Dale Cregan: Shocking 999 call made by on-the-run killer which lured two police officers to their death

Dale Cregan was so calm and collected the day that he murdered two police officers that he even shared a joke with a 999 call handler.

The 30-year-old gave a false name to report a concrete slab being thrown through a window at his home in Hattersley, Greater Manchester.

He then detailed exactly where the perpetrators had fled to with precise details, answering questions in a chillingly cool manner, adding at the end of the conversation 'I'll be waiting'.

But all along it was part of his plan to kill police. The unfortunate officers who answered the call for help were Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32.

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Home: Forensic officers last September at the scene close to where police constables Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, where shot dead by Dale Cregan in Hattersley, Greater Manchester

Evidence: A Glock handgun (right) found at the scene of the murders committed by Dale Cregan (left), 30

After the call - in which the operator exchanged a joke with him about his cough - he opened the front door as they walked up the front garden path and shot the officers in the chest with a Glock handgun.

Cregan shot Pc Nicola Hughes eight times, including three strikes to the head as she lay on the ground. Pc Fiona Bone was hit up to eight times after she managed to draw and fire her Taser.

Cregan discharged 32 bullets in total in barely half a minute. He then left his ‘calling card’ of a military grenade which he threw it onto the path where the two officers lay.

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The killer then dropped his gun and drove a short distance to Hyde police station where he calmly walked up to the counter clerk and said: ‘I'm wanted by the police and I've just done two coppers.’

Cregan put his arms out to be handcuffed and said he was there to hand himself in.

He then told an officer: ‘I 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.’

Killings: Cregan shot Pc Nicola Hughes (left) eight times, including three strikes to the head as she lay on the ground. Pc Fiona Bone (right) was hit up to eight times after she managed to draw and fire her Taser

Scene: Cregan discharged 32 bullets in total in barely half a minute. He then left his 'calling card' of a military grenade which he threw it onto the path where the two officers lay

Cregan is set to die in prison with a whole life sentence for murdering four people in Greater Manchester after his long-running trial came to an end.

Cregan had pleaded guilty earlier in the trial to killing policewomen Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32, and father and son David Short, 46, and Mark Short, 23.

He also admitted the attempted murders of three others and causing an explosion with a hand-grenade.

A jury at Preston Crown Court found him not guilty of one remaining count of attempted murder involving a grenade attack on Sharon Hark, which he denied.

Cregan went on the run days before he killed David Short last August after he gunned down his son, Mark, in a pub in Droylsden, Greater Manchester, three months earlier.

  Here is the transcript of the phone call Cregan had with a 999 police emergency operator:

OPERATOR: Police emergency

DALE CREEGAN: Someone's just thrown a big concrete slab through my back window of my house

O: Of the house, of a car, what are we talking?

DC: No, sorry, in my back window in my house

O: In the house. What’s the address there, please?

DC: 30 Abbey Gardens, Mottram

O: Did you see them?

'There's like a field out the back, and I've seen them running over the field. I can point it out to the officer'

Dale Cregan on where the 'male who threw the concrete slab' ran

DC: Seen one, yeah

O: Do you know of them?

DC: No, I don't know them

O: OK, do you know why they've done it?

DC: Haven't got a clue

O: The rear window, did you say?

DC: Yeah, it's in the back garden

O: Were you in the room where it came through or did you hear the bang?

DC: No, I was upstairs, I looked out the window and seen one boy running off

O: Is it the kitchen window it's gone through?

DC: Yeah, kitchen.

O: So it's just happened, prior to you ringing, has it?

DC: Yeah

O: And it's a piece of concrete, yeah?

DC: Yeah, it's a piece of concrete, corner of a paving stone

O: So it's a piece of concrete paving stone, yeah?

DC: Yeah

O: So you saw one person running off, yeah?

DC: Yeah

O: Which way did they run, what direction?

DC: There's like a field out the back, and I've seen them running over the field. I can point it out to the officer

O: What road is the field on, is it off Abbey Gardens?

DC: Yeah, kind of, yeah

O: Not on the other side of Ashworth Lane?

DC: Yeah

O: So they've gone towards Broadbottom Road across the field?

DC: No, yeah kind of, yeah. It's weird where it is, because there's like all the gardens and then a bit of a field that you can see out of the window, and that's where I've seen him

O: Is it in the direction of Mottram Church or the other way?

DC: The other way

O: So they've gone onto the estate further towards John Kennedy Road?

DC: Yeah, that's it

O: OK, was he a white male?

DC: He had a hood up mate, so I couldn't really tell you

'How long would it take, do you know roughly? I know that it's not that serious' Dale Cregan asks the operator how long it would take for the police to arrive

O: It was a male though?

DC: Yeah, it was a male

O: Do you know how old he was?

DC: No, but he was about my size, about 5ft 9in, medium build

O: What was he wearing then?

DC: Black coat with a hood up, grey tracksuit bottoms

O: You didn't recognise him, no?

DC: No

O: And you've no idea why it might have happened?

DC: Off the top of my head no, I’ve been trying to wrack my brains now to see if I’ve p***** anyone off, but I don’t think so, no

O: Was he carrying anything this lad, other than obviously the piece of stone that he lobbed?

DC: It didn't look like it mate

O: And you didn't see anyone else, no?

DC: No

O: Your name please?

DC: Adam

O: What's your second name, Adam?

DC: Gartree

O: Sorry, spell that for me?

DC: G, a, r, t, r, e, e

O: Sorry, just give me that again - g, r

DC: G, a, r, t, r, e, e

O: E, r, e, e?

'Alright then, thanks very much. I'll wait here, I'll be waiting'

Dale Cregan

DC: No, t, r, e, e - Gartree

O: Ah, Gartree, I thought it didn't look right. And you live at 30 do you, Adam?

DC: Yeah

O: And you think it's an act of damage as opposed to someone trying to break into the house, do you?

DC: Possibly yeah, but I'm thinking, because if you look through the back window - I'm decorating at the minute so there's no curtains up - if you look through the back window you can see my plasma, so I’m wondering...

O: Where they broke the window, is it near a handle or anything to open another window?

DC: It's quite a big window actually, so they would have had no problem getting through

O: Climbing through, OK.

DC: (coughing) Excuse me (coughing)

O: You sound as bad as I do (laughing). Right, I'll get an officer up there, have a look around, see if they can see anybody similar and then they'll come and see you, alright Adam?

DC: How long would it take, do you know roughly? I know that it's not that serious

O: Well, because it's just happened, it's gone in on the priority, so that's within the hour certainly, but they'll try and get up there as soon as if there's a possibility he's still knocking about

DC: Alright then, thanks very much. I'll wait here, I'll be waiting

O: Alright Adam

O: Bye

DC: Bye bye