By Aimee Howarth & Oliver Rhodes
Welcome to day 33 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 constantly updated. Hit refresh to display live updates.
16.29pm: The case is adjourned until 10am tomorrow morning.
16.28pm: The prosecution asks about another unidentified number that appears to be an attempted call but Gorman insists he does not know who it is but it has nothing to do with the case.
16.24pm: Gorman confirms he went for lunch to at the Waggon and Horses pub near Miss Piddington’s house with Cregan, Livesey and a few others.
16.19pm: The phone records show Gorman received two missed calls from Cregan’s phone in the morning but Gorman says he rang it back to see who it was and it was Livesey rinnging about the shed and going around to Livesey’s girlfriend.
16.17pm: He says they spent a couple of hours until around lunch time working on the shed before ringing his girlfriend a few times in the afternoon.
16.14pm: Gorman is asked about a call from Colin Latham but says its was Livesey calling about the shed. Gorman was in Glossop but then drove to Hollingworth to the New Inn to meet his friend to go to get supplies for the shed.
16.11pm: The prosecution asks if Gorman was asked to do anything for Livesey on May 25 and he says ‘yes’, it was to flatten land and lay footings for a shed in Livesey’s girlfriend’s back garden.
16.09pm: The court hears Cregan called Gorman on May 15 as he did not know he was away. Gorman says it ‘100% had nothing to do with murders’. He is asked about a few more unidentified numbers but says he knows they have nothing to do with the case.
16.06pm: Gorman confirms he went to Mallorca with his girlfriend in the middle of May for five or six days.
16.04pm: Gorman’s phone records are shown to the court detailing his calls to Mr Hodge in Spain and Livesey. The prosecution asks about some unidentified numbers in the list but Gorman says he does not know who they are.
15.49pm: The court hears Gorman did not go to France, Antigua or Thailand with the group of friends but did go to Tenerife with Livesey and his girlfriend.
15.47pm: He says he has known Livesey for three to five years and Hadfield and James for the same time as Cregan.
15.46pm: Gorman says he has known Cregan for five to seven years and was introduced to him by his cousin. He adds they used to drink or eat together once a week.
15.44pm: Gorman says on one occasion he was asked to leave but did not threaten anyone with any weaponry or firearms.
15.41pm: More alleged relevant reprehensible behaviour is put forward. Gorman confirms he was barred from entering a pub in December 2002 but sneaked in with his friends from the following spring when the owners were upstairs.
15.38pm: Gorman is asked about possession of cocaine in 2010 and he says it was for his own personal use.
15.37pm: He had also previously pleaded guilty to aggregated vehicle taking as well as possessing a dangerous weapon when found with a baseball bat.
15.35pm: The court is told about Gorman’s previous conviction for intention of theft in 2001, which he pleaded guilty to. There was a second offence in 2003 of handling a stolen car and Gorman says he pleaded guilty again.
15.33pm: Gorman says he had nothing to do with the shooting or the burglary of the Ford. He also says he had no role in the supplying of weapons, he wasn’t seated in the car, he did not play a part in the burning of the car or the clothes in the car.
15.29pm: Gorman is asked if he knew Atkinson before May 25 2012 and answers he never knew him prior to that date.
15.25pm: The jury returns after a short adjournment to hear evidence from Damian Gorman, who confirms his name, age and address.
15.12pm: That ends the evidence from Miss Piddington and the jury takes a short break.
15.11pm: When questioned about the timing of telling her solicitor about the night, Miss Piddington says she can not remember. She is asked about how Livesey was ‘messing around’ before they went to bed on the night of the murder before going to bed and she answers ‘he thought his luck was in’.
15.10pm: To let the jury understand why she refused to let the police into her house, Miss Piddington says she did not want to upset her daughter and see her crying.
15.08pm: Miss Piddington is questioned about the noise she and Livesey heard and she said it sounded like ‘banging’. She says she did not mention it to the police as the solicitor advised her to do it through a statement.
15.06pm: Miss Piddington said she ‘slept like a baby’ and did not hear any possible phone calls during the night. She says she was ‘completely oblivious’.
15.03pm: Mr Clarke suggests Livesey got home later that night than she is saying and she is trying to help her boyfriend.
15.02pm: Mr Clarke asks Miss Piddington about the night Livesey came home late ‘staggering’. Miss Piddington admits he was less responsive than she would have liked and eventually just ignored her.
15.01pm: Miss Piddington confirms she said she had ‘no information to offer the police’ and wanted to get on with her life.
15.00pm: Mr Clarke asks if she remembers calling the police from a mobile but Miss Piddington said she does not recognise the number.
14.59pm: The court hears the police tried to contact Miss Piddington by phone and visiting her house.
