Dale Cregan pleads guilty to murders of Mark and David Short

It was, said the prosecution, "the worst kept secret in Strangeways". That Dale Cregan, the one-eyed fugitive who killed two policewomen in a grenade attack last summer, had also murdered father and son David and Mark Short.

Cregan had admitted it to a number of people inside the prison now known as HMP Manchester, said Nicholas Clarke QC, for the crown, as he summed up the prosecution case on Tuesday.

Cregan had as good as told a jail psychiatrist and psychologist that he was guilty. He had even confessed to his mother, who was forced to give evidence against him at Preston crown court.

But for the first 52 days of the trial, the 29-year-old had maintained that he was not responsible for the gun and grenade attacks which killed the Shorts in May and August last year. This despite CCTV footage and telephone records strongly suggesting he was at the scene.

Then on Wednesday Cregan's barrister, Simon Csoka QC, told the judge Cregan had something to say.

It was a rare occasion: Cregan had chosen not to give evidence in the trial and the only time the jury had heard his voice was when he had his last change of heart, on 12 February, when he stood up to plead guilty to murdering PC Fiona Bone, 32, and PC Nicola Hughes, 23, after luring them to the scene of a spurious burglary in Hattersley, Greater Manchester, last September.

He had initially denied killing the women with a Glock pistol and a hand grenade, despite handing himself in at a nearby police station minutes later, saying he was giving himself up "cos yous couldn't fuckin' find me, could yous?"

But on day 53, Cregan made himself heard once more. Wearing a grey tracksuit top, he stood up in the dock and admitted with no obvious shame or anguish that he had indeed murdered the Shorts. He was indeed responsible for the murder of Mark Short, 23, as he played pool in the Cotton Tree pub in Droylsden, east of Manchester, on 25 May last year. And he had attempted to murder three others in the pub at the same time. And yes, he had killed David Short too. The 46-year-old had been killed on 10 August in a gun and grenade attack at his home in Clayton, in the east of the city.

They were confessions his own barrister admitted would see him die in prison.

He also admitted one offence of causing an explosion, when he threw a grenade in a property in Luke Road, Droylsden, on 10 August, shortly after the murder of David Short. There is only one charge he continues to deny, the attempted murder of a woman called Sharon Hark who lived in the Luke Road property at the time of the attacks.

The jury foreman was then invited by the trial judge, Mr Justice Holroyde, to formally return guilty verdicts on the other counts. The judge told the jurors that the defendant remained on trial for the single allegation remaining against him – the attempted murder of Hark.

Turning to the jury, Csoka said their task was now "so much more simple. You knew within a few days of this trial starting that Dale Cregan had killed those two policewomen.

"You now know for sure that he has murdered four people and that he has attempted to murder others inside the Cotton Tree pub.

"Ordinarily in a closing speech the defence barrister will tell you how important your task is, how it makes so much difference, how the liberty of the defendant hangs in the balance.

"All of those words mean nothing now, absolutely nothing.

"You may think after what has just happened, in a calm and almost clerical way … you may think: 'What does it matter now? What difference does it make? Why does Dale Cregan care?'

"He is going to be sentenced for four murders and three attempted murders. He is not going anywhere. He is going to die in prison."

But he said the standards of judging the evidence against him on the allegation of attempted murder "remain exactly the same".

Csoka continued: "Your decision cannot be made on the basis of not caring, or hatred – justified hatred.

"He is entitled to the same standards you apply to other defendants in this case.

"Those guilty pleas are probably of little surprise to you. You have probably wondered: 'What is going on? What are those two barristers (Csoka and his junior) doing? They don't seem to be asking many questions or challenging anyone.'"

He explained that Cregan's explanations in January in prison to a psychologist and psychiatrist as to why he killed the Shorts "could not have been a clearer admission".

"You know the reasons he gave," he said. "The prosecution introduced those confessions so you could hear the context. Hear what Mr Cregan said.

"The threats to rape his sister, the threats against his son, the threats to rape his son, threats going back years and years.

"You remember Dale Cregan saying he was not able to sleep, that he had obsessive thoughts of killing and him saying he had the best night's sleep of his life after killing David Short.

"A clear explanation as to what he did to the Short family."

But Csoka said that Cregan had no reason to try to kill Hark, who herself had said in evidence that she didn't know Cregan or the Shorts and couldn't think of any reason why her house would be attacked. Cregan attacked her house in a random act, Csoka told the jury. The blinds were drawn when he threw the grenade and so he couldn't have known who was inside.

There were similarities with the earlier attack which left David Short dead, said Csoka. "We know the grim truth of him chasing David Short into his house, the grim determination, the overkill, effectively.

"But at Luke Road does anyone attempt to kick the door in or go round the back? There is no determination to get the job done.

"How can you be sure that this is an attempt to murder?"

He put it to the jury that it had all the hallmarks of "a terrifying warning".

Cregan would know that the murder of David Short would be "front page news" – the first time a hand grenade had been used in England in those circumstances, he said.

Csoka said: "We are dealing with someone who when he sets out to kill, he kills.

"When he set out to kill Mark Short, he killed him. When he set out to kill David Short, he killed him. When he set out to kill the police officers, he did.

"There was never any danger of him failing to carry out those murderous objectives.

"It is completely different with Luke Road.

"As hard as it may seem, as absurd as it may seem, the only reasonable verdict on the evidence is that you cannot be sure he attempted to murder anyone at Luke Road. So therefore your verdict should be not guilty."

It is alleged by the crown that the violence first started after a "long-standing feud" between two rival Manchester families – the Shorts and the Atkinsons.

The Cotton Tree shooting was said to have been ordered by Leon Atkinson, 35, from Ashton-under-Lyne, and Cregan was said to have recruited Luke Livesey, 27, from Hattersley, Damian Gorman, 37, from Glossop, Ryan Hadfield, 28, from Droylsden, and Matthew James, 33, from Clayton, for the task.

They all deny the murder of Mark Short and the attempted murders of John Collins, Ryan Pridding and Michael Belcher in the Cotton Tree pub.

Anthony Wilkinson, 33, from Beswick, pleaded guilty during the trial to murdering David Short. He denies one count of the attempted murder of Sharon Hark in Droylsden on the same day and causing an explosion with a hand grenade.

Francis Dixon, 37, from Stalybridge, and Jermaine Ward, 24, deny the above charges relating to David Short and Sharon Hark.

Mohammed Ali, 23, from Chadderton, denies assisting an offender.

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