but lack of
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00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:59.539
evidence made their job extremely difficult.
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00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:04.960
Greater Manchester Police had their suspicions about Dale Cregan, but
270
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what they didn't have was firm evidence to put before.
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The Crown Prosecution Service.
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Greater Manchester Police did everything it possibly could to take
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him and his associates off the streets, but there are limitations.
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We can only do so much.
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I know from my experience at the time how many
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resources were put into this, but sadly, policing's an imperfect science.
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We can't always achieve everything with 100% success. On this occasion,
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00:17:36.059 --> 00:17:38.359
it led to tragic consequences that he was able to
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evade arrest.
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Over the next three months, the police built the case
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00:17:42.769 --> 00:17:46.670
against Cregan. Once they had more evidence, they attempted to
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00:17:46.750 --> 00:17:49.769
rearrest him at home on August the 7th, but he
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00:17:49.809 --> 00:17:54.549
was nowhere to be seen. Cregan had disappeared further north
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00:17:54.869 --> 00:17:58.849
to Bowness in the Lake District after hearing his accomplices
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00:17:58.910 --> 00:18:02.299
had been arrested. Whilst on the run, he made plans
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00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:05.559
to finish the job he'd botched the first time around,
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00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:08.039
the execution of David Short.
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It was now a race to kill or be killed.
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00:18:12.910 --> 00:18:16.599
Cregan knew that he should have killed David Short and
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00:18:16.619 --> 00:18:19.440
that he had to do so. Short, for his part,
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00:18:19.779 --> 00:18:23.700
was already threatening Cregan and his family. It was only
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00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:26.890
a matter of time. It was simply a question of
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00:18:26.990 --> 00:18:28.029
who got there first.
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00:18:29.470 --> 00:18:33.490
In order to plan his next move, Cregan familiarized himself
295
00:18:33.529 --> 00:18:39.059
with 46-year-old David Short's movements. The grieving father visited his
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00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:43.390
son's grave at Droylston Cemetery every day. This was the
297
00:18:43.490 --> 00:18:45.609
opportunity Cregan had been looking for.
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00:18:46.490 --> 00:18:48.769
I don't think that bothered Cregan at all. That short
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00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:50.829
was at a grave site mourning his son. That didn't
300
00:18:50.849 --> 00:18:52.990
bother him. His job was to kill him. And so,
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00:18:53.230 --> 00:18:53.589
kill him.
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00:18:53.829 --> 00:18:54.269
That's it.
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00:18:54.690 --> 00:18:56.309
Wait till he goes to the grave. He's going to
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00:18:56.329 --> 00:18:58.309
be unarmed, by himself, out in the open.
305
00:18:58.549 --> 00:18:59.170
Kill him there.
306
00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:01.759
In Cregan's mind, that was a good idea. It was
307
00:19:01.779 --> 00:19:03.319
a good way to accomplish the goal.
308
00:19:04.950 --> 00:19:10.529
On 10th August, Cregan and another violent criminal acquaintance, Anthony Wilkinson,
309
00:19:10.910 --> 00:19:15.410
waited at the cemetery for David to arrive. On this occasion, however,
310
00:19:15.730 --> 00:19:21.119
David broke his routine. When their target didn't appear, Cregan
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00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:24.500
and Wilkinson were driven by another accomplice in a rental
312
00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:28.660
van to David's house just over a mile away. Here
313
00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:33.140
they lay in wait for their moment. Before long, it came.
314
00:19:34.210 --> 00:19:36.490
On this particular day, David was going to have a
315
00:19:36.529 --> 00:19:41.119
family barbecue. He was carrying some chrome furniture through from
316
00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:43.980
the car into the house. And he was chatting with
317
00:19:44.019 --> 00:19:46.950
his neighbors. Everything appeared to be normal. And he leaves
318
00:19:47.009 --> 00:19:49.730
the front door open as he's taking things in from
319
00:19:49.750 --> 00:19:53.819
the car. Now, Cregan and his associates seize this opportunity.
320
00:19:54.339 --> 00:19:57.539
They very quickly exit the van and run into the
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00:19:57.579 --> 00:19:58.880
house after David.
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00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:04.140
Cregan and his sidekick Wilkinson shot David multiple times. As
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00:20:04.180 --> 00:20:08.099
they cornered him in an alleyway, Cregan delivered three final
324
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:11.329
bullets to the head at point-blank range.
325
00:20:12.990 --> 00:20:17.049
David Short was clearly dead, but Cregan did not want
326
00:20:17.089 --> 00:20:20.269
to stop there. He wanted to be infamous, the Manchester
327
00:20:20.289 --> 00:20:23.740
gangster everyone remembered. And so he took out a grenade,
328
00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:28.279
a weapon only used during war, and exploded it on Cregan.
329
00:20:28.890 --> 00:20:33.240
David's body, literally destroying him.
330
00:20:37.099 --> 00:20:40.319
This was the first time a grenade had been used
331
00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:43.279
in a murder on mainland British soil.
332
00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:47.539
The scene would have been one of absolute devastation. This
333
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.619
is a military weapon. This is not the sort of
334
00:20:49.660 --> 00:20:53.230
thing that you come across even in very serious crime.
335
00:20:53.269 --> 00:20:57.529
This is absolutely unprecedented, and the injuries that he suffered
336
00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.680
would certainly have been comparable with those that one would
337
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:01.869
expect in a war zone.
338
00:21:03.190 --> 00:21:06.910
Cregan and his fellow gangsters then drove back to Droylston,
339
00:21:07.230 --> 00:21:09.789
where he hurled a second grenade at the home of
340
00:21:09.869 --> 00:21:15.299
another family they had a grievance with. Then he used
341
00:21:15.380 --> 00:21:18.700
a third and final explosive to blow up their van
342
00:21:18.940 --> 00:21:23.180
before fleeing the scene. Luckily, there were no further casualties,
343
00:21:23.740 --> 00:21:26.509
but gangster Cregan had left his mark.
344
00:21:28.009 --> 00:21:30.500
There's a very powerful message being sent out here.
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00:21:30.900 --> 00:21:32.940
I'm not just going to kill this person, I'm going
346
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:36.839
to absolutely obliterate them. And the grenade becomes part of
347
00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:37.980
Cregan's signature.
348
00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:39.480
This is my calling card.
349
00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:43.890
Unfazed by the devastation they'd left in their wake, Cregan
350
00:21:43.950 --> 00:21:49.250
and his accomplice stopped to buy ice pops during their getaway.
351
00:21:49.269 --> 00:21:53.420
29-year-old Cregan had succeeded in making himself one of Manchester's
352
00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:57.619
most feared gangsters. He was on the run after murdering
353
00:21:57.700 --> 00:22:01.970
Mark and David Short, but this was no ordinary killing.
354
00:22:02.309 --> 00:22:05.410
For the first time in mainland Britain, a grenade was
355
00:22:05.549 --> 00:22:09.250
used in a murder. A bomb disposal unit was brought in,
356
00:22:09.609 --> 00:22:13.519
and residents were evacuated due to a ruptured gas main
357
00:22:13.819 --> 00:22:19.279
caused by the explosion. In response, Greater Manchester Police launched
358
00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:22.519
Operation Dakar to hunt Cregan down.
359
00:22:24.089 --> 00:22:29.589
Greater Manchester Police through absolutely everything that we had in
360
00:22:29.609 --> 00:22:34.019
the search for Cregan. He was the number one wanted
361
00:22:34.059 --> 00:22:36.880
individual in Greater Manchester, if not the whole of the UK.
362
00:22:37.579 --> 00:22:40.920
We knew he was a very dangerous individual.
363
00:22:42.460 --> 00:22:46.019
The use of hand grenades in crime is almost unprecedented.
364
00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:50.799
They are totally indiscriminate and will cause serious and significant
365
00:22:50.859 --> 00:22:54.549
injury to anybody who is within quite a few yards.
366
00:22:55.230 --> 00:22:58.809
So to use a weapon like this shows a total
367
00:22:58.849 --> 00:23:03.539
disregard for human life and for the concerns of anybody
368
00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:04.759
else who might be in the vicinity.
369
00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:09.140
It wasn't only his vendetta against the Short family that
370
00:23:09.220 --> 00:23:13.960
made Cregan the prime suspect. Forensics work on the half-destroyed
371
00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:17.890
van he left near the scene found fingerprints belonging to
372
00:23:17.930 --> 00:23:19.630
the killer and his accomplices.
373
00:23:20.509 --> 00:23:24.880
Now the police had a clear target. and forensic evidence
374
00:23:24.980 --> 00:23:28.759
to back it up, which put Dale Cregan firmly in
375
00:23:28.779 --> 00:23:29.200
the frame.
376
00:23:31.380 --> 00:23:34.950
The police also found Cregan's DNA in saliva on an
377
00:23:35.130 --> 00:23:39.930
ice-pop wrapper left in their abandoned getaway car. Here, too,
378
00:23:40.009 --> 00:23:43.509
they discovered Cregan's fingerprints all over the inside of the
379
00:23:43.569 --> 00:23:48.460
Ford Fiesta, together with empty ammunition cases and the gun magazine.
380
00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:52.299
All evidence was pointing towards the one-eyed gangster.
381
00:23:53.700 --> 00:23:57.569
It was obviously incredibly important to put Cregan behind bars.
382
00:23:58.690 --> 00:24:02.710
We knew that this feud was escalating out of all proportion.
383
00:24:03.650 --> 00:24:05.730
And at the time, we didn't know when it was
384
00:24:05.750 --> 00:24:06.069
going to end.
385
00:24:06.069 --> 00:24:13.269
14 armed response vehicles were patrolling Manchester at any one time. Meanwhile,
386
00:24:13.410 --> 00:24:17.750
Cregan and his accomplices had fled 45 miles northeast to
387
00:24:17.809 --> 00:24:23.380
Leeds before traveling another 250 miles south to Herne Bay
388
00:24:23.890 --> 00:24:24.380
in Kent.
389
00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:28.960
The police issued a photo fit of Dale Cregan and
390
00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:32.460
warned everyone that he was potentially armed and dangerous.
391
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.779
By the middle of August, a price was put on
392
00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:42.700
Cregan and Wilkinson's heads. First, the police offered a £ 25, 000 reward.
393
00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:46.720
Two weeks later, this was doubled. The pressure proved too
394
00:24:46.809 --> 00:24:52.130
much for Wilkinson, and he handed himself in. A £ 50, 000
395
00:24:51.410 --> 00:24:55.970
reward still stood for information on Cregan's whereabouts, but people
396
00:24:56.009 --> 00:24:58.950
who knew Cregan were too afraid to come forward.
397
00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:03.410
The people who had contact with him knew exactly what
398
00:25:03.450 --> 00:25:06.509
he was capable of. And you can't spend that money
399
00:25:06.769 --> 00:25:10.869
if you're dead. And they knew exactly what threat was
400
00:25:10.890 --> 00:25:14.130
to them. So sadly, they don't think any amount of
401
00:25:14.210 --> 00:25:17.609
money would have caused people to have given him up.
