Policewoman Fiona Bone.
Evening Standard/London
A one-eyed man yesterday dramatically admitted killing two unarmed policewomen in a burst of gunfire after luring them to his hideout.
Cregan changed his plea and admitted murdering the women in a gun and grenade attack on the fourth day of his trial.
Following discussions between barristers this afternoon, Cregan asked for the charges involving the officers to be read again to him.
Cregan 29, then pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court to murdering Pc Fiona Bone, 32, and Pc Nicola Hughes, 23.
He still denies the murders of father and son David and Mark Short.
None of the families of the two officers attended court today to hear Cregan admit the murders.
Last week the families of the two murdered policewomen sobbed in court as they listened to details of the “bloody conclusion” to Cregan’s alleged string of attacks.
The court heard that he told police, “I’ll be waiting”, as he lured the unarmed and unsuspecting officers with a bogus 999 call.
When the officers arrived Cregan attacked, firing 32 times in a matter of seconds, emptying his handgun’s magazine, before leaving his “calling card” by throwing a military fragmentation grenade as his victims lay bleeding on the floor, the court was told.
The jury heard how Pc Bone fell in a hail of bullets when she drew her Taser and tried to respond.
Cregan also blasted Pc Hughes in the head three times as she lay paralysed on the floor.
After the attack “calm and casual” Cregan, who had groomed himself with new clothes and a haircut on his last night of freedom, handed himself in saying: “I’m wanted by the police and I’ve just done two coppers,” the jury heard.
Last week Nicholas Clarke QC detailed the final moments of the officers’ lives.
As he did, their loved ones, sitting in the public gallery, could not contain their emotions.
The violence started after a “simmering feud” between two rival Manchester families, it is alleged.
The court was told how Cregan had gone to the home of his barber in Abbey Gardens in Mottram, Hyde, and imposed himself on the man and his partner.
The following morning he is said to have ordered the barber to cut his hair and trim his beard before taking a bath and changing into new clothes.
Then at 10.11am on September 18, Cregan made a 999 call, which was played to the jury, who heard the defendant’s recognisable Manchester accent, purporting to be “Adam Gartree” and reported that somebody had thrown a “big concrete slab” through his back window.
He was told an officer would be sent within the hour.
He responded: “Thanks very much. I’ll be waiting.”
The officers arrived at the house at 10.52am with Cregan armed, ready and waiting, the jury was told.
“As Nicola and Fiona walked through the small front garden, he opened the front door and immediately fired his Glock,” Clarke said.
“Both officers were shot in the chest. The body armour that they were wearing protected them and the bullets did not penetrate,” he added.
Pc Hughes ran down the path but Cregan continued pulling the trigger, hitting her in the middle of her back just below her armoured vest, the court heard.
She was “immediately paralysed”, falling forwards on to the path.
“As she was falling or lying flat on her stomach, she was shot three more times,” Clarke continued.
“Cregan then turned his attention to Fiona Bone.”
She was trapped in front of the lounge window and Cregan fired 24 shots at her but she managed to draw and fire her Taser, but it probably hit paving stones, the jury was told.
She was hit between five and eight times.
“She was killed by a perforating shot to the upper left side of her chest, which caused fatal injuries to the top of her heart,” Clarke said.
Such was the speed of the attack on the two officers that only 31 seconds elapsed between Pc Hughes switching off the police car engine and Pc Bone firing the Taser.
“Cregan was not finished. He turned his attention back to Pc Hughes and fired three more shots into the back and side of her head,” Clarke said.
“She was shot eight times, causing a total of seven gunshot-related injuries. Four of the shots caused potentially fatal wounds.
“One had severed her spinal cord, causing instant paralysis and a potentially fatal wound to a major artery.”
He then fled the scene before colleagues of the fatally injured officers could arrive.
“Before he fled Abbey Gardens he made sure that he left his usual calling card,” Clarke said.
“He launched a military fragmentation grenade back towards the garden of number 30, where the two police officers were lying on the floor.
“This exploded causing further injuries to Nicola Hughes, who was nearest to the grenade.”
Cregan drove to nearby Hyde Police Station, walked up to the counter clerk and said: “I’m wanted by the police and I’ve just done two coppers.”