By Pippa Field & Alex Bysouth
Welcome to day 32 of the Dale Cregan murder trial from Preston Crown Court. MM will be posting live updates throughout the day.
NOTE: This story is being live edited and is being constantly updated. Hit refresh to display live updates.
16.32pm: Mr Clarke concludes his prosecution for the session, and with
that the judge brings the day’s proceedings to an end.
16.28pm: When questioned by Mr Clarke over the finger prints on Gorman’s window Livesey argues it was just one of his finger prints found and that if he were to climb through then there would be more.
16.25pm: Mr Clarke suggests Livesey must have been screaming from the rooftops to prove his innocence and queries why he did not use the opportunity of questioning to prove as such. He said he did not know exactly what had happened so he could not say anything.
16.22pm: Mr Clarke tells the defendant the police throughly checked his phone records. Livesey responds by suggesting the police have not done their job throughly enough, claiming if they had then they would have found him, and certain others in the dock, to be innocent.
16.21pm: Livesey suggests that when the police knew Cregan was involved with the murder they rounded up a group of his friends. He says making ‘no comment’ answers to questions makes no difference when some of the accused have given full alibis and still remain in the dock.
16.19pm: The court hears Livesey was re-arrested for questioning on August 7. By then the police had retrieved the call data records detailing where people where and when. In response, Livesey argues that pieced together it reveals details but pieces of that make no
sense.
16.15pm: Mr Clarke continues to ask the defendant why he answered no comment to questions that would not be incriminating to him. Livesey responds by saying if he was to go to the doctors and told the take two tablets a day for a week, then that is what he would do. He confirms he was simply following legal advice.
16.13pm: When Mr Clarke mentions how the the accused was remanded in custody over night before further questioning, Livesey interrupts saying a police cell is a horrible place to be when you have been arrested for a murder you have not been involved in and you have anything but a good night’s sleep.
16.09pm: He says the day of the shootings had no particular reason to be in his memory. He confirms he knew of the Shorts but did not speak to them personally. He says the shootings were shocking in the area and that everybody was talking about them.
16.08pm: Livesey says when he stepped off the plane from Thailand and was arrested for murder and attempted murder he did not know what was going through his mind, he was scared and had never been in that position before.
16.07pm: When asked by Mr Clarke why he answered no comment to each question when arrested Livesey says he was scared and following simple legal advice and if he had known anything about the murder of Mark Short he would have helped the police.
16.06pm: Livesey confirms he made no comment to questions about whether he knew Cregan, whether he was with him on the May 25, whether he had spoke to him on the phone and whether he had visited the Cotton Tree Pub.
15.57pm: Livesey says he is not guilty of any crime, apart from probably drink driving.
15.50pm: Livesey confirms he had heard about the shootings the next day on the news and that everybody was talking about them, but that there was no speculation about who may be involved. Livesey says he had not heard about the fire at Ellison Close which destroyed the car.
15.43pm: Mr Clarke suggests Hadfield was using his girlfriend’s phone in an attempt to contact Livesey.
15.42pm: Livesey says he does not know why Hadfield was trying to contact him at 1.05am and that he is unsure as to whether he has his girlfriend’s phone number. Livesey says he does not know why Joanna Anderson was trying to call him at 12.20am. Livesey confirms Anderson is the girlfriend of Hadfield.
15.25pm: He confirms he receives calls from Cregan when he is drunk although they are few and far between. Livesey denies Cregan made any suggestions during the conversation that he had just shot someone in the Cotton Tree pub.
15.24pm: Mr Clarke suggests Livesey deliberately left his phone with Cregan so that he could not be traced. He replies he did no such a thing and that if he had taken his phone off Cregan he would not be in court today as it would prove he was at his girlfriend’s house.
He adds the prosecution are trying to sentence him to life imprisonment for a phone he forgot to get off a friend and that the phone was only ever used for innocent purposes.
15.21pm: Livesey says any suggestions by Clarke that he was discussing the murder plans in the taxi with Cregan and Hadfield are stupid. He says the driver would have overheard them doing such a thing.
15.12pm: Livesey repeats to the court he made the call to the taxi shortly before 10pm but did not answer the next call to Cregan’s phone, even though he confirms he is the only person left sitting around the table with the phone in The Organ pub. He says he cannot remember Cregan coming back to the table to answer the phone.
15.10pm: Livesey confirms that Cregan was the last person he saw in Glossop.
15.07pm: Mr Clarke asks Livesey why the taxi changed its route. Livesey says that Cregan is often spontaneous and changed his mind and redirected the taxi, but that his behaviour was normal. Livesey confirms he does not know why Cregan asked to change route.
15.05pm: Mr Clarke asks Livesey if while out drinking he had noticed any murderous intent in Cregan, the defendant says he did not.
15.00pm: Livesey confirms Cregan left him in a Glossop car park where he was told to wait for his return. Livesey says he eventually gave up and went back to his girlfriend’s house. Livesey said Cregan had borrowed his mobile phone, which was then posted through the letterbox of his girlfriend’s house later that night, the court is told.
14.48pm: The group moved to The Organ pub. Livesey says he would have stopped with the shots when his head was spinning and he could not stand straight. He says he then nursed a bottle of cider for a few hours.
14.46pm: Livesey and the group, including Cregan, then went to the Lord Stanford for more shots. He says he does not tend to drink, rather drinking water instead. When Mr Clarke suggests he was doing a good job at making up for lost time, Livesey replies he was certainly trying. He said he was very very drunk by this point. Cregan and Hadfield were drinking the same amounts as Livesey, the defendant states.
14.44pm: Livesey confirms on the same day he also visited the Wagon and Horses pub, where he had a fruit cider, then the Hare and Hound, before moving on to Wetherspoons in Stalybridge, where the group drank cider and jaeger bombs.
14.40pm: Livesey confirms he had a phone for a month by May 24 which had run out of credit by May 25. He confirms he borrowed a neighbour of his girlfriend’s phone to ring Gorman, who then called Livesey back on the phone that had no credit.
14.31pm: The court had previously heard a fingerprint belonging to Livesey was found on the window frame of Gorman’s house and the explanation given by the defendent was that he had received food and drink through the window when working on motorbikes outside. When Mr Clarke questions why he did not go through the door next to it, Livesey explains it was easier to pass it through the window.
He cannot remember whether Cregan had ever been passed food or drink through the window, he does not think so. Mr Clarke reminds him Cregan’s fingerprints are also on the window and suggests Cregan would have gone through the window in order to get changed.
14.19pm: Livesey reveals he lost both phones he used while away in Thailand with Cregan. He says he has lost a few phones in the past but it is not a regular occurrence.
14.16pm: CMr larke suggests he could buy a new iPhone for £40 a month, but Livesey suggests he would not have sufficient credit rating to get a phone on a contract and has never owned a phone on a contract.
14.14pm: The court hears Livesey spends £40 a month on a phone, which he uses and throws away after 30 days for a new one. Nicholas Clarke, lead for the prosecution, also asks whether Cregan and Livesey shared a phone. Livesey confirms they did.
14.04pm: The court resumes after lunch. Livesey confirms he is close acquaintances with Cregan. They went to the gym together on almost a daily basis, drank in pubs every now and then and holidayed together, including twice to Thailand, and once to Antigua, Amsterdam and France.
2.45pm: The defence for James finishes questioning Livesey and the judge decides to break for an hour lunch.
12.40pm: Livesey confirms he visited Matthew James in Wythenshawe Hospital in August, during the visit James tells Livesey and Cregan he suffered injuries after being attacked with a knife at a house party.
12.34pm: The court has previously heard the taxi changed direction from heading to Droylsdon to heading to the New Inn in Hollingsworth. Livesey believes it was Cregan that asked for the change of direction but says he was drunk and cannot remember any conversation.The only thing he can remember from the taxi ride is giving Cregan his phone.
12.32pm: The court hears the taxi arrived at the pub at 21.59. Records show a call between James’ phone and Cregan’s phone. Livesey tells the court he was still in the pub.
12.30pm: The same phone was also used when in the taxi. Livesey said he did not make the call and cannot remember who out of Cregan or Hatfield – both also present in the taxi – took the call.
12.09pm: The defence for Matthew James question Livesey. Livesey made a call for a taxi off Cregan’s phone on May 25 from the pub. Records show that 33 seconds afterwards the phone rang. Livesey states he cannot remember who picked up the call, but confirms he did not.
12.04pm: The court hears Atkinson never rang Livesey directly, he never had his number stored on his phoned and Livesey confirms he never had phone contact with him.
12.00pm: In answer to the question whether Atkinson employed people to help him to his dirty work, Livesey replies that such a claim is absolutely ridiculous. He goes on to say he had never done any work, criminal or otherwise, for him.
11.59am: The questioning for the defence of Livesey is brought to an end and the prosecution begins.
11.48am: Livesey is asked about a document he had written acting as a witness statement proving he was not present, which he gave to a friend at the Prince of Wales pub in Glossop, where he asked the friend to fill in the ‘Xs’ with his name. Livesey says he did not want to use his girlfriend as a witness because of how dangerous the case was. He says he was scared not only for himself, but for his girlfriend and her daughter.
11.38am: The defence lawyer proceeds to read extracts of the document to the court. It is a report of what Cregan is reported to have said about the night of the shooting of Mark Short. The court hears that Cregan stopped by the house of Wilkinson to ask for a gun and that Wilkinson obliged. The car used to drive to the pub for the shooting was also set alight afterwards, it is read to the court.
11.17am: The court hears that on September 14 Luke Livesey received a headed letter written on prison notepaper from Anthony Wilkinson which stated that Livesey was not one of the three men in the blue Ford Focus on the night of the murder of Mark Short. Livesey confirms that he handed the letter to his legal representative on a legal visit the next day.
11.15am: The jury is back in court and the case resumes. Defendant Luke Livesey is in the witness box answering questions from his defence lawyer Paul Reid QC.
10.45am: Trial is due to start shortly, check back for updates.
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.
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