402
00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:22.319
Wanted posters were put up across the city of Manchester,
403
00:25:22.619 --> 00:25:25.569
and Cregan's face even appeared on the big screens at
404
00:25:25.609 --> 00:25:30.650
football matches. Cregan's family and close criminal associates were placed
405
00:25:30.710 --> 00:25:34.809
under the watchful eye of the police. But nothing led
406
00:25:34.849 --> 00:25:36.690
the investigators to the killer.
407
00:25:37.940 --> 00:25:41.240
Cregan was well aware that the police were after him.
408
00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:44.660
He was intent on not giving up without a fight,
409
00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:48.089
and so he laid a plan. His plan was to
410
00:25:48.109 --> 00:25:49.289
go out in infamy.
411
00:25:51.130 --> 00:25:54.630
On the 17th of September, just seven miles from his home,
412
00:25:55.089 --> 00:25:58.630
Britain's most wanted man forced his way into the house
413
00:25:58.690 --> 00:26:02.240
of a former acquaintance. He threatened him with a grenade
414
00:26:02.359 --> 00:26:05.960
placed on his mantelpiece if he didn't keep his silence.
415
00:26:06.940 --> 00:26:09.180
He goes to the house of a barber and essentially
416
00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:12.789
holds him hostage. and gets him to trim his hair
417
00:26:12.869 --> 00:26:15.769
and trim his beard. This is a guy who wants
418
00:26:15.829 --> 00:26:19.529
his mugshot to look as good as it possibly can look.
419
00:26:20.089 --> 00:26:23.980
So this is real premeditation. This is real narcissism.
420
00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:25.839
Well, it's his image.
421
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:28.160
Before he knew he was going to be arrested and
422
00:26:28.220 --> 00:26:30.579
be on TV and so on, he wanted himself to
423
00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:33.509
look good. That's Cregan. Everything is his image.
424
00:26:34.549 --> 00:26:38.990
As the barber's partner and young daughter cowered upstairs, Cregan
425
00:26:39.089 --> 00:26:42.309
binged on beer and cigarettes as he enjoyed what he
426
00:26:42.390 --> 00:26:46.410
planned to be his last night of freedom. The next day,
427
00:26:46.549 --> 00:26:51.210
on the 18th of September, Cregan loaded his Glock semi-automatic
428
00:26:51.319 --> 00:26:55.960
pistol with extra ammunition for his final act of terror.
429
00:26:56.740 --> 00:27:00.559
The Glock pistol that he used normally has a 17-round magazine.
430
00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.809
The fact that Cregan used a 32-round magazine... just shows,
431
00:27:05.990 --> 00:27:08.150
if you like, that he really wanted to do as
432
00:27:08.230 --> 00:27:10.779
much harm, cause as much damage as he possibly could,
433
00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:15.019
and those 32 rounds could be fired without changing the magazine,
434
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:17.460
of course. All he had to do was keep pulling
435
00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:17.859
the trigger.
436
00:27:19.380 --> 00:27:23.839
That morning, police officers Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes were
437
00:27:23.859 --> 00:27:29.230
starting their early shift. 32-year-old Fiona was making plans for
438
00:27:29.269 --> 00:27:33.940
her forthcoming civil partnerships. She had a daughter, age five,
439
00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:35.509
with her fiancé.
440
00:27:35.529 --> 00:27:37.730
I actually knew Fiona.
441
00:27:38.150 --> 00:27:41.349
I was the shift inspector at Tameside when she joined
442
00:27:41.369 --> 00:27:44.569
the shift as a brand-new recruit from training school. She
443
00:27:44.609 --> 00:27:48.309
was bubbly, she was friendly, she did everything he asked
444
00:27:48.349 --> 00:27:49.930
of her with a smile on her face, she was
445
00:27:49.970 --> 00:27:52.990
keen to learn. She was just everything you would expect
446
00:27:53.130 --> 00:27:54.099
of a young police officer.
447
00:27:55.609 --> 00:28:00.130
Her 23-year-old colleague, Nicola, was only three years into her
448
00:28:00.210 --> 00:28:01.910
job as a police constable.
449
00:28:02.819 --> 00:28:05.000
You get that sense of pride that much of what
450
00:28:05.019 --> 00:28:07.859
she's doing, she's out policing the streets, she's out protecting
451
00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:09.500
the public, and she was proud of what she was doing,
452
00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:11.779
she was proud of wearing the uniform. She was just
453
00:28:12.059 --> 00:28:14.339
life and soul of the party at 6 o'clock in
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00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:16.079
the morning when they're all just going on shift, she's
455
00:28:16.140 --> 00:28:19.299
laughing and joking. I knew there'd be times where she'd
456
00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:24.200
face dangerous situations and assaults and fights, but Yeah, I mean,
457
00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:25.720
the overall feel was quite proud.
458
00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:32.710
Partway through Nicola and Fiona's morning shift, at 10.14am, Dale
459
00:28:32.769 --> 00:28:35.910
Cregan made a 999 emergency call.
460
00:28:36.269 --> 00:28:37.109
Police emergency.
461
00:28:37.130 --> 00:28:40.319
Someone just threw a big concrete slab through that window
462
00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:40.759
and ran off.
463
00:28:42.259 --> 00:28:46.359
Britain's most wanted man posed as a worried resident, Adam,
464
00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:48.220
who'd been a victim of crime.
465
00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:53.160
Was he a white male? He was a male, though, yeah.
466
00:28:53.259 --> 00:28:54.660
Yeah, he was a male.
467
00:28:56.099 --> 00:28:59.539
Cregan was planning an ambush on the police. With a
468
00:28:59.619 --> 00:29:02.569
clear view of the road ahead, he lay in wait.
469
00:29:03.029 --> 00:29:05.609
He had chilling words to end his call.
470
00:29:06.349 --> 00:29:06.769
All right, then.
471
00:29:06.829 --> 00:29:07.730
Thanks very much. OK.
472
00:29:08.029 --> 00:29:12.630
I'll be waiting. The call was pretty innocuous, the sort
473
00:29:12.670 --> 00:29:16.289
of thing which, you know, Greater Manchester Police officers deal
474
00:29:16.309 --> 00:29:22.089
with every day. so Nicola and Fiona went to investigate.
475
00:29:22.089 --> 00:29:26.619
38 minutes later, unarmed, Fiona and Nicola arrived at the door.
476
00:29:27.700 --> 00:29:31.019
As the two policewomen walked up the path towards the
477
00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:36.650
front door, Cregan threw it open and began firing. 32
478
00:29:36.650 --> 00:29:37.650
shots had been fired.
479
00:29:42.539 --> 00:29:46.400
So the brutality of this attack was horrific. He was
480
00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:49.549
just utterly remorseful as he kept going. He kept deciding
481
00:29:49.630 --> 00:29:53.109
to pull that trigger. There was no hesitation whatsoever.
482
00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:58.509
Despite being hit between five and eight times, Fiona tried
483
00:29:58.569 --> 00:30:02.349
to deploy her taser gun. Cregan's response was a final
484
00:30:02.430 --> 00:30:07.049
shot through the heart, killing her instantly. Her colleague, Nicola,
485
00:30:07.089 --> 00:30:10.470
couldn't move after a bullet had severed her spinal cord.
486
00:30:11.029 --> 00:30:14.690
Cregan then mercilessly shot her three times in the head
487
00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:16.880
at point-blank range.
488
00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:20.180
After he'd emptied his firearm, that was not it. It
489
00:30:20.220 --> 00:30:23.700
was not over. He takes out a grenade... and throws it.
490
00:30:26.410 --> 00:30:30.569
So he's not just killing his victims, he's obliterating them.
491
00:30:30.950 --> 00:30:32.890
And I think that's what he wants to be known for.
492
00:30:33.349 --> 00:30:37.849
By killing two police officers, he's securing that attention that
493
00:30:37.890 --> 00:30:39.099
he so desperately wants.
494
00:30:40.279 --> 00:30:43.319
The whole attack lasted just 31 seconds.
495
00:30:43.339 --> 00:30:44.859
I think.
496
00:30:45.660 --> 00:30:48.299
It's fair to say that the moments after the attack,
497
00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:52.329
the minutes after the attack, The police control room was
498
00:30:52.390 --> 00:30:56.509
absolute chaos, but very quickly, a picture started to emerge,
499
00:30:56.670 --> 00:31:00.829
and Greater Manchester deployed armed officers into Tameside straight after
500
00:31:00.849 --> 00:31:01.230
the attack.
501
00:31:02.130 --> 00:31:06.079
In a desperate attempt to save their colleagues, unarmed units
502
00:31:06.140 --> 00:31:08.059
nearby rushed to the scene.
503
00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:12.279
That shows the bravery of police officers. They're not armed.
504
00:31:13.140 --> 00:31:14.740
They knew something horrific had happened.
505
00:31:15.559 --> 00:31:18.259
They drove straight to the danger to help the colleagues
506
00:31:18.299 --> 00:31:19.000
and help the public.
507
00:31:20.049 --> 00:31:21.289
Sadly, it was too late.
508
00:31:22.490 --> 00:31:26.369
Nicola was rushed to Thameside Hospital by paramedics, where she
509
00:31:26.430 --> 00:31:31.509
later was pronounced dead. Her father, Bryn, was driving home
510
00:31:31.569 --> 00:31:34.670
from work when he got a call from the police.
511
00:31:35.829 --> 00:31:38.359
There was a to-and-throwing of, like, where are you and what's,
512
00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:41.019
you know, I need to speak to you. And then automatically,
513
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:43.819
then you start to think something's not quite right here.
514
00:31:44.200 --> 00:31:45.799
And they said, well, you know, tell me what's wrong.
515
00:31:47.079 --> 00:31:49.880
I'm outside your house. And then when you hear those words...
516
00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:54.299
I'm outside your house. That's when alarm bells start ringing
517
00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:57.720
and you panic. And it didn't even, I didn't even
518
00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:00.180
register what was being said as well at the time.
519
00:32:01.089 --> 00:32:02.940
And eventually I said to him, don't you dare tell
520
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:05.329
me she's dead. And that's when he said, you know,
521
00:32:05.829 --> 00:32:09.490
there's no easy way of saying it. And from then
522
00:32:09.589 --> 00:32:13.490
on it was, you know, oblivion. I didn't know where
523
00:32:13.529 --> 00:32:17.250
I was or where I was driving. And it was
524
00:32:17.289 --> 00:32:19.069
a journey that would take usually 10, 15 minutes more
525
00:32:20.339 --> 00:32:21.420
It seemed to take hours.
526
00:32:24.220 --> 00:32:27.880
Cregan's first two victims had been embroiled in the feuding
527
00:32:27.980 --> 00:32:32.240
gangland world he was part of, but these two young
528
00:32:32.309 --> 00:32:35.250
police officers were completely unknown to him.
529
00:32:36.549 --> 00:32:40.009
By this time, Cregan had realized that there was no escape.
530
00:32:40.670 --> 00:32:45.410
He chose to kill two innocent policewomen because it was
531
00:32:45.589 --> 00:32:51.190
to be his gravestone, his legacy. the thing that ensured
532
00:32:51.509 --> 00:32:54.549
his infamy in the hierarchy of infamous criminals.
533
00:32:56.089 --> 00:32:59.390
He wants to be the biggest gangster in Manchester and
534
00:32:59.430 --> 00:33:02.250
be seen as this fearsome character who nobody's going to
535
00:33:02.289 --> 00:33:02.789
mess with.
536
00:33:03.950 --> 00:33:08.710
On this day, we saw the worst that any police
537
00:33:08.750 --> 00:33:11.670
force can ever experience.
538
00:33:12.859 --> 00:33:15.619
Two innocent young officers murdered.
539
00:33:17.849 --> 00:33:22.059
As Greater Manchester Police was learning the devastating truth about
540
00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:26.740
their fallen comrades, Dale Cregan had already decided on his
541
00:33:26.920 --> 00:33:27.700
next move.
542
00:33:29.099 --> 00:33:34.180
He lured unarmed, unprotected young officers to the door of
543
00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:36.400
that house and murdered them in cold blood.
544
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:39.190
He then went to the police station and.
545
00:33:39.140 --> 00:33:44.230
Handed himself in because in his pathetic mind, he thought
546
00:33:45.130 --> 00:33:47.460
that the colleagues may shoot him.
547
00:33:48.930 --> 00:33:51.569
The reason he's doing this is firstly to stay in
548
00:33:51.650 --> 00:33:55.490
control because for Cregan, being in control, being the director
549
00:33:55.529 --> 00:33:58.039
of his own gangster movie is very important to him.
550
00:33:58.410 --> 00:34:00.970
But there's also an element of fear here. He does
551
00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:03.299
not want to die. He does not want to be killed.
552
00:34:03.619 --> 00:34:06.279
And I think he's actually afraid of being killed in
553
00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:08.900
a police shootout. He thinks they're not going to show
554
00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:12.260
him very much mercy because he's just cold-bloodedly murdered two
555
00:34:12.280 --> 00:34:12.980
of their officers.
556
00:34:13.019 --> 00:34:15.699
So he's in self-preservation mode at this time.
557
00:34:16.570 --> 00:34:19.030
Seeing two of their own killed in the line of
558
00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:22.920
duty sent shockwaves throughout Greater Manchester Police.
559
00:34:23.800 --> 00:34:26.760
Walking into that police station, I'll never forget it. The faces,
560
00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:32.420
people had a thousand-yard stare. Nobody could believe that you
561
00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:36.900
come on work and this happens. Fiona was planning a
562
00:34:36.949 --> 00:34:40.309
wedding in a break time, and then she wasn't there.
563
00:34:42.309 --> 00:34:47.079
Imagine the impact that has on family members friends, colleagues,
564
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:50.159
who were sat at seven o'clock in the morning, making
565
00:34:50.179 --> 00:34:52.599
cups of tea and chatting about what they were gonna
566
00:34:52.619 --> 00:34:57.599
do that day. It just beggars belief that they were
567
00:34:57.619 --> 00:35:01.420
put through that. And they came back to work and
568
00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:04.610
policed the streets of Greater Manchester. And what a fantastic
569
00:35:04.659 --> 00:35:08.269
tribute that is to their memory, that they kept going.
570
00:35:09.750 --> 00:35:13.570
They were professional, committed, just like Nicola and Fiona.
571
00:35:14.440 --> 00:35:18.619
Cregan, however, seemed to revel in his killings. In custody,
572
00:35:18.659 --> 00:35:21.389
he told the police it was revenge for hounding his
573
00:35:21.489 --> 00:35:25.150
family whilst on the run. He only seemed to have
574
00:35:25.849 --> 00:35:26.710
one regret.
575
00:35:27.769 --> 00:35:29.849
Cregan says, I'm sorry that they weren't men.
576
00:35:30.409 --> 00:35:34.079
He wants to be this kind of old-school-style gangster who
577
00:35:34.119 --> 00:35:35.780
doesn't hurt women and children.
578
00:35:36.909 --> 00:35:40.269
Because killing two female is not as high status in
579
00:35:40.329 --> 00:35:43.760
Cregan's mind than to killing two male. That really doesn't
580
00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:46.949
fit in with the image that he wants to project
581
00:35:46.969 --> 00:35:49.980
to everybody else. If you took his image away from him,
582
00:35:50.300 --> 00:35:51.780
what do you have left with Cregan?
583
00:35:51.900 --> 00:35:52.300
Nothing.
584
00:35:52.820 --> 00:35:58.599
There's nothing there. There's this total nothingness, inadequacy in every respect.
585
00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:02.199
He feels so weak and inadequate, and that's why he
586
00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:05.039
has to demonstrate what a powerful force he is.
587
00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:09.539
The city of Manchester was united in grief for the
588
00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:14.429
fallen officers. A week after Nicola's murder, her father, Bryn,
589
00:36:14.489 --> 00:36:18.590
attended a vigil arranged by the local community for his
590
00:36:18.670 --> 00:36:21.010
daughter and her colleague, Fiona.
591
00:36:22.030 --> 00:36:25.750
And you got that sense of shock and outrage and
592
00:36:25.989 --> 00:36:28.630
grief from the community. The police, they deal with murders
593
00:36:28.670 --> 00:36:33.000
day in, day out, but not their own. So I
594
00:36:33.019 --> 00:36:34.699
think for them as well, it was a massive shock,
595
00:36:34.929 --> 00:36:37.730
massive outpouring of grief from, you know, not just Greater
596
00:36:37.769 --> 00:36:41.050
Manchester Police, but every police force in the country. There
597
00:36:41.070 --> 00:36:46.010
was a bond created between Greater Manchester Police and its communities.
598
00:36:46.170 --> 00:36:47.610
They came together and I'll never forget that.
599
00:36:48.739 --> 00:36:52.960
This Manchester spirit was truly brought out two weeks later
600
00:36:53.380 --> 00:36:57.500
on the 3rd of October, the day of Nicola Hughes's funeral.
601
00:36:58.769 --> 00:37:02.030
I'll never forget standing at the bottom of Market Street
602
00:37:02.409 --> 00:37:07.590
and it was like a Derby Day football game. People
603
00:37:07.730 --> 00:37:13.190
were pouring down Market Street wearing black ties. It was
604
00:37:13.369 --> 00:37:18.079
absolutely humbling. I heard a story about a group of
605
00:37:18.139 --> 00:37:20.719
officers having done a full night shift and drove to
606
00:37:20.760 --> 00:37:22.519
Manchester to stand with their colleagues.
607
00:37:22.539 --> 00:37:28.219
That was incredible. Shops closed, banks closed, Manchester came out
608
00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:29.739
It was incredible.
609
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:35.280
When Nicola's father, Bryn, arrived, he saw thousands of well-wishers
610
00:37:35.619 --> 00:37:38.750
lining the streets on the route to Manchester Cathedral.
611
00:37:38.769 --> 00:37:41.650
At the back of your mind, you think, I don't
612
00:37:41.670 --> 00:37:42.809
want to be here, I don't want to do this.
613
00:37:43.989 --> 00:37:47.869
It was like a huge tunnel of faces and you
614
00:37:47.909 --> 00:37:51.090
recognise some and, you know, there's people crying and there's
615
00:37:51.110 --> 00:37:54.250
people clapping and I think you soak that up, it's
616
00:37:54.269 --> 00:37:56.550
like an energy, it helps you get through the day.
617
00:37:59.179 --> 00:38:03.980
Fiona's funeral followed the next day on 4th October. Again,
618
00:38:04.099 --> 00:38:11.750
Manchester paid its respects. Four months later, on 4th February 2013,
619
00:38:11.750 --> 00:38:17.610
serial killer Dale Cregan finally faced justice. 120 armed police
620
00:38:17.750 --> 00:38:21.969
officers were used to ferry Britain's most wanted killer from
621
00:38:22.070 --> 00:38:25.659
Strangeways Prison to Preston Crown Court each day.
622
00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:28.980
This was one of the biggest trials in recent times,
623
00:38:29.400 --> 00:38:31.500
certainly in the northwest of England, if not the country,
624
00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:36.260
and Cregan had to be housed securely and taken to
625
00:38:36.340 --> 00:38:39.239
court every day, and there was a massive security operation.
626
00:38:40.579 --> 00:38:43.739
Armed police were placed on the roof surrounding the court
627
00:38:43.800 --> 00:38:47.880
building so that nothing was left to chance. Nine other
628
00:38:47.940 --> 00:38:52.960
accomplices also faced trial on charges of murder and attempted murder.
629
00:38:53.489 --> 00:38:57.579
Despite confessing to his murders, Cregan opted to plead not
630
00:38:57.659 --> 00:38:59.739
guilty on all counts.
631
00:39:01.400 --> 00:39:06.420
That animal forced the family and colleagues to go through
632
00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:11.150
a trial. The judge commented on how he tried to
633
00:39:11.750 --> 00:39:14.090
manipulate proceedings for his own amusement.
634
00:39:14.110 --> 00:39:17.570
He had no remorse. He was a monster.
635
00:39:19.110 --> 00:39:23.139
Cregan, horrifying though it may sound, wanted to bask in
636
00:39:23.179 --> 00:39:26.679
his own infamy. He wanted no one ever to forget
637
00:39:26.699 --> 00:39:29.130
the one-eyed Manchester gangster.
638
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:35.260
He was characteristically arrogant, tried to feign disinterest. To use
639
00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:36.679
an old-fashioned phrase, he was trying to play to the
640
00:39:36.719 --> 00:39:40.980
gallery as well, to some extent. But I think everybody
641
00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:44.469
in that room knew exactly what kind of person he was.
642
00:39:45.699 --> 00:39:49.519
In a final act of manipulation from the dock, Cregan
643
00:39:49.579 --> 00:39:53.929
decided to change his pleas during the 18-week trial, pleading
644
00:39:54.030 --> 00:39:59.489
guilty to all four murders. On the 13th of June 2013,
645
00:39:59.489 --> 00:40:02.260
it was game over for Dale Cregan when he was
646
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:06.579
given a whole life sentence. Five of his criminal accomplices
647
00:40:06.900 --> 00:40:10.039
were each sentenced to between seven and 35 years in prison.
648
00:40:12.670 --> 00:40:15.489
Cregan was one of very few people to receive a
649
00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:19.820
whole life order for four murders. So he will never
650
00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:23.380
be released from prison. He'll never have the chance for parole.
