Cregan appears in court on murder charges

Saturday 22 September 2012

A HUGE security operation was mounted for the first court appearance of the man accused of the murders of two policewomen and a father and son.

THE ACCUSED: An artist's impression of Dale Cregan, above, in the dock at Manchester Magistrates' Court.

Custom byline text:

The hearing for Dale Cregan before a district judge lasted just two minutes as he was remanded in custody and taken back to Strangeways prison in Manchester.

Cregan, 29, sat down as he was brought into the dock at Manchester Magistrates' Court but got to his feet after he was asked to stand by District Judge Jonathan Taaffe.

Cregan, wearing a false black onyx prosthesis in place of his missing left eye, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth to the courtroom, which was packed with reporters.Judge Taaffe then read out the eight charges the defendant faces, including that of murdering PC Nicola Hughes, 23, and PC Fiona Bone, 32 – who grew up in Scotland – in a gun and grenade attack in Hattersley, Tameside, on Tuesday.The defendant also faced charges of murdering father and son David and Mark Short earlier this year and four attempted murders.The proceedings were held amid a ring of steel as officers in high-visibility yellow jackets stood guard on street corners around the city centre building. Inside the court complex, armed officers wearing dark glasses, black uniforms and carrying Heckler and Koch machine guns stood guard.There were more armed officers outside court number 16, the courtroom where Cregan appeared after he arrived in a convoy of police vehicles and into an underground car park.Cregan, who has grown a thick beard, scanned the courtroom and stared over at the public gallery, where relatives of the Short family were seated.Mark Short, 23, died from a gunshot wound to his neck after a gunman opened fire at 11.50pm in the Cotton Tree Inn, on Market Street, in Droylsden, Tameside, on May 25.Cregan is accused of the attempted murders of Michael Belcher, Ryan Pridding and John Short, who were also in the pub.Eleven weeks later, on August 10, the victim's father, David Short, 46, died in a grenade and gun attack on his home in Clayton, Manchester, at 10.30am.Less than 10 minutes later on the same day there was another grenade explosion half a mile away on Luke Road, Droylsden.Cregan is also charged with the attempted murder of Sharon Hark on that day.He will appear at Manchester Crown Court on Monday.Later in the day, David Cameron arrived at the headquarters of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) where he had private talks with the families of the two policewomen together.The Prime Minister said: "I wanted to come here to Manchester myself to pay my own personal respects to the two officers, the women police officers, who fell in the line of duty."I think the whole country is profoundly shocked by what has happened and it is right we praise the work they did and remember all they have done."

Contextual targeting label:

Block list

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Cregan appears in court on murder charges

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED