Dale Cregan

Manchester gunman serving a whole-life sentence after admitting four murders, including police officers Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone and father and son David and Mark Short.

Editorial standard

Convictions, acquittals, allegations, police assessments, memoir claims and media descriptions are kept separate. Cross-links identify documented relationships or clearly marked context.

Manchester feud

Cregan became involved in a violent east Manchester feud between rival families and associates.

Murders of Mark and David Short

He admitted murdering Mark Short at the Cotton Tree pub and later murdering Mark’s father David Short in a gun-and-grenade attack.

Murders of Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone

While on the run, Cregan lured two Greater Manchester Police officers to a house in Hattersley with a bogus emergency call and murdered them with gunfire and a grenade.

Whole-life order

In 2013 he received a whole-life sentence after admitting four murders and other offences.

Graph role

Cregan connects the Short family murders, the police murders, east Manchester gang feuds, Hattersley and HMP Manchester.

Network links

– Murders of Mark and David Short — admitted murderer – Murders of Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone — admitted murderer – East Manchester gang feud — central violent actor – Hattersley, Greater Manchester — police murders location – HMP Manchester — custody / case context

Direct people links

– Mark Short — murder victim – David Short — murder victim

Sources

– The Guardian. Dale Cregan gets life sentence for worst police killing in a generation (2013-06-13). https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/13/dale-cregan-life-police-killing – The Guardian. Dale Cregan pleads guilty to murders of Mark and David Short (2013-05-22). https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/22/dale-cregan-guilty-mark-david-short

Connected records

Documented network

Murders of Mark and David Short (event) is recorded in the canonical graph as admitted murderer, documented status, 90% confidence. This is the stored relationship and should not be expanded beyond what the source record supports.

Murders of Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone (event) is recorded in the canonical graph as admitted murderer, documented status, 90% confidence. This is the stored relationship and should not be expanded beyond what the source record supports.

East Manchester gang feud (event) is recorded in the canonical graph as central violent actor, documented status, 90% confidence. This is the stored relationship and should not be expanded beyond what the source record supports.

Hattersley, Greater Manchester (location) is recorded in the canonical graph as police murders location, documented status, 90% confidence. This is the stored relationship and should not be expanded beyond what the source record supports.

HMP Manchester (prison) is recorded in the canonical graph as custody case context, documented status, 90% confidence. This is the stored relationship and should not be expanded beyond what the source record supports.

Timeline and case connections

Structured events are kept separate from general biography so later audits can update a date, conviction, organizational change, killing or court outcome without rewriting unrelated material.

Date not specified in current profile sources — Murders of Mark and David Short. admitted murderer

Date not specified in current profile sources — Murders of Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone. admitted murderer

Date not specified in current profile sources — East Manchester gang feud. central violent actor

Status and record

The structured birth record lists 1983. The structured life-status field is alive. This administrative field should change only when a reliable current source supports an update.

Source record

The current Master package attaches the following evidence sources to this profile: – Dale Cregan gets life sentence for worst police killing in a generation — The Guardian, Tier 2. – Dale Cregan pleads guilty to murders of Mark and David Short — The Guardian, Tier 2.

Each source supports only the claims tied to it. Structured source references remain attached so later audits can trace timeline and relationship records back to evidence.

Evidence and editorial boundaries

For living subjects especially, legal claims and current status require dated sourcing. Future expansion should therefore come from stronger records or newly processed canonical entities rather than unsourced crime lore.

How this profile fits the archive

The current source package includes Dale Cregan gets life sentence for worst police killing in a generation; Dale Cregan pleads guilty to murders of Mark and David Short. These records define the safe editorial boundary for the page. A later pass should prioritize new primary documents, court outcomes, dated organizational changes, prison history or newly processed books and screen works rather than adding generic background.