Manchester: One-eyed murder suspect ‘lured two unarmed policewoman to their deaths

Greater Manchester Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy said the brave young officers had been sent to investigate what appeared to be a routine burglary report when Dale Cregan, 29, attacked them with a gun and a grenade.

He said: “It would appear Cregan has deliberately done this in an act of cold-blooded murder.”

He said Cregan’s motive for the attack was “impossible to fathom”.

After the murders, the fugitive, already wanted in connection with separate gun and grenade attacks that killed father and son David and Mark Short, gave himself up at nearby Hyde police station in Greater Manchester.

Sir Peter named the officers as Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23.

He paid tribute to Miss Hughes, describing her as a “chatterbox” and a “great bobby” who was “always smiling”.

He said Miss Bone was a “calm, gentle woman”, an “excellent bobby” and had been in the middle of planning her wedding.

Sir Peter, speaking at a sombre press conference at GMP headquarters, said: “Clearly we are devastated today by the loss of two of our officers.

“This is one of the darkest days in the history of the Greater Manchester Police if not for the police service overall, because we have lost two deeply loved and valued colleagues, because they are part of our team. Policing is very much a family.

“But also because of the huge efforts that officers had been making to arrest and detain Dale Cregan. Obviously the officers involved in that inquiry are shattered by this outcome.”

The Chief Constable said it was routine to send unarmed officers to a burglary call.

“We believe that Dale Cregan was in a house in Abbey Gardens overnight, and at some point this morning has either himself made a call or had somebody else make a call reporting a burglary,” Sir Peter said.

“This particular address was not known to us. So as would be routine, two unarmed officers were sent to the scene.

“When they arrived, it appears that Cregan emerged into the road and killed these two officers. A firearm was used, a grenade was also used.”

Asked if the grenade was thrown directly at the two police officers, Sir Peter said: “Certainly we believe the grenade was thrown at the officers but we have not been able to be specific about the injuries the officers suffered or how they died.”

Sir Peter said he believed Cregan had been “protected by a criminal conspiracy to harbour him”, adding that the force was “fully determined” to investigate that conspiracy and bring those involved “to book”.

Two people from the house in Hattersley, a man and a woman, were helping police with inquiries today.

Sir Peter said he was not aware that Cregan had contacted police at any time during their manhunt or made any threats to police officers.

But he added that police had been looking at a range of scenarios including Cregan trying to kill other people as a result of the gangland feud he was involved in.

And he said there was “concern” he might target police officers.

The outrage prompted renewed calls for the routine arming of police.

But Sir Peter said his force believed “passionately” that police should remain unarmed, despite the tragedy.

He said: “We are passionate that the British style of policing is routinely unarmed policing. Sadly we know from the experience in America and other countries, that having armed officers certainly does not mean, sadly, that police officers do not end up getting shot.”

Cregan, who only has one eye, had been the subject of a huge manhunt after the murders of David Short, 46, and his son Mark, 23. A £50,000 reward had been offered for information leading to his arrest.

David Short was killed at his home in Folkestone Road East, Clayton, Manchester, on August 10, while Mark was gunned down at the Cotton Tree pub in nearby Droylsden, on May 25.

Four men have already been charged in connection with Mark Short’s murder and are due to enter pleas at Manchester Crown Court in November.

Earlier this month a 33-year-old man also appeared at Manchester Crown Court charged with the gun and grenade murder of David Short.

Sir Peter said finding Cregan had been “a top priority” and “a huge investigation” for the force, involving 50 armed raids.

He said officers showed “great courage” going into dangerous and unexpected situations.

“These were two officers going about their normal duty. Like all officers they went to a variety of incidents not knowing what it was that they would face.

“Clearly the police service is not perfect, we know there have been a number of high-profile incidents, but below that, day in, day out, police officers go about their duty, go into dangerous situations, unexpected situations, and show great bravery, great courage and are with people at the very worst moments in their lives. This is exactly what these two officers were doing.”

The chairman of the Greater Manchester Police Federation Ian Hanson called the deaths “the slaughter of the innocents”.

“I’m going to look beyond the uniform here. What we’ve got are two young girls that went out this morning and they’ve got an absolute right to come home tonight to their loved ones. This is cold-blooded murder. It’s the slaughter of the innocents. GMP is a family.”

Prime Minister David Cameron said the killings were “a shocking reminder of the debt we owe to those who put themselves in danger to keep us safe and secure”.

Eyewitnesses said a hail of bullets was fired and then a grenade was used during the attack, shortly before 11am. One of the officers died at the scene. The second was critically injured and died later.

Window cleaner Warren Shepherd said: “I just heard gunshots, bang, bang, bang - around ten of them, then a pause and a big explosion.”

The scene was cordoned off with a heavy police presence. A fleet of vans and ambulances was parked at the top of the road as a helicopter hovered overhead. Traffic was blocked from coming on to the estate up to half a mile away.

A Royal Logistic Corps bomb disposal vehicle was inside the cordon.