Dale Cregan

During his trial, which began on 4 February 2013, Cregan was detained at Manchester Prison. The trial was held at Preston Crown Court, where scaffolding was erected to accommodate armed officers. Police snipers watched over the building from nearby offices. The daily convoy, carrying Cregan between Manchester and Preston, included two prison vans, police cars, motorcycle outriders and a helicopter. In total, 120 GMP officers were deployed daily. The total cost of the trial was in excess of £5 million. Some argued that the costs would have been far less had Cregan been imprisoned at Preston Prison.

Cregan was convicted of all four murders and of three attempted murders altogether, but found not guilty of the attempted murder of Sharon Hark. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order on 13 June 2013.

In August 2013 it was reported that Cregan was on hunger strike at HM Prison Full Sutton. He was moved to Ashworth Hospital in September 2013. He was transferred back to Manchester in March 2018 from Ashworth, where it was reported he had boasted about his workout regime and access to snooker and tennis.

On 25 May 2012, Cregan shot dead Mark Short, 23, in the Cotton Tree pub in Droylsden. In the same incident, he tried to kill three other men. On 10 August, he killed Short's father, 46-year-old David Short, at his house in Clayton. Cregan shot the elder Short nine times with a Glock pistol and then threw an M75 hand grenade onto him, blowing his body apart and killing him instantly.

On 18 September 2012, Cregan made a hoax emergency call to police. GMP Constables Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32, were mobilised to Cregan's call in Hattersley. Cregan lured the officers by claiming there had been an incident of criminal damage at his house. When they arrived, he ambushed the unarmed officers, shooting them and throwing an M75 grenade at them. Both officers were hit by at least eight bullets as Cregan fired 32 shots in 31 seconds. PC Bone died at the scene, and PC Hughes died shortly after reaching hospital.

Dale Christopher Cregan (born 6 June 1983) is an English convicted drug-dealer and serial killer, sentenced to a whole life order in prison for four counts of murder (including two Greater Manchester police officers) and three separate counts of attempted murder.

Dale Cregan was born at Tameside General Hospital on 6 June 1983 to Paul Cregan, a tool setter from Manchester, and Anita Marie Cregan. He is one of three siblings. Cregan's older brother Dean was born two years earlier and a younger sister followed, before his father left the family and eventually married a former policewoman with Greater Manchester Police (GMP).