14.58pm: Mr Clarke asks if Livesey asked Miss Piddigton to be his alibi and she said ‘no’, not until the last few weeks, as he did not want her to come to court.
14.57pm: Mr Clarke asks if she thought to tell the police they had the wrong man but she says she decided to tell them to go through her solicitors for a statement.
14.55pm: Miss Piddington said she was given a warning about a threat on her life on the day that Livesey was charged.
14.49pm: She tells the court Livesey was arrested at the airport and officers phoned her to let her know where he was. Mr Clarke asks about Livesey’s arrest and she says he just said he had been arrested for the killing of Mark Short.
14.47pm: Miss Piddington says she spoke about the shooting of Mark Short with Livesey as the news broke.
14.46pm: She confirms she had heard of David and Mark Short but says Livesey never mentioned them before the killing.
14.44pm: When asked about hearing of the shooting, Miss Piddington said she read about it online when she got back from swimming with her daughter.
14.41pm: Miss Piddington says Livesey came home drunk on the night of the killing but managed to drive the car home. The car – a blue Ford Fiesta – was hers but registered to her father, Anthony Piddington.
14.39pm: The court hears Livesey went out less than twice a week for a drink with his friends and when Miss Piddington is asked if she liked that she says ‘no’.
14.37pm: Miss Piddington confirms Livesey saw Cregan on an almost daily basis and she has been on holiday with Gorman and his girlfriend with Livesey.
14.36pm: Mr Clarke says more than 700 messages and calls were exchanged between the pair while Livesey was in Thailand just before his arrest.
14.35pm: The court hears they have been on holiday three times together and Livesey likes to go away with his friends too.
14.34pm: Mr Clarke begins his questioning of Miss Piddington. He asks if she loves Livesey and she says ‘yes’. She visited him regularly in prison.
14.30pm: She says they had an argument and then went to bed. She says Livesey got up when they heard a noise and went downstairs to check what it was but came back to bed quickly.
14.29pm: The court hears Livesey returned around midnight and Miss Piddington called him ‘every name under the sun’. When asked if he had been drinking Miss Piddington said ‘definitely’.
14.26pm: Phone records show the calls were received and made to Livesey’s phone. It is said that Michelle’s sister made calls to Livesey at 23.39 and 23.41 before leaving.
14.23pm: The records show that at 20.32 there was a phone text message from Miss Piddington to Livesey. There was another at 22.00 and Miss Piddington says they were angry text messages.
14.20pm: Phone records are shown and it is revealed Gorman’s phone rang Miss Piddington’s phone at 16.16 in a call lasting 21 seconds. Miss Piddington says it was Livesey on Gorman’s phone.
14.19pm: Miss Piddington says Livesey got back soon after her sister left.
14.18pm: The court hears that as the evening progressed Miss Piddington said she was feeling angry at home. Her sister visited and tried to contact Livesey but he did not answer.
14.16pm: Miss Piddington says she phoned Livesey to see where he was on that Friday evening as she wanted him at home and he said he was out with his friends having a drink. On the question of how many calls were made she said she did not know.
14.12pm: When asked about the number of cars between her and Livesey, Miss Piddigton says they had two. According to her, Livesey’s normal routine was to go to the gym and work on the cars. On the day of the killing she says she had her nails done and picked up her daughter from school around 3.30pm.
14.10pm: Miss Piddington says she remembers a lot of points from the day of the killing. She asks if she was employed at the time of the killing and she said ‘yes’ but she did not work on Fridays.
14.08pm: Miss Piddington says she is nervous and the judge sympathises but says the court must hear her account.
14.07pm: The jury returns for the afternoon session and next witness Michelle Piddington, Livesey’s girlfriend, is sworn in.
12.46pm: That concludes Livesey’s evidence. The next witness shall give evidence from behind a screen so a lunch break will be taken until 2pm while things are set up.
12.43pm: Livesey confirms he did not use a false alibi in his defence statement and named his girlfriend as his alibi, not Guy Oldham.
12.40pm: Mr Reid asks Livesey about telephone records relating to Wilkinson’s phone and Livesey says he has not heard any details.
Reading Livesey’s defence statement, Mr Reid says Cregan used Livesey’s phone in the taxi on the way to the pub and made several unsuccessful phone calls to Gorman and then forgot to return it to Livesey.
12.23pm: Mr Clarke finishes his questions and defence lawyer Mr Reid starts his.
12.22pm: This is all a sorry made up ‘to get Mr Cregan and his friends off the streets’, co-defendant Livesey tells the courtroom after Mr Clarke asks if he amended his account upon the realisation of the error with the text message.
Your story is ‘way off the mark’, Livesey tells the prosecution.