651
00:40:23.780 --> 00:40:26.699
And these sentences are reserved for the most serious violent
652
00:40:26.739 --> 00:40:29.900
offenders who've done the most harm and are perhaps the
653
00:40:29.980 --> 00:40:32.050
least likely to be rehabilitated.
654
00:40:32.090 --> 00:40:34.070
So this is very, very serious indeed.
655
00:40:34.750 --> 00:40:40.250
For relatives and colleagues of his victims, they finally saw justice.
656
00:40:42.909 --> 00:40:45.309
I mean, obviously we knew you can't commit four murders
657
00:40:45.329 --> 00:40:47.840
and not get a whole life tariff. To hear the
658
00:40:47.860 --> 00:40:50.440
judge actually say it, that's the big relief. And I
659
00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:53.119
think it's the relief that it's finally over. And they'd
660
00:40:53.159 --> 00:40:55.059
finally got justice for what had happened to them.
661
00:40:56.800 --> 00:41:00.460
It didn't seem to take away the sense of loss, though.
662
00:41:01.780 --> 00:41:04.280
Two young colleagues had been cut down in the prime.
663
00:41:04.300 --> 00:41:05.699
There was nothing to celebrate.
664
00:41:06.460 --> 00:41:12.650
I know that across Greater Manchester Police, People felt the same.
665
00:41:12.849 --> 00:41:15.170
There was no celebration.
666
00:41:17.510 --> 00:41:22.170
The murders of police officers Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes
667
00:41:22.889 --> 00:41:28.300
had a lasting impact on policing the UK's second-largest city, Manchester.
668
00:41:29.739 --> 00:41:33.460
This did change policing in Greater Manchester, and I felt
669
00:41:33.559 --> 00:41:34.679
it almost immediately.
670
00:41:35.199 --> 00:41:37.570
What this did was show to.
671
00:41:37.530 --> 00:41:45.809
Everybody that police officers aren't just uniforms. These are somebody's daughters, sisters, moms.
672
00:41:46.429 --> 00:41:50.579
These are people who have the same problems in their lives,
673
00:41:50.940 --> 00:41:56.000
same stresses. It brought the communities closer to Greater Manchester Police.
674
00:41:57.659 --> 00:42:01.440
As for Dale Cregan, after spending five years in Ashworth's
675
00:42:01.500 --> 00:42:05.440
psychiatric unit in Merseyside, he was sent back to Her
676
00:42:05.500 --> 00:42:10.480
Majesty's Prison Strangeways in Manchester, where he'll likely spend his
677
00:42:10.539 --> 00:42:11.500
remaining days.
678
00:42:12.820 --> 00:42:15.800
In his world, his pathetic world that exists in his head,
679
00:42:16.570 --> 00:42:19.510
he thought he was a big man. He'll die a pathetic,
680
00:42:20.190 --> 00:42:23.690
wizened old man in prison. What I want to do
681
00:42:24.769 --> 00:42:32.309
is highlight and contrast that against what Nicola and Fiona
682
00:42:32.849 --> 00:42:38.179
stood and still stand for, and that's decency, public service
683
00:42:39.239 --> 00:42:39.920
and compassion.
684
00:42:41.039 --> 00:42:42.199
Their names will never be forgotten.
685
00:42:43.340 --> 00:42:46.739
To help cope with losing Nicola, her father Bryn set
686
00:42:46.820 --> 00:42:50.280
up a memorial fund in her name to support children
687
00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:54.110
who've also lost a loved one to murder or violent crime.
688
00:42:54.690 --> 00:42:57.809
You're never going to forget what they've done. You're never
689
00:42:57.829 --> 00:43:00.449
going to forgive what they've done. But for me, I'd
690
00:43:00.489 --> 00:43:02.989
rather concentrate on Nicola, the memories of Nicola.
691
00:43:07.239 --> 00:43:10.940
Dale Cregan gunned down a father and a son, then
692
00:43:11.079 --> 00:43:15.199
recklessly threw grenades onto the streets, putting the public in
693
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:20.110
danger as part of a petty gangland feud. He mercilessly
694
00:43:20.150 --> 00:43:24.570
slaughtered two unarmed police officers with their whole lives ahead
695
00:43:24.610 --> 00:43:28.449
of them. He brought terror to the streets of Manchester,
696
00:43:28.889 --> 00:43:33.639
making Dale Cregan one of the world's most evil killers.
1
00:00:05.700 --> 00:00:12.189
18th of September, 2012, Manchester, England. PC's Fiona Bone and
2
00:00:12.250 --> 00:00:16.410
Nicola Hughes were responding to a reported burglary. As they
3
00:00:16.449 --> 00:00:21.350
approached the house, they were mercilessly shot dead at point-blank range.
4
00:00:22.070 --> 00:00:23.710
I was a police officer for 31 years.
5
00:00:24.829 --> 00:00:29.089
I never saw anything approaching this in all my time
6
00:00:29.109 --> 00:00:32.439
in the police, and I hope to God I never
7
00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:33.500
see the like of it again.
8
00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:36.859
Their families were left devastated.
9
00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:40.979
You never expect to plan your challenge funeral.
10
00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.200
From then on, it was oblivion.
11
00:00:44.909 --> 00:00:48.570
They'd been lured into a trap by a notorious gangster,
12
00:00:48.590 --> 00:00:53.869
29-year-old Dale Cregan. The callous hitman had a vendetta against
13
00:00:53.909 --> 00:00:54.390
the police.
14
00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.170
What makes Cregan such an evil killer is, firstly, his
15
00:00:58.229 --> 00:01:01.950
complete lack of remorse, and secondly, it's his narcissism, that
16
00:01:02.030 --> 00:01:05.569
he is basking in the attention that these murders brought
17
00:01:05.590 --> 00:01:05.950
with them.
18
00:01:06.670 --> 00:01:10.069
Driven by revenge, Cregan had been on a killing spree,
19
00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:15.549
taking four lives, including a father and son. Extraordinarily, he
20
00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:18.879
was the first criminal to commit murder on British soil
21
00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:23.719
using a grenade, a weapon of war. All of this
22
00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:27.879
makes Dale Cregan one of the world's most evil killers.
23
00:01:48.689 --> 00:01:54.450
The 25th of September, 2012, Manchester in the north of England.
24
00:01:55.329 --> 00:01:58.909
A week after Britain's first ever killing of two female
25
00:01:59.049 --> 00:02:02.590
officers in the line of duty, the nation mourned the
26
00:02:02.650 --> 00:02:07.930
loss of two young women, 32-year-old Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes,
27
00:02:07.969 --> 00:02:13.800
who was just 23. Greater Manchester Police were coordinating one
28
00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:17.319
of the biggest manhunts in UK history, as well as
29
00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:21.219
dealing with the devastating impact of losing two of their own.
30
00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:26.050
People assume that police officers are immune to dealing with violence.
31
00:02:26.090 --> 00:02:26.469
We're not.
32
00:02:27.389 --> 00:02:29.669
We see some pretty horrific things as part of the job.
33
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But this was different. This had a feel of being
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something different. They were someone's mum, sister. and they had
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an absolute right to go home that night to their
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loved ones, and that animal.
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Took that away.
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Local gangster Dale Cregan had ambushed Fiona and Nicola during
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a routine call-out, then mercilessly fired 32 rounds at the
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unarmed officers.
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The impact on the nation was extraordinary. The killing of
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two innocent policewomen by police A madman, a monster.
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As Manchester lined the streets for Fiona and Nicola's funerals,
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grief brought the community even closer to the police. It
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would change policing in the city forever.
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I think this is one of those cases that people
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remember because the kind of level of fear and anxiety
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that this created was unprecedented. but also it highlighted how
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dangerous this job can be and how police officers put
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their lives on the line every day to keep the rest.
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Of us safe. In the four months leading up to
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the murders, Dale Cregan had already established himself as a
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ruthless killer. He shot father and son David and Mark
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Short dead in two gangland attacks, then used a grenade
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to blow up David Short's body.
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I remember at the time, there was a feeling of
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unease amongst the public. You don't expect grenades to be
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used on the streets of Greater Manchester. That was something
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which had never been encountered before and gave us an
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indication of how dangerous this individual was.
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For Cregan, it wasn't enough to kill his victims.
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He had to completely obliterate them.
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And this signature of the grenade that he claimed for
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himself does give this case something really sinister.
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This killer's story begins on the 6th of June, 1983.
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Dale Cregan was born in Ashton-under-Lyme. He grew up in
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nearby Droylston, a working-class suburb of Manchester. He was one
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of four with a brother and two sisters.
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This was at a time when the city was kind
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of going into a bit of a post-industrial decline. The
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area where Cregan grew up was known for having quite
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a tough reputation. And I think when you look at
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these communities at this point in time, you've got this
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kind of culture of toughness and stoicism and resilience. And
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with that, there comes a particular type of masculinity, a
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kind of quite toxic form of masculinity that values violence.
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And I don't think Cregan had a very easy time
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of it as a child. He was bullied. He was
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smaller than the other kids. He was quite angelic looking.
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And that made him a bit of a target.
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At school, Cregan struggled academically.
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Dale Cregan was a remote, self-centered, ambitious boy who didn't
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fit in. At school, he always thought he was better
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than the rest. But what that meant was that he
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created his own private universe.
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The outsider would escape to the fields and mete out
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his revenge on the wildlife he found.
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Well, as a young age, Cregan started killing animals, and
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this desensitized him to killing. He also wanted to skin
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the animals and just show dominance over them and destroy things,
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destroy living things. It serves as a form of desensitization
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to killing and hurting living things.
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The hunting and skinning of wild rabbits meant young Cregan
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also became adept at using a knife. This progressed into
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something more sinister.
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He started with a fascination of knives and an increase
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to weapons and to guns. Anything involved with killing, destroying, weapons, hurting, violence,
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this all was very interesting to Cregan, and that was
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part of his personality.
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Hurting people or animals gave Cregan a sense of reality.
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He knew full well that he could use violence to
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re-tip the scales. He thought that it made him more powerful.
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Through his hunting adventures, Cregan also escaped the troubles at home.
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When he was young, his father walked out on the family.
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Basically, Cregan decided that he would take on the adult role.
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He would man up. and look after the family. And
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that altered the way he saw himself.
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At the same time, he's been bullied and demeaned and
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suffering the effects of that. He has to kind of
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step up and be the man of the household. So
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he's quite conflicted. And I think this is.
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Something that underlies the violence he goes on to commit.
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At the age of 16, Cregan left full-time education. The outcast,
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who was once bullied, found a new sense of belonging
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and the respect he craved by joining local gangs.
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Cregan wanted to make his mark in Manchester, which was
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dominated by gang culture. Gangs were everything. If you were
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in one, you were a man, you were someone to
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be respected. If you weren't, you were nobody. Cregan embraced
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that completely. He wanted to be part of a gang,
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a man to be feared. It gave him a sense
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of belonging.
