Welcome to day 17 of the Dale Cregan murder trial from Preston Crown Court. MM will be posting live updates throughout the day.
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15:08pm Thanks for joining us today, we’ll have a round-up of all today’s action later. That’s it from Preston, we’ll be back on Monday with the rest.
15:00pm Mr Justice Holroyde discharges the jury for the weekend. The rest of the afternoon’s session will be devoted to legal discussion.
14:58pm After further defence questioning regarding the logistics of firing the Glock, Mr Botha is dismissed from the witness stand.
14:50pm Mr Birkett QC establishes that there is evidence shots were fired in the living room, the kitchen, the conservatory and the side passage, where Mr Short’s body was found.
14:45pm Mr Wilkinson’s defence QC, Peter Birkett, is now cross-examining Mr Botha, regarding the route the gunman took around Mr Short’s house, where the shots took place and which order the shots came in.
14:28pm The Glock is one of two guns prosecutors claim were used in the David Short murder. Mr Botha had tested the 9mm Glock used to kill Mr Short at his home. He found four shots had been fired, but only three cartridges were recovered.
14:25pm The Glock requires 5-6lb of trigger pressure as standard. Judge Holroyde is asking members of the jury, if comfortable, to fire the harmless weapon to understand the level of force it requires.
14:20pm With Mr Botha back in his witness box, the jury are now being encouraged by the judge to handle the Glock, in order to understand its trigger pressure.
14:10pm Mr Botha is now out of the witness box and showing the jury the defence mechanisms of the Glock close-up. The Glock is a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, also used by Dale Cregan in the murders of PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone, examined by Mr Botha himself.
14:08pm The jury rejoins the court and we’re back underway.
13:04pm Court adjourned for lunch, back at 14:05 for more dry wit.
12:53pm Jury currently being shown the internal mechanism of a Glock pistol with a deactivated model. Mr Botha assures court nothing can go wrong, Judge Holroyde: “That’s encouraging news.” Court laughs nervously.
12:45pm Mr Botha found no evidence of discharged firearms at the Luke Road address, court hears.
12:30pm The expert witness attended Folkestone Road East after the David Short murder to interpret and comment upon evidence found at the scene.
12:25pm Mr Sanders has completed his evidence, with forensics and firearms expert Mr Botha now in the witness box.
12:20pm Mr Sanders is continuing to talk the jury through exhibits found at Luke Road, focusing now on those found as a result of the Vauxhall Combo explosion.
12:17pm The jury are back in place, and court is back in session.
12:00pm The jury has been sent for a 15 minute break, we’ll be back to hear more from forensics then.
11:57am The body of the grenade found at Folkestone Road was made of plastic, while the body of the grenade found at Luke Road was metal.
11:54am Mr Sanders has revealed the grenades found at the scene of David Short’s murder and the attack on Sharon Hark were different.
11:40am He has told the jury the grenades used in the attack at Luke Road and that found in the rear of the Vauxhall Combo seemed to be of a different type.
11:35am Mr Sanders reviewed both the Folkestone Road crime scene on August 12 and the Luke Road crime scene on August 11.
11:22am The jury is now hearing evidence from Kevin Peter Sanders, a forensic scientist and expert in explosives.
11:16am Fingerprint experts, examining exhibits from both the Vauxhall Combo van and Ford Fiesta, found Dale Cregan’s fingerprints on and in both vehicles, the court heard. Cregan’s prints were found on a damaged toolbox found in the Combo and a Glock item in the Fiesta. Co-defendant Anthony Wilkinson’s fingerprints were also on various locations on and in both vehicles, on a Buxton waterbottle and the damaged toolbox.
11:10am Images taken by crime scene investigators include nine recovered 9mm bullets in the passenger footwell of the blown-out Salford Van Hire van, a grenade pin in the road and a cartridge case. All recovered on Luke Road.
11:06am “There was a massive bang. I thought ‘God, what’s that?’. Then I walked outside and I heard it again,” the court heard.
11:05am The caller said she saw one of the men put something in his pocket which she thought was an ‘air pistol’, the court heard, while another man was carrying a gun.
10:56am The jury has heard a 999 call from a resident of Oldham Street, Droylsden, where the alleged getaway vehicle, the silver Ford Fiesta, was parked.
10:41am Good morning from Preston Crown Court. The defendants, barristers, judge and jury are all in place, and court one is back in session. The jury is continuing to hear evidence regarding the murder of David Short, who was killed on August 10 last year in a gun and grenade attack at his Clayton home.
The trial
Dale Cregan, 29, of no fixed abode, is being tried on two counts of murder. One is of the murder of Mark Short, 23, at The Cotton Tree Pub on May 26 last year. The second is his father David Short, 46, at his Folkestone Road East home on August 10.
He also faces four counts of attempted murder and causing an explosion by using a hand-grenade.
Leon Atkinson, 35, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Damian Gorman, 37, from Glossop,
Ryan Hadfield, 28, from Droylsden, Matthew James, 33, from Clayton, Luke Livesey, 27, from Hattersley, are also charged with murdering Mark Short, and three counts of attempted murder of John Collins, Ryan Pridding and Michael Belcher, who were also in The Cotton Tree at the time. All deny the charges.
Francis Dixon, 37, from Stalybridge, Jermaine Ward, 24, and Anthony Wilkinson, 33, from Beswick, are also charged of murdering David Short. They are also charged with Cregan with one count of attempted murder of Sharon Hark in Droylsden later on the same day. All deny the charges
They are also accused of causing an explosion with a hand-grenade. All deny the charge.
Mohammed Ali, 23, is charged with assisting an offender. He denies the charge.
Cregan has already pleaded guilty to the murder of police officers PC Nicola Hughes, 23, from Saddleworth, and PC Fiona Bone, 32, from Sale, in Hattersley on September 18 last year.