12.16pm: Livesey says he rang a taxi to go to Droylsden and have a drink that night but never got there. Mr Clarke suggests he was involved in the events of the night but Livesey says ‘no’.
Mr Clarke asks about Livesey’s phone ending up in Glossop and Livesey says it is all ‘rubbish’. Livesey says one of his phones was lost and one was thrown away.
12.14pm: Livesey admits he has posted phones through letterboxes ‘once or twice’ but can not remember names or addresses. He says it was ‘years ago’. When Mr Clarke asks again, he gets the same response.
Mr Clarke suggests Livesey was a close associate to Cregan and Livesey says he was not always by his side. When Mr Clarke asks about Matt James, Livesey said he is a friend bjt he was not aware James had called Cregan that night.
12.10pm: Livesey says some of his friends are involved in the murders of Mark and David Short but that does not make him a murderer.
12.09pm: Dale Cregan may be here to ‘keep an eye on the team’, suggests the prosecution, but Livesey denies there is a team.
12.07pm: Mr Clarke asks if Wilkinson will talk about his signed confession and Livesey says Wilkinson will answer the questions put to him. When asked about Gorman, Livesey says he knows a little bit about Gorman’s case but he is more interested in his own.
12.06pm: Livesey confirms he has heard Cregan’s defence to the murder and has heard things in the court room.
He has seen Wilkinson every day as they are on the same wing in prison, Livesey confirms.
12.03pm: Mr Clarke asks if Livesey was sober on May 26 and the defendant says he was.
Mr Clarke asks the defendant if he knew the Shorts and Cregan’s animosity with them and Livesey says yes.
When asked if Cregan willingly confessed to him to the murder of Mark Short, Livesey says ‘yes’.
11.59am: Again, Mr Clarke asks if Livesey can remember the date of when he passed on the document but Livesey say he can not. The prosecution again demands who the inmate was and Livesey confirms he knew him from outside of prison.
When asked if he backdated the document to make it appear as a more impressive alibi, Livesey says ‘yes’ and confirms he added guidance notes at the bottom. Mr Clarke reads from the note that Livesey would only use it ‘if desperate’
11.56am: The unnamed inmate said ‘don’t worry about it’ when Livesey asked for the document back, the court is told. Mr Clarke asks Livesey if there is any truth in the alibi on the letter and he says ‘no’. He asks for the significance of the date of June 15. Livesey says that was probably when he was in bail.
11.52am: ‘Was your intentions to pull the wool over the jury’s eyes’ and make them believe this alibi was true?, Mr Clarke asks Livesey. Livesey says he realised what he was doing was wrong and tried to get the letter back and he didn’t want to use it any more.
11.50am: Livesey says he took the document to another inmate so it could be passed on to Guy Oldham. He refuses to give a name but says he told the other inmate what the paper was.
Livesey asked the inmate to smuggle the paper out of prison, he says. Livesey says he then thought about it to his cell for a couple of days and approached the individual to ask for the document back. Mr Clarke asks for the name again but Livesey is unwilling for reveal the name.
11.47am: Mr Clarke says the letter was written on part of the custody record of co-defendant Leon Atkinson and this is legally privileged material so was selected specifically. Livesey says he selected the paper only because it had lines on it.
11.43am: The court is presented with another document labelled SDM3. Mr Clarke asks if it was important to Livesey to have lined paper. Mr Clarke says lined paper was readily available to Livesey, who agrees. Mr Clarke asks Livesey about the name on the top of the paper – Atkinson.
Mr Clarke asks Livesey who the document was written for and Livesey says a friend, Guy Oldham. Mr Clarke says the document was written to create a false alibi.
11.42am: Livesey says he has done nothing wrong, he is an innocent man and should not be here today.
11.41am: Mr Clarke says Cregan gave Livesey a very detailed account which Livesey agrees to. Mr Clarke says Cregan told Livesey who the individual was and Livesey says ‘yes’. Mr Clarke asks if Livesey thought Cregan was lying about the identity of the other man Livesey says he doesn’t know.
11.38am: Mr Clarke says Livesey first said Cregan did not give him a name of the third man but now Livesey says he did know a name. Livesey says he did not say the name initially because if he did mention it he knew the prosecution would ask for the name. He tells the court he does not want to put out hear-say.
11.35am: We are back after a short break. Livesey is asked if he will name the third man but says ‘no’.
The judge says Mr Clarke is entitled to ask the questions and says the role of the witness is to answer the questions, which are properly asked. The judge says he has given Livesey a specific warning because he is a defendant in the case. He says the jury may have an ‘adverse inference’ and hold it against him and asks Livesey if he wants to change his answer. Livesey says ‘no’
11.03am: The court adjourns for a mid-morning break.