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There's a sense of territorialism, and very often you don't
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have a lot of empathy for who you consider to
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be your enemies. His role models are violent men. The
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people that the community look up to are people who
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aren't afraid.
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To use physical force to get the things that they want.
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So it's incredibly important in shaping him.
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Although he touted himself as a plasterer, soon Cregan made
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his real money on the side as a drug dealer,
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selling cannabis on his local patch.
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At school, Cregan had experimented with cannabis. As soon as
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he left, he started selling. He also started using and
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selling cocaine. It was something that he felt gave him
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power and control over vulnerable people. He was someone to
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be respected and taken seriously.
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At the age of 19, Cregan set off on a
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working holiday to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Here, he
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had his first taste of organized crime, persuading elderly holidaymakers
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to invest their life savings into a timeshare racket.
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Cregan was eminently believable. He could persuade people, perhaps who
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were a little gullible, to part with many thousands of
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pounds for a timeshare, which, in fact, didn't exist. But
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that was one of Cregan's great abilities, one of his talents.
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Cregan stealing money from older people doesn't surprise me at all.
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Older people are weak. They're a target. He could get
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over on older people. And so he'd rip them off.
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That means nothing to him. This is how he sees
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the world. He was anti-social to the core. This is
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the lifestyle he chose.
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Here we've got somebody who is not afraid to break
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the rules to get what they want, where that's instrumental
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things like money or whether that's expressive things like power
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and a feeling of worth, status, or recognition.
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Cregan returned to his drug dealing. He made a lot
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of money quickly, and this funded exotic trips to all
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corners of the globe. One, though, would cement his reputation
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as a hard-man criminal.
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Cregan allegedly lost his eye in Thailand, where he tried
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to rip off a local gangster, and that local gangster
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had tortured him and gouged out his eye.
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Now, for most people, this kind of thing.
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Would be incredibly traumatic and very destabilizing, but Cregan took
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it as something that he could use to carve out
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a brand, to carve out an identity.
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He used his gouged out eye as a badge of
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honor to show just how tough and how ruthless he is.
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In the wake of the loss of his eye, he
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looked terrifying. Cregan was now what He wanted people in
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Manchester to think of him. Swashbuckling, frightening, hard man.
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28-year-old Cregan had built up a reputation as a violent,
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drug-dealing criminal with 17 convictions, including affray and assault. He
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was deeply entrenched in organized crime.
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Cregan was very well known to the police. He was
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a violent, serial offender. He was a prominent member of
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the organized crime groups. He was a vile individual and
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a blister on the side of Greater Manchester. He was
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a threat to anybody who he encountered.
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Two rival criminal families, the Shorts and the Atkinsons, had
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been involved in sporadic clashes, both vying for control of
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their local turf. The Shorts family was headed by its patriarch,
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David Short.
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At the time, we were well aware that, There was
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a really dangerous situation brewing, and some quite drastic measures
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had to be taken to try and intervene and arrest
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the offenders.
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And arrests were made at the time.
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But we work in a criminal justice system as checks
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and balances, and it's very, very difficult to take people
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off the streets.
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On the 13th of May, Manchester City had beaten arch-rivals
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Manchester United to the top of football's Premier League. At
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the Cotton Tree Pub in Droylston, drinks had been flowing
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all day, and tempers between the Shorts and the Atkinsons
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began to fray.
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Football rivalry gone mad, but it gave Dale Cregan the
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opportunity to redress the balance amongst the Manchester gangs, and
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it started with a bottle thrown away.
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These are two individuals who are associated with apparently rival
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families in this area, and because this isn't the kind
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of thing that is left to lie, it was never
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going to end with this.
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Dale Cregan was close to the Atkinson family, so he
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wanted to settle the score on their behalf. To do this,
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he had rival patriarch David Short clearly in his sights.
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Because of this apparently meaningless incident, everything was ratcheted up
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a notch or two, and revenge was necessary. Cregan decided
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that he would take it on behalf of the Atkinsons.
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Two weeks later, on the 25th of May, Cregan and
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three accomplices drove to the scene of the first argument,
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the Cotton Tree Pub in Droylston. He was armed with
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a 9mm Glock pistol.
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I think for Cregan, this was something that was very significant.
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This was going to cement his reputation as this fearsome
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gangster who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
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11.49 p.m., CCTV shows a car pulling up outside the
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cotton tree with its hazard lights flashing. Inside the pub,
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David Short and his 23-year-old son Mark were playing pool
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with family and friends. Armed and wearing a balaclava, Cregan
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ran into the pub.
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In less than half a minute, Cregan had fired seven shots.
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With David Short nowhere to be seen, Cregan shot son
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Mark three times in the chest. Three men with them
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were also wounded. CCTV shows Cregan's getaway. The whole incident
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lasted just 24 seconds.
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It's just utter devastation in this pub.
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And just to give some sense of how quickly this happened,
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David goes off to the toilet, leaves everybody having.
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A good time, playing pool, having a drink.
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And when he returns, he finds that his son is
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fatally injured.
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Other people are injured as well.
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David Short sobbed as son Mark died in his arms.
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They wanted to kill Short's father. The father wasn't there,
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so he killed the son. Kill somebody in the family.
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It was a revenge killing.
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But soon, David Short's grief would turn to anger.
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This is an absolute blitz on this family, on this community.
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It's absolutely shocking stuff.
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Cregan.
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realized at once that only killing Mark Short and not
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his father David left him with a big problem. There
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were going to be repercussions, and there were going to
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be violent repercussions. Revenge was necessary.
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Despite David Short potentially having a clear idea of the
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identity of his son's murderer, in his gangland world, it
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wasn't as simple as relying on the police to bring
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Cregan to justice.
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Not surprisingly, David Short wasn't keen to talk to the police.
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That would be to break the omerta of the Manchester gangs. No, no,
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there was never going to be any firm evidence. It
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was going to be done privately.
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In order to avoid the revenge of the Short family
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and awkward questions from the police, Cregan fled to Thailand
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while the dust settled.
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I think it reveals how hedonistic he is, that he's
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only concerned about him having a good time and is
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prepared to just kind of draw the line and forget.
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That he's just murdered somebody.
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But also, I think he would have feared for his
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own life at this point and feared that retaliation, so
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he needed that distance to figure out what he was
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going to do next.
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When Cregan flew back into Manchester on the 12th of June,
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the police were waiting for him at the airport. He
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was arrested and taken in for questioning, but lack of
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evidence made their job extremely difficult.
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Greater Manchester Police had their suspicions about Dale Cregan, but
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what they didn't have was firm evidence to put before.
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The Crown Prosecution Service.
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Greater Manchester Police did everything it possibly could to take
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him and his associates off the streets, but there are limitations.
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We can only do so much.
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I know from my experience at the time how many
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resources were put into this, but sadly, policing's an imperfect science.
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We can't always achieve everything with 100% success. On this occasion,
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00:17:36.059 --> 00:17:38.359
it led to tragic consequences that he was able to
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00:17:38.420 --> 00:17:38.960
evade arrest.
280
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Over the next three months, the police built the case
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00:17:42.769 --> 00:17:46.670
against Cregan. Once they had more evidence, they attempted to
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00:17:46.750 --> 00:17:49.769
rearrest him at home on August the 7th, but he
283
00:17:49.809 --> 00:17:54.549
was nowhere to be seen. Cregan had disappeared further north
284
00:17:54.869 --> 00:17:58.849
to Bowness in the Lake District after hearing his accomplices
285
00:17:58.910 --> 00:18:02.299
had been arrested. Whilst on the run, he made plans
286
00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:05.559
to finish the job he'd botched the first time around,
287
00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:08.039
the execution of David Short.
288
00:18:09.049 --> 00:18:11.789
It was now a race to kill or be killed.
289
00:18:12.910 --> 00:18:16.599
Cregan knew that he should have killed David Short and
290
00:18:16.619 --> 00:18:19.440
that he had to do so. Short, for his part,
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00:18:19.779 --> 00:18:23.700
was already threatening Cregan and his family. It was only
292
00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:26.890
a matter of time. It was simply a question of
293
00:18:26.990 --> 00:18:28.029
who got there first.
294
00:18:29.470 --> 00:18:33.490
In order to plan his next move, Cregan familiarized himself
295
00:18:33.529 --> 00:18:39.059
with 46-year-old David Short's movements. The grieving father visited his
296
00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:43.390
son's grave at Droylston Cemetery every day. This was the
297
00:18:43.490 --> 00:18:45.609
opportunity Cregan had been looking for.
298
00:18:46.490 --> 00:18:48.769
I don't think that bothered Cregan at all. That short
299
00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:50.829
was at a grave site mourning his son. That didn't
300
00:18:50.849 --> 00:18:52.990
bother him. His job was to kill him. And so,
301
00:18:53.230 --> 00:18:53.589
kill him.
302
00:18:53.829 --> 00:18:54.269
That's it.
303
00:18:54.690 --> 00:18:56.309
Wait till he goes to the grave. He's going to
304
00:18:56.329 --> 00:18:58.309
be unarmed, by himself, out in the open.
305
00:18:58.549 --> 00:18:59.170
Kill him there.
306
00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:01.759
In Cregan's mind, that was a good idea. It was
307
00:19:01.779 --> 00:19:03.319
a good way to accomplish the goal.
308
00:19:04.950 --> 00:19:10.529
On 10th August, Cregan and another violent criminal acquaintance, Anthony Wilkinson,
309
00:19:10.910 --> 00:19:15.410
waited at the cemetery for David to arrive. On this occasion, however,
310
00:19:15.730 --> 00:19:21.119
David broke his routine. When their target didn't appear, Cregan
311
00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:24.500
and Wilkinson were driven by another accomplice in a rental
312
00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:28.660
van to David's house just over a mile away. Here
313
00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:33.140
they lay in wait for their moment. Before long, it came.
314
00:19:34.210 --> 00:19:36.490
On this particular day, David was going to have a
315
00:19:36.529 --> 00:19:41.119
family barbecue. He was carrying some chrome furniture through from
316
00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:43.980
the car into the house. And he was chatting with
317
00:19:44.019 --> 00:19:46.950
his neighbors. Everything appeared to be normal. And he leaves
318
00:19:47.009 --> 00:19:49.730
the front door open as he's taking things in from
319
00:19:49.750 --> 00:19:53.819
the car. Now, Cregan and his associates seize this opportunity.
320
00:19:54.339 --> 00:19:57.539
They very quickly exit the van and run into the
321
00:19:57.579 --> 00:19:58.880
house after David.
322
00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:04.140
Cregan and his sidekick Wilkinson shot David multiple times. As
323
00:20:04.180 --> 00:20:08.099
they cornered him in an alleyway, Cregan delivered three final
324
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:11.329
bullets to the head at point-blank range.
