Following the outbreak of a family feud in 2012, Dale Cregan murdered father and son Mark and David Short. After going on the run, he then lured two policewomen — Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes — to their deaths before finally turning himself in.
In early 2012, Dale Cregan became one of the most wanted fugitives in all of Britain. He was wanted for the murder of a father and son, David and Mark Short, who he he had killed following a local feud. But despite his distinctive look — Cregan was missing one eye — investigators were unable to track Cregan down. That is, until he committed one more violent crime
Greater Manchester PoliceAn undated mugshot of Dale Cregan, who killed four people in 2012.
In September of that year, Cregan called in a fake robbery in the Mottram area of Manchester. When two policewomen responded to his call, he attacked — and killed them both. Then, Cregan turned himself in.
But while many locals understood Cregan’s animosity toward the Short family, no one knew why he’d decided to murder the policewomen.
“The Shorts being taken out was the best thing to happen…for years,” one local resident stated to The Guardian in 2013. “Bullies, they were. Bullies and thugs. Cregan was a hero round here – until he went and killed the policewomen. None of us can understand that.”
The Family Feud That Sparked Dale Cregan’s Killing Spree
Dale Cregan’s string of murders was born from a family feud, one that had existed in east Manchester for years. There, the Atkinson family had long butted heads with the Short family. But things came to a head between the tow families in May 2012, when Theresa Atkinson, the matriarch of the Atkinson family, threw a bottle at Raymond Young, a member of the Short family. Young responded to the bottle-throwing by slapping her.
According to the BBC, Theresa then threatened Young, saying: “I’m going to get my boys – you’re all dead.”
It wasn’t an empty threat. Theresa told her son Leon what had happened.
And Leon seemingly told several friends about it, including Dale Cregan.
The Murder Of Mark And David Short
Roughly two weeks later, Cregan — alongside two others — burst into the Cotton Tree Pub where the Short family and some of their friends had gathered. Wearing balaclavas, they opened fire on the group, hitting three men and killing 23-year-old Mark Short. His father, David, was in the bathroom but emerged in time for his son to die in his arms.
As Cregan later told the police, David vowed to take revenge.
Greater Manchester PoliceMark and David Short, the first victims of Dale Cregan.
“[A]fter I killed Mark Short, [David] said he would rape my son, he said he would set him on fire,” Cregan said, according to The Guardian. “He threatened my whole family. He told me: ‘The gloves are off.'”
“So,” Cregan continued, “I was always going to kill him.”
He took action that August. Cregan and an accomplice went to David’s home, and when David emerged to get something from his car, they attacked. Shooting their guns, the two killers chased David through the house. And once he fell in the backyard, they tossed a grenade on his body.
“I shot David Short point-blank in the head, three times, but I would have preferred it if I would’ve used a knife,” Cregan later stated. “I felt calm before killing David Short but, after, a big relief rushed through my body. If I’d had time, I would have cut his head off and arms and legs. I would’ve gone and got a knife from the kitchen and used that.”
Dale Cregan then became one of the most wanted fugitives in Britain. But despite his distinctive look — he had a missing eye, which he’d replaced with black onyx — investigators weren’t able to track him down.
Not until he committed his next murder.
The Murder Of Policewomen Nicola Hughes And Fiona Bone
For months, Dale Cregan eluded investigators. Even though the police had offered a £50,000 reward for his capture (and the capture of his accomplice) many who knew Cregan considered him a hero.
Greater Manchester PoliceDespite his distinctive onyx fake eye, Dale Cregan eluded police for months.
If they spotted him, they said nothing.
Then, in September 2012, Cregan barged into a residence at 30 Abbey Gardens, where his one-time barber, Alan Whitwell, lived. Whitwell later stated that Cregan was armed with a Glock pistol and a hand grenade, which had thoroughly discouraged Whitwell from notifying the police.
“If someone has got a gun and a grenade I will do whatever they want,” he stated, according to The Guardian.
The next day, September 18, Cregan called the police and claimed that there was a burglary at 30 Abbey Gardens. Then he waited.
According to a BBC timeline of Dale Cregan’s crimes, policewomen Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone were sent to respond to his call, and arrived at the scene at 10:55 a.m.
Greater Manchester Police FederationNicola Hughes and Fiona Bone, the two policewomen who responded to Dale Cregan’s fake burglary call.
As soon as they walked through the front garden, Cregan opened fire. Though he hit both policewomen, they were initially protected by their body armor. Hughes and Bone then attempted to retreat but Cregan pursued them, shooting Hughes in the back, paralyzing her, and then shooting her to death as she lay on the garden path.
Next, he turned to Bone. Though she tried to hit him with her Taser, she missed. Cregan fired his gun 24 times at her, ultimately killing her with a shot to the heart. He then returned to Hughes, shooting her again in the head. Finally, Cregan threw his grenade at the policewomen’s bodies.
But then Dale Cregan did something surprising. He turned himself in.
Dale Cregan Turns Himself In
Immediately following the murders, Dale Cregan went to the police and announced that he’d killed two police officers.
Gerald England/Wikimedia CommonsFlowers left for Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes near the scene of their murder.
“Sorry about those two that have been killed, I wish it was men,” he said, according to The Guardian. “I’ve dropped the gun at the scene and I’ve murdered two police officers. You were hounding my family so I took it out on yous. I’m wanted by the police and I’ve just done two coppers.”
Cregan ultimately plead guilty to the murders of Hughes and Bone, and later confessed to the murders of Mark and David Short as well. He was sentenced to life in prison.
But though his motive for killing Mark and David Short is clear, his reasoning for murdering the two policewomen is far hazier. That said, consultant criminal psychologist Elie Godsi told the BBC that Dale Cregan is likely a psychopath who killed the policewomen because “he wanted to go out in some sort of distorted blaze of glory and gain notoriety for himself”.
After reading about Dale Cregan, the one-eyed English serial killer who murdered four people in 2012, discover the chilling story of John Haigh, the Acid Bath killer who dissolved his victims in vats of sulfuric acid. Or go inside the unsolved mystery of Jack the Ripper’s identity.