11.00am: Mr Clarke says the document was written for Livesey’s benefit, written by him and dictated by Cregan. Mr Clarke says it was produced to blame Wilkinson for the killing.
Mr Clarke asks who the third man is. Livesey admits he has heard a man from Cregan but says he will not reveal it in court as it is hear-say.
10.57am: Livesey said he remembers giving the phone to Cregan so he could contact Gorman. Mr Clarke says Livesey never mentioned that to the police or in his defence statement.
Mr Clarke says all of the information in the document was written after the defendants were served with evidence from the prosecution and the video of the three men walking past the camera on Market Street.
10.53am: Livesey says if he knew who the other man involved with the car was he would have told the police and done anything he could to clear his name.
Mr Clarke says the other man drove another car and collected Cregan and Wilkinson. Mr Clarke reads the document, which says Cregan remembers he was using Livesey’s phone to text Gorman. Livesey says he discussed a text with Cregan sent to Gorman but he did not text Gorman himself.
10.51am: Reading from a letter alledgely written in prison, Mr CLarke says there was a petrol container to set fire to the car after the killing. Livesey says he did not know what it was for and so he cannot answer questions about it.
10.50am: Mr Clarke asks Livesey if Wilkinson had a gun ready. Mr Clarke says Wilkinson apparently gave Cregan the gun and Livesey says ‘yes’.
10.49am: Mr Clarke asks Livesey if Wilkinson would have heard that he was the man charged with supplying the gun. Livesey says he may have heard it.
10.46am: The prosecution asks what the gloves were for if it was a hot summer. Mr Clarke says there was a ‘bally’ – a balaclava – in the car. Mr Clarke also says the driver took Cregan to collect a gun.
10.42am: Mr Clarke asks Livesey if Cregan told him where he got the car from. Mr Clarke says Cregan said there was another man at the car and asks Livesey who the other man is. Livesey says Cregan did not tell him the name of the other man.
Mr Clarke says Livesey had been with Cregan continuously since the morning of the killing and says there was already a car and clothes in place in the car for the operation.
10.39am: Mr Clarke reveals a document allegedly written in prison. Mr Clarke asks Livesey about having a discussion with Cregan and Wilkinson in his cell. Livesey says he approached Cregan to have a discussion. Livesey says he received a signed confession from Wilkinson and Cregan told him his version of events.
10.38am: Livesey says there was really no need for him to discuss the case with Wilkinson. Mr Clarke asks if Livesey has spoken to Wilkinson about the letter’s role. Livesey says he hasn’t spoken to him about it.
10.35am: Mr Clarke shows a document allegedly says Livesey was not involved and asks if Livesey has discussed it with Wilkinson many times. Livesey says he has discussed it a few times. Mr Clarke says the document is part of Livesey’s defence but says there was no appearance of it when Livesey drew up a defence statement. Livesey says that is correct.
10.33am: The prosecution shows CCTV footage of Market Street and says Livesey has seen it many times. Livesey says he has seen it a couple of times. Mr Clarke says Livesey has seen three men go past the camera and asks which is Wilkinson. Livesey says he does not know. Mr Clarke says Wilkinson is the second man to walk past the camera, but Livesey says that is not his account. Mr Clarke says according to the account it would be Wilkinson, and Livesey says from the account it might be.
10.30am: Mr Clarke asks Livesey how tall he is. Livesey says he is about 5ft 8in. Livesey says he has taken his shoes off and he took them off all day yesterday.
Mr Clarke asks Livesey the height of Cregan and the defendant says he is around the same height. He says the same for Gorman and Wilkinson. Livesey also says he is middle to slim build. Mr Clarke also asks Livesey about his build at the time of the killing. Livesey says he was a large build and says Cregan was also a large, athletic build. He says he doesn’t know the build of Wilkinson.
10.27am: Mr Clarke asks Livesey of any evidence which connects Wilkinson to the killing. Livesey denies any evidence linking Wilkinson to the crime. Mr Clarke asks if he contacted any of his associates on May 25 but Livesey denies any conversation.
10.19am: Nicholas Clarke, lead for the prosecution, says evidence is served on the defence and they have seen reports on the whereabouts of Wilkinson on the 25th.
10.18am: Prosecution asks why Cregan went round the side of the pub but Livesey was unaware as he went through the front.
10.17am: Prosecution says how Livesey knew about knowledge of Gorman and he is a close friend. Defendant says he knows Gorman has been in trouble with the police before but for not a lot. Livesey says he believes Gorman has been involved with stolen cars.
10.16am: Prosecution cross examines Luke Livesey on day 33 of the tria. Prosecution says there have been opportunities for defendant Luke Livesey to speak to other defendants in prison to discuss the evidence pitted against him and others in crown court.
10.15am: Trial is about to resume, 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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