325
00:20:12.990 --> 00:20:17.049
David Short was clearly dead, but Cregan did not want
326
00:20:17.089 --> 00:20:20.269
to stop there. He wanted to be infamous, the Manchester
327
00:20:20.289 --> 00:20:23.740
gangster everyone remembered. And so he took out a grenade,
328
00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:28.279
a weapon only used during war, and exploded it on Cregan.
329
00:20:28.890 --> 00:20:33.240
David's body, literally destroying him.
330
00:20:37.099 --> 00:20:40.319
This was the first time a grenade had been used
331
00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:43.279
in a murder on mainland British soil.
332
00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:47.539
The scene would have been one of absolute devastation. This
333
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.619
is a military weapon. This is not the sort of
334
00:20:49.660 --> 00:20:53.230
thing that you come across even in very serious crime.
335
00:20:53.269 --> 00:20:57.529
This is absolutely unprecedented, and the injuries that he suffered
336
00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.680
would certainly have been comparable with those that one would
337
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:01.869
expect in a war zone.
338
00:21:03.190 --> 00:21:06.910
Cregan and his fellow gangsters then drove back to Droylston,
339
00:21:07.230 --> 00:21:09.789
where he hurled a second grenade at the home of
340
00:21:09.869 --> 00:21:15.299
another family they had a grievance with. Then he used
341
00:21:15.380 --> 00:21:18.700
a third and final explosive to blow up their van
342
00:21:18.940 --> 00:21:23.180
before fleeing the scene. Luckily, there were no further casualties,
343
00:21:23.740 --> 00:21:26.509
but gangster Cregan had left his mark.
344
00:21:28.009 --> 00:21:30.500
There's a very powerful message being sent out here.
345
00:21:30.900 --> 00:21:32.940
I'm not just going to kill this person, I'm going
346
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:36.839
to absolutely obliterate them. And the grenade becomes part of
347
00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:37.980
Cregan's signature.
348
00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:39.480
This is my calling card.
349
00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:43.890
Unfazed by the devastation they'd left in their wake, Cregan
350
00:21:43.950 --> 00:21:49.250
and his accomplice stopped to buy ice pops during their getaway.
351
00:21:49.269 --> 00:21:53.420
29-year-old Cregan had succeeded in making himself one of Manchester's
352
00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:57.619
most feared gangsters. He was on the run after murdering
353
00:21:57.700 --> 00:22:01.970
Mark and David Short, but this was no ordinary killing.
354
00:22:02.309 --> 00:22:05.410
For the first time in mainland Britain, a grenade was
355
00:22:05.549 --> 00:22:09.250
used in a murder. A bomb disposal unit was brought in,
356
00:22:09.609 --> 00:22:13.519
and residents were evacuated due to a ruptured gas main
357
00:22:13.819 --> 00:22:19.279
caused by the explosion. In response, Greater Manchester Police launched
358
00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:22.519
Operation Dakar to hunt Cregan down.
359
00:22:24.089 --> 00:22:29.589
Greater Manchester Police through absolutely everything that we had in
360
00:22:29.609 --> 00:22:34.019
the search for Cregan. He was the number one wanted
361
00:22:34.059 --> 00:22:36.880
individual in Greater Manchester, if not the whole of the UK.
362
00:22:37.579 --> 00:22:40.920
We knew he was a very dangerous individual.
363
00:22:42.460 --> 00:22:46.019
The use of hand grenades in crime is almost unprecedented.
364
00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:50.799
They are totally indiscriminate and will cause serious and significant
365
00:22:50.859 --> 00:22:54.549
injury to anybody who is within quite a few yards.
366
00:22:55.230 --> 00:22:58.809
So to use a weapon like this shows a total
367
00:22:58.849 --> 00:23:03.539
disregard for human life and for the concerns of anybody
368
00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:04.759
else who might be in the vicinity.
369
00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:09.140
It wasn't only his vendetta against the Short family that
370
00:23:09.220 --> 00:23:13.960
made Cregan the prime suspect. Forensics work on the half-destroyed
371
00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:17.890
van he left near the scene found fingerprints belonging to
372
00:23:17.930 --> 00:23:19.630
the killer and his accomplices.
373
00:23:20.509 --> 00:23:24.880
Now the police had a clear target. and forensic evidence
374
00:23:24.980 --> 00:23:28.759
to back it up, which put Dale Cregan firmly in
375
00:23:28.779 --> 00:23:29.200
the frame.
376
00:23:31.380 --> 00:23:34.950
The police also found Cregan's DNA in saliva on an
377
00:23:35.130 --> 00:23:39.930
ice-pop wrapper left in their abandoned getaway car. Here, too,
378
00:23:40.009 --> 00:23:43.509
they discovered Cregan's fingerprints all over the inside of the
379
00:23:43.569 --> 00:23:48.460
Ford Fiesta, together with empty ammunition cases and the gun magazine.
380
00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:52.299
All evidence was pointing towards the one-eyed gangster.
381
00:23:53.700 --> 00:23:57.569
It was obviously incredibly important to put Cregan behind bars.
382
00:23:58.690 --> 00:24:02.710
We knew that this feud was escalating out of all proportion.
383
00:24:03.650 --> 00:24:05.730
And at the time, we didn't know when it was
384
00:24:05.750 --> 00:24:06.069
going to end.
385
00:24:06.069 --> 00:24:13.269
14 armed response vehicles were patrolling Manchester at any one time. Meanwhile,
386
00:24:13.410 --> 00:24:17.750
Cregan and his accomplices had fled 45 miles northeast to
387
00:24:17.809 --> 00:24:23.380
Leeds before traveling another 250 miles south to Herne Bay
388
00:24:23.890 --> 00:24:24.380
in Kent.
389
00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:28.960
The police issued a photo fit of Dale Cregan and
390
00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:32.460
warned everyone that he was potentially armed and dangerous.
391
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.779
By the middle of August, a price was put on
392
00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:42.700
Cregan and Wilkinson's heads. First, the police offered a £ 25, 000 reward.
393
00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:46.720
Two weeks later, this was doubled. The pressure proved too
394
00:24:46.809 --> 00:24:52.130
much for Wilkinson, and he handed himself in. A £ 50, 000
395
00:24:51.410 --> 00:24:55.970
reward still stood for information on Cregan's whereabouts, but people
396
00:24:56.009 --> 00:24:58.950
who knew Cregan were too afraid to come forward.
397
00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:03.410
The people who had contact with him knew exactly what
398
00:25:03.450 --> 00:25:06.509
he was capable of. And you can't spend that money
399
00:25:06.769 --> 00:25:10.869
if you're dead. And they knew exactly what threat was
400
00:25:10.890 --> 00:25:14.130
to them. So sadly, they don't think any amount of
401
00:25:14.210 --> 00:25:17.609
money would have caused people to have given him up.
402
00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:22.319
Wanted posters were put up across the city of Manchester,
403
00:25:22.619 --> 00:25:25.569
and Cregan's face even appeared on the big screens at
404
00:25:25.609 --> 00:25:30.650
football matches. Cregan's family and close criminal associates were placed
405
00:25:30.710 --> 00:25:34.809
under the watchful eye of the police. But nothing led
406
00:25:34.849 --> 00:25:36.690
the investigators to the killer.
407
00:25:37.940 --> 00:25:41.240
Cregan was well aware that the police were after him.
408
00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:44.660
He was intent on not giving up without a fight,
409
00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:48.089
and so he laid a plan. His plan was to
410
00:25:48.109 --> 00:25:49.289
go out in infamy.
411
00:25:51.130 --> 00:25:54.630
On the 17th of September, just seven miles from his home,
412
00:25:55.089 --> 00:25:58.630
Britain's most wanted man forced his way into the house
413
00:25:58.690 --> 00:26:02.240
of a former acquaintance. He threatened him with a grenade
414
00:26:02.359 --> 00:26:05.960
placed on his mantelpiece if he didn't keep his silence.
415
00:26:06.940 --> 00:26:09.180
He goes to the house of a barber and essentially
416
00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:12.789
holds him hostage. and gets him to trim his hair
417
00:26:12.869 --> 00:26:15.769
and trim his beard. This is a guy who wants
418
00:26:15.829 --> 00:26:19.529
his mugshot to look as good as it possibly can look.
419
00:26:20.089 --> 00:26:23.980
So this is real premeditation. This is real narcissism.
420
00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:25.839
Well, it's his image.
421
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:28.160
Before he knew he was going to be arrested and
422
00:26:28.220 --> 00:26:30.579
be on TV and so on, he wanted himself to
423
00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:33.509
look good. That's Cregan. Everything is his image.
424
00:26:34.549 --> 00:26:38.990
As the barber's partner and young daughter cowered upstairs, Cregan
425
00:26:39.089 --> 00:26:42.309
binged on beer and cigarettes as he enjoyed what he
426
00:26:42.390 --> 00:26:46.410
planned to be his last night of freedom. The next day,
427
00:26:46.549 --> 00:26:51.210
on the 18th of September, Cregan loaded his Glock semi-automatic
428
00:26:51.319 --> 00:26:55.960
pistol with extra ammunition for his final act of terror.
429
00:26:56.740 --> 00:27:00.559
The Glock pistol that he used normally has a 17-round magazine.
430
00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.809
The fact that Cregan used a 32-round magazine... just shows,
431
00:27:05.990 --> 00:27:08.150
if you like, that he really wanted to do as
432
00:27:08.230 --> 00:27:10.779
much harm, cause as much damage as he possibly could,
433
00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:15.019
and those 32 rounds could be fired without changing the magazine,
434
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:17.460
of course. All he had to do was keep pulling
435
00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:17.859
the trigger.
436
00:27:19.380 --> 00:27:23.839
That morning, police officers Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes were
437
00:27:23.859 --> 00:27:29.230
starting their early shift. 32-year-old Fiona was making plans for
438
00:27:29.269 --> 00:27:33.940
her forthcoming civil partnerships. She had a daughter, age five,
439
00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:35.509
with her fiancé.
440
00:27:35.529 --> 00:27:37.730
I actually knew Fiona.
441
00:27:38.150 --> 00:27:41.349
I was the shift inspector at Tameside when she joined
442
00:27:41.369 --> 00:27:44.569
the shift as a brand-new recruit from training school. She
443
00:27:44.609 --> 00:27:48.309
was bubbly, she was friendly, she did everything he asked
444
00:27:48.349 --> 00:27:49.930
of her with a smile on her face, she was
445
00:27:49.970 --> 00:27:52.990
keen to learn. She was just everything you would expect
446
00:27:53.130 --> 00:27:54.099
of a young police officer.
447
00:27:55.609 --> 00:28:00.130
Her 23-year-old colleague, Nicola, was only three years into her
448
00:28:00.210 --> 00:28:01.910
job as a police constable.
