Agencies/London
Thousands of police officers from across Britain gathered yesterday in a silent tribute to a policewoman killed in a gun and grenade attack.
Officers bowed their heads solemnly as the funeral cortege for 23-year-old police constable Nicola Hughes passed through the centre of Manchester in northwest England.
Hughes and her colleague Fiona Bone, 32, both died in the Hattersley area of the city on September 16 after being called to a house by someone claiming there had been a burglary.
Both were shot dead and grenades were also thrown.
Dale Cregan, 29, has appeared in court charged with their murders and those of a father and son earlier in the year.
The deaths of the policewomen—a rare occurrence in Britain—shocked the public and reopened the debate about arming regular officers.
Hughes’ funeral carriage was pulled by six horses from Greater Manchester Police’s mounted unit. Her police hat was placed on top of her coffin.
Officers from other forces volunteered to cover the shifts of GMP colleagues so they could attend the service at Manchester Cathedral, with most of them lining the funeral procession route.
Hundreds of people and police formed a wide arc around a big screen outside to follow the service.
GMP chief constable Peter Fahy said Hughes had shown herself to be mature beyond her years and highly capable in situations of disorder. “It is abhorrent that she met her death through an evil, dark act,” he told the congregation. He said Hughes became an officer knowing she would put herself in danger and that an unarmed police force was not a “tactical option” but that it was “central to our commitment to minimum force”.