449
00:28:02.819 --> 00:28:05.000
You get that sense of pride that much of what
450
00:28:05.019 --> 00:28:07.859
she's doing, she's out policing the streets, she's out protecting
451
00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:09.500
the public, and she was proud of what she was doing,
452
00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:11.779
she was proud of wearing the uniform. She was just
453
00:28:12.059 --> 00:28:14.339
life and soul of the party at 6 o'clock in
454
00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:16.079
the morning when they're all just going on shift, she's
455
00:28:16.140 --> 00:28:19.299
laughing and joking. I knew there'd be times where she'd
456
00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:24.200
face dangerous situations and assaults and fights, but Yeah, I mean,
457
00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:25.720
the overall feel was quite proud.
458
00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:32.710
Partway through Nicola and Fiona's morning shift, at 10.14am, Dale
459
00:28:32.769 --> 00:28:35.910
Cregan made a 999 emergency call.
460
00:28:36.269 --> 00:28:37.109
Police emergency.
461
00:28:37.130 --> 00:28:40.319
Someone just threw a big concrete slab through that window
462
00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:40.759
and ran off.
463
00:28:42.259 --> 00:28:46.359
Britain's most wanted man posed as a worried resident, Adam,
464
00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:48.220
who'd been a victim of crime.
465
00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:53.160
Was he a white male? He was a male, though, yeah.
466
00:28:53.259 --> 00:28:54.660
Yeah, he was a male.
467
00:28:56.099 --> 00:28:59.539
Cregan was planning an ambush on the police. With a
468
00:28:59.619 --> 00:29:02.569
clear view of the road ahead, he lay in wait.
469
00:29:03.029 --> 00:29:05.609
He had chilling words to end his call.
470
00:29:06.349 --> 00:29:06.769
All right, then.
471
00:29:06.829 --> 00:29:07.730
Thanks very much. OK.
472
00:29:08.029 --> 00:29:12.630
I'll be waiting. The call was pretty innocuous, the sort
473
00:29:12.670 --> 00:29:16.289
of thing which, you know, Greater Manchester Police officers deal
474
00:29:16.309 --> 00:29:22.089
with every day. so Nicola and Fiona went to investigate.
475
00:29:22.089 --> 00:29:26.619
38 minutes later, unarmed, Fiona and Nicola arrived at the door.
476
00:29:27.700 --> 00:29:31.019
As the two policewomen walked up the path towards the
477
00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:36.650
front door, Cregan threw it open and began firing. 32
478
00:29:36.650 --> 00:29:37.650
shots had been fired.
479
00:29:42.539 --> 00:29:46.400
So the brutality of this attack was horrific. He was
480
00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:49.549
just utterly remorseful as he kept going. He kept deciding
481
00:29:49.630 --> 00:29:53.109
to pull that trigger. There was no hesitation whatsoever.
482
00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:58.509
Despite being hit between five and eight times, Fiona tried
483
00:29:58.569 --> 00:30:02.349
to deploy her taser gun. Cregan's response was a final
484
00:30:02.430 --> 00:30:07.049
shot through the heart, killing her instantly. Her colleague, Nicola,
485
00:30:07.089 --> 00:30:10.470
couldn't move after a bullet had severed her spinal cord.
486
00:30:11.029 --> 00:30:14.690
Cregan then mercilessly shot her three times in the head
487
00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:16.880
at point-blank range.
488
00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:20.180
After he'd emptied his firearm, that was not it. It
489
00:30:20.220 --> 00:30:23.700
was not over. He takes out a grenade... and throws it.
490
00:30:26.410 --> 00:30:30.569
So he's not just killing his victims, he's obliterating them.
491
00:30:30.950 --> 00:30:32.890
And I think that's what he wants to be known for.
492
00:30:33.349 --> 00:30:37.849
By killing two police officers, he's securing that attention that
493
00:30:37.890 --> 00:30:39.099
he so desperately wants.
494
00:30:40.279 --> 00:30:43.319
The whole attack lasted just 31 seconds.
495
00:30:43.339 --> 00:30:44.859
I think.
496
00:30:45.660 --> 00:30:48.299
It's fair to say that the moments after the attack,
497
00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:52.329
the minutes after the attack, The police control room was
498
00:30:52.390 --> 00:30:56.509
absolute chaos, but very quickly, a picture started to emerge,
499
00:30:56.670 --> 00:31:00.829
and Greater Manchester deployed armed officers into Tameside straight after
500
00:31:00.849 --> 00:31:01.230
the attack.
501
00:31:02.130 --> 00:31:06.079
In a desperate attempt to save their colleagues, unarmed units
502
00:31:06.140 --> 00:31:08.059
nearby rushed to the scene.
503
00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:12.279
That shows the bravery of police officers. They're not armed.
504
00:31:13.140 --> 00:31:14.740
They knew something horrific had happened.
505
00:31:15.559 --> 00:31:18.259
They drove straight to the danger to help the colleagues
506
00:31:18.299 --> 00:31:19.000
and help the public.
507
00:31:20.049 --> 00:31:21.289
Sadly, it was too late.
508
00:31:22.490 --> 00:31:26.369
Nicola was rushed to Thameside Hospital by paramedics, where she
509
00:31:26.430 --> 00:31:31.509
later was pronounced dead. Her father, Bryn, was driving home
510
00:31:31.569 --> 00:31:34.670
from work when he got a call from the police.
511
00:31:35.829 --> 00:31:38.359
There was a to-and-throwing of, like, where are you and what's,
512
00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:41.019
you know, I need to speak to you. And then automatically,
513
00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:43.819
then you start to think something's not quite right here.
514
00:31:44.200 --> 00:31:45.799
And they said, well, you know, tell me what's wrong.
515
00:31:47.079 --> 00:31:49.880
I'm outside your house. And then when you hear those words...
516
00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:54.299
I'm outside your house. That's when alarm bells start ringing
517
00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:57.720
and you panic. And it didn't even, I didn't even
518
00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:00.180
register what was being said as well at the time.
519
00:32:01.089 --> 00:32:02.940
And eventually I said to him, don't you dare tell
520
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:05.329
me she's dead. And that's when he said, you know,
521
00:32:05.829 --> 00:32:09.490
there's no easy way of saying it. And from then
522
00:32:09.589 --> 00:32:13.490
on it was, you know, oblivion. I didn't know where
523
00:32:13.529 --> 00:32:17.250
I was or where I was driving. And it was
524
00:32:17.289 --> 00:32:19.069
a journey that would take usually 10, 15 minutes more
525
00:32:20.339 --> 00:32:21.420
It seemed to take hours.
526
00:32:24.220 --> 00:32:27.880
Cregan's first two victims had been embroiled in the feuding
527
00:32:27.980 --> 00:32:32.240
gangland world he was part of, but these two young
528
00:32:32.309 --> 00:32:35.250
police officers were completely unknown to him.
529
00:32:36.549 --> 00:32:40.009
By this time, Cregan had realized that there was no escape.
530
00:32:40.670 --> 00:32:45.410
He chose to kill two innocent policewomen because it was
531
00:32:45.589 --> 00:32:51.190
to be his gravestone, his legacy. the thing that ensured
532
00:32:51.509 --> 00:32:54.549
his infamy in the hierarchy of infamous criminals.
533
00:32:56.089 --> 00:32:59.390
He wants to be the biggest gangster in Manchester and
534
00:32:59.430 --> 00:33:02.250
be seen as this fearsome character who nobody's going to
535
00:33:02.289 --> 00:33:02.789
mess with.
536
00:33:03.950 --> 00:33:08.710
On this day, we saw the worst that any police
537
00:33:08.750 --> 00:33:11.670
force can ever experience.
538
00:33:12.859 --> 00:33:15.619
Two innocent young officers murdered.
539
00:33:17.849 --> 00:33:22.059
As Greater Manchester Police was learning the devastating truth about
540
00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:26.740
their fallen comrades, Dale Cregan had already decided on his
541
00:33:26.920 --> 00:33:27.700
next move.
542
00:33:29.099 --> 00:33:34.180
He lured unarmed, unprotected young officers to the door of
543
00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:36.400
that house and murdered them in cold blood.
544
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:39.190
He then went to the police station and.
545
00:33:39.140 --> 00:33:44.230
Handed himself in because in his pathetic mind, he thought
546
00:33:45.130 --> 00:33:47.460
that the colleagues may shoot him.
547
00:33:48.930 --> 00:33:51.569
The reason he's doing this is firstly to stay in
548
00:33:51.650 --> 00:33:55.490
control because for Cregan, being in control, being the director
549
00:33:55.529 --> 00:33:58.039
of his own gangster movie is very important to him.
550
00:33:58.410 --> 00:34:00.970
But there's also an element of fear here. He does
551
00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:03.299
not want to die. He does not want to be killed.
552
00:34:03.619 --> 00:34:06.279
And I think he's actually afraid of being killed in
553
00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:08.900
a police shootout. He thinks they're not going to show
554
00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:12.260
him very much mercy because he's just cold-bloodedly murdered two
555
00:34:12.280 --> 00:34:12.980
of their officers.
556
00:34:13.019 --> 00:34:15.699
So he's in self-preservation mode at this time.
557
00:34:16.570 --> 00:34:19.030
Seeing two of their own killed in the line of
558
00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:22.920
duty sent shockwaves throughout Greater Manchester Police.
559
00:34:23.800 --> 00:34:26.760
Walking into that police station, I'll never forget it. The faces,
560
00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:32.420
people had a thousand-yard stare. Nobody could believe that you
561
00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:36.900
come on work and this happens. Fiona was planning a
562
00:34:36.949 --> 00:34:40.309
wedding in a break time, and then she wasn't there.
563
00:34:42.309 --> 00:34:47.079
Imagine the impact that has on family members friends, colleagues,
564
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:50.159
who were sat at seven o'clock in the morning, making
565
00:34:50.179 --> 00:34:52.599
cups of tea and chatting about what they were gonna
566
00:34:52.619 --> 00:34:57.599
do that day. It just beggars belief that they were
567
00:34:57.619 --> 00:35:01.420
put through that. And they came back to work and
568
00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:04.610
policed the streets of Greater Manchester. And what a fantastic
569
00:35:04.659 --> 00:35:08.269
tribute that is to their memory, that they kept going.
570
00:35:09.750 --> 00:35:13.570
They were professional, committed, just like Nicola and Fiona.
571
00:35:14.440 --> 00:35:18.619
Cregan, however, seemed to revel in his killings. In custody,
572
00:35:18.659 --> 00:35:21.389
he told the police it was revenge for hounding his
573
00:35:21.489 --> 00:35:25.150
family whilst on the run. He only seemed to have
574
00:35:25.849 --> 00:35:26.710
one regret.
575
00:35:27.769 --> 00:35:29.849
Cregan says, I'm sorry that they weren't men.
576
00:35:30.409 --> 00:35:34.079
He wants to be this kind of old-school-style gangster who
577
00:35:34.119 --> 00:35:35.780
doesn't hurt women and children.
578
00:35:36.909 --> 00:35:40.269
Because killing two female is not as high status in
579
00:35:40.329 --> 00:35:43.760
Cregan's mind than to killing two male. That really doesn't
580
00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:46.949
fit in with the image that he wants to project
581
00:35:46.969 --> 00:35:49.980
to everybody else. If you took his image away from him,
582
00:35:50.300 --> 00:35:51.780
what do you have left with Cregan?
583
00:35:51.900 --> 00:35:52.300
Nothing.
584
00:35:52.820 --> 00:35:58.599
There's nothing there. There's this total nothingness, inadequacy in every respect.
585
00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:02.199
He feels so weak and inadequate, and that's why he
586
00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:05.039
has to demonstrate what a powerful force he is.
587
00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:09.539
The city of Manchester was united in grief for the
588
00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:14.429
fallen officers. A week after Nicola's murder, her father, Bryn,
589
00:36:14.489 --> 00:36:18.590
attended a vigil arranged by the local community for his
590
00:36:18.670 --> 00:36:21.010
daughter and her colleague, Fiona.
591
00:36:22.030 --> 00:36:25.750
And you got that sense of shock and outrage and
592
00:36:25.989 --> 00:36:28.630
grief from the community. The police, they deal with murders
593
00:36:28.670 --> 00:36:33.000
day in, day out, but not their own. So I
594
00:36:33.019 --> 00:36:34.699
think for them as well, it was a massive shock,
595
00:36:34.929 --> 00:36:37.730
massive outpouring of grief from, you know, not just Greater
596
00:36:37.769 --> 00:36:41.050
Manchester Police, but every police force in the country. There
597
00:36:41.070 --> 00:36:46.010
was a bond created between Greater Manchester Police and its communities.
598
00:36:46.170 --> 00:36:47.610
They came together and I'll never forget that.
599
00:36:48.739 --> 00:36:52.960
This Manchester spirit was truly brought out two weeks later
600
00:36:53.380 --> 00:36:57.500
on the 3rd of October, the day of Nicola Hughes's funeral.
601
00:36:58.769 --> 00:37:02.030
I'll never forget standing at the bottom of Market Street
602
00:37:02.409 --> 00:37:07.590
and it was like a Derby Day football game. People
603
00:37:07.730 --> 00:37:13.190
were pouring down Market Street wearing black ties. It was
604
00:37:13.369 --> 00:37:18.079
absolutely humbling. I heard a story about a group of
605
00:37:18.139 --> 00:37:20.719
officers having done a full night shift and drove to
606
00:37:20.760 --> 00:37:22.519
Manchester to stand with their colleagues.
607
00:37:22.539 --> 00:37:28.219
That was incredible. Shops closed, banks closed, Manchester came out
608
00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:29.739
It was incredible.
609
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:35.280
When Nicola's father, Bryn, arrived, he saw thousands of well-wishers
610
00:37:35.619 --> 00:37:38.750
lining the streets on the route to Manchester Cathedral.
611
00:37:38.769 --> 00:37:41.650
At the back of your mind, you think, I don't
612
00:37:41.670 --> 00:37:42.809
want to be here, I don't want to do this.
613
00:37:43.989 --> 00:37:47.869
It was like a huge tunnel of faces and you
614
00:37:47.909 --> 00:37:51.090
recognise some and, you know, there's people crying and there's
615
00:37:51.110 --> 00:37:54.250
people clapping and I think you soak that up, it's
616
00:37:54.269 --> 00:37:56.550
like an energy, it helps you get through the day.
617
00:37:59.179 --> 00:38:03.980
Fiona's funeral followed the next day on 4th October. Again,
618
00:38:04.099 --> 00:38:11.750
Manchester paid its respects. Four months later, on 4th February 2013,
619
00:38:11.750 --> 00:38:17.610
serial killer Dale Cregan finally faced justice. 120 armed police
620
00:38:17.750 --> 00:38:21.969
officers were used to ferry Britain's most wanted killer from
621
00:38:22.070 --> 00:38:25.659
Strangeways Prison to Preston Crown Court each day.
622
00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:28.980
This was one of the biggest trials in recent times,
623
00:38:29.400 --> 00:38:31.500
certainly in the northwest of England, if not the country,
624
00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:36.260
and Cregan had to be housed securely and taken to
625
00:38:36.340 --> 00:38:39.239
court every day, and there was a massive security operation.
626
00:38:40.579 --> 00:38:43.739
Armed police were placed on the roof surrounding the court
627
00:38:43.800 --> 00:38:47.880
building so that nothing was left to chance. Nine other
628
00:38:47.940 --> 00:38:52.960
accomplices also faced trial on charges of murder and attempted murder.
629
00:38:53.489 --> 00:38:57.579
Despite confessing to his murders, Cregan opted to plead not
630
00:38:57.659 --> 00:38:59.739
guilty on all counts.
631
00:39:01.400 --> 00:39:06.420
That animal forced the family and colleagues to go through
632
00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:11.150
a trial. The judge commented on how he tried to
633
00:39:11.750 --> 00:39:14.090
manipulate proceedings for his own amusement.
634
00:39:14.110 --> 00:39:17.570
He had no remorse. He was a monster.
635
00:39:19.110 --> 00:39:23.139
Cregan, horrifying though it may sound, wanted to bask in
636
00:39:23.179 --> 00:39:26.679
his own infamy. He wanted no one ever to forget
637
00:39:26.699 --> 00:39:29.130
the one-eyed Manchester gangster.
638
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:35.260
He was characteristically arrogant, tried to feign disinterest. To use
639
00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:36.679
an old-fashioned phrase, he was trying to play to the
640
00:39:36.719 --> 00:39:40.980
gallery as well, to some extent. But I think everybody
641
00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:44.469
in that room knew exactly what kind of person he was.
642
00:39:45.699 --> 00:39:49.519
In a final act of manipulation from the dock, Cregan
643
00:39:49.579 --> 00:39:53.929
decided to change his pleas during the 18-week trial, pleading
644
00:39:54.030 --> 00:39:59.489
guilty to all four murders. On the 13th of June 2013,
645
00:39:59.489 --> 00:40:02.260
it was game over for Dale Cregan when he was
646
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:06.579
given a whole life sentence. Five of his criminal accomplices
647
00:40:06.900 --> 00:40:10.039
were each sentenced to between seven and 35 years in prison.
648
00:40:12.670 --> 00:40:15.489
Cregan was one of very few people to receive a
649
00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:19.820
whole life order for four murders. So he will never
650
00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:23.380
be released from prison. He'll never have the chance for parole.
651
00:40:23.780 --> 00:40:26.699
And these sentences are reserved for the most serious violent
652
00:40:26.739 --> 00:40:29.900
offenders who've done the most harm and are perhaps the
653
00:40:29.980 --> 00:40:32.050
least likely to be rehabilitated.
654
00:40:32.090 --> 00:40:34.070
So this is very, very serious indeed.
655
00:40:34.750 --> 00:40:40.250
For relatives and colleagues of his victims, they finally saw justice.
656
00:40:42.909 --> 00:40:45.309
I mean, obviously we knew you can't commit four murders
657
00:40:45.329 --> 00:40:47.840
and not get a whole life tariff. To hear the
658
00:40:47.860 --> 00:40:50.440
judge actually say it, that's the big relief. And I
659
00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:53.119
think it's the relief that it's finally over. And they'd
660
00:40:53.159 --> 00:40:55.059
finally got justice for what had happened to them.
661
00:40:56.800 --> 00:41:00.460
It didn't seem to take away the sense of loss, though.
662
00:41:01.780 --> 00:41:04.280
Two young colleagues had been cut down in the prime.
663
00:41:04.300 --> 00:41:05.699
There was nothing to celebrate.
664
00:41:06.460 --> 00:41:12.650
I know that across Greater Manchester Police, People felt the same.
665
00:41:12.849 --> 00:41:15.170
There was no celebration.
666
00:41:17.510 --> 00:41:22.170
The murders of police officers Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes
667
00:41:22.889 --> 00:41:28.300
had a lasting impact on policing the UK's second-largest city, Manchester.
668
00:41:29.739 --> 00:41:33.460
This did change policing in Greater Manchester, and I felt
669
00:41:33.559 --> 00:41:34.679
it almost immediately.
670
00:41:35.199 --> 00:41:37.570
What this did was show to.
671
00:41:37.530 --> 00:41:45.809
Everybody that police officers aren't just uniforms. These are somebody's daughters, sisters, moms.
672
00:41:46.429 --> 00:41:50.579
These are people who have the same problems in their lives,
673
00:41:50.940 --> 00:41:56.000
same stresses. It brought the communities closer to Greater Manchester Police.
674
00:41:57.659 --> 00:42:01.440
As for Dale Cregan, after spending five years in Ashworth's
675
00:42:01.500 --> 00:42:05.440
psychiatric unit in Merseyside, he was sent back to Her
676
00:42:05.500 --> 00:42:10.480
Majesty's Prison Strangeways in Manchester, where he'll likely spend his
677
00:42:10.539 --> 00:42:11.500
remaining days.
678
00:42:12.820 --> 00:42:15.800
In his world, his pathetic world that exists in his head,
679
00:42:16.570 --> 00:42:19.510
he thought he was a big man. He'll die a pathetic,
680
00:42:20.190 --> 00:42:23.690
wizened old man in prison. What I want to do
681
00:42:24.769 --> 00:42:32.309
is highlight and contrast that against what Nicola and Fiona
682
00:42:32.849 --> 00:42:38.179
stood and still stand for, and that's decency, public service
683
00:42:39.239 --> 00:42:39.920
and compassion.
684
00:42:41.039 --> 00:42:42.199
Their names will never be forgotten.
685
00:42:43.340 --> 00:42:46.739
To help cope with losing Nicola, her father Bryn set
686
00:42:46.820 --> 00:42:50.280
up a memorial fund in her name to support children
687
00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:54.110
who've also lost a loved one to murder or violent crime.
688
00:42:54.690 --> 00:42:57.809
You're never going to forget what they've done. You're never
689
00:42:57.829 --> 00:43:00.449
going to forgive what they've done. But for me, I'd
690
00:43:00.489 --> 00:43:02.989
rather concentrate on Nicola, the memories of Nicola.
691
00:43:07.239 --> 00:43:10.940
Dale Cregan gunned down a father and a son, then
692
00:43:11.079 --> 00:43:15.199
recklessly threw grenades onto the streets, putting the public in
693
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:20.110
danger as part of a petty gangland feud. He mercilessly
694
00:43:20.150 --> 00:43:24.570
slaughtered two unarmed police officers with their whole lives ahead
695
00:43:24.610 --> 00:43:28.449
of them. He brought terror to the streets of Manchester,
696
00:43:28.889 --> 00:43:33.639
making Dale Cregan one of the world's most evil killers.
