Updates from Dom Claeys-Jackson
Welcome to day 34 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.
4:28pm Mr Wigglesworth will complete his re-examination of Gorman in the morning, as Judge Holroyde sends the jury home for the day. Proceedings will resume at 10am tomorrow.
4:27pm Mr Clarke completes his questioning, and Mr Wigglesworth, representing Gorman, is re-examining his client before the court.
4:13pm Gorman claims his remarks have been taken out of context.
4:11pm Mr Clarke proposes to Gorman that he had not responded fully: “You had no answer because you were not at The New Inn. You had made up that lie since…If you were simply at The New Inn, you would have told the police immediately.”
4:10pm However, he also added to his original statement: “I did not get in a taxi that night and I have never got a taxi to Droylsden.”
4:08pm When presenting himself to police on August 7, after Cregan warned him of police involvement, Gorman underwent further police interrogation, again largely responding “no comment.”
4:04pm Mr Clarke points out Gorman had made a short comment in response to his whereabouts on May 25, saying: “I spend a lot of time with my mother and if I am not with her I am with my girlfriend.” Mr Clarke proposes he made such a statement as he originally wanted it to form the basis of his alibi, which Gorman refutes.
4:00pm In interviews on the day of his arrest, Gorman responded “no comment” to every question.
3:59pm Focus has now turned to Gorman’s police statement, made on June 13, the day after his arrest.
3:47pm Mr Clarke proposes to Gorman that he, Cregan and Livesey visited an acquaintance’s property after Mark Short’s murder on May 25 to dispose of their clothing. Gorman refutes this claim, with the acquaintance telling jurors earlier in the trial that Gorman had visited her soon after the time of the murder.
3:35pm Prosecution is questioning Gorman about his arrest on February 2 last year, in connection with the theft of a Ford Focus.
3:31pm The jury have returned, and Mr Clarke continues his questioning of Gorman.
3:21pm Judge Holroyde has sent the jury for a short break, with Mr Clarke’s questioning set to resume at 3.30pm.
3:20pm Mr Clarke proposes Gorman had not in fact lost his phone, and had chosen to use his girlfriend’s for another reason. Gorman responds: “No, not at all”.
3:18pm On May 26, Gorman used his girlfriend’s mobile to call Livesey nine times in total, phone data shows.
3:16pm Mr Clarke is questioning Gorman on his phone usage the morning after the murder. Gorman claims he was using his girlfriend’s mobile as he had misplaced his.
3:12pm He told Cregan, Gorman says, that he would come and have a drink with him later in Glossop, but stayed at The New Inn instead as he had intended.
3:11pm Gorman had left the group by this point, he claims, as he did not want to be with Cregan in Glossop, where Gorman ‘knew a lot of people’. “After Dale has had a few drinks he can get a bit boisterous,” he adds.
3:10pm Gorman tells jurors Cregan told him they were going drinking in Stalybridge, despite Livesey ordering the taxi to Droylsden. Gorman says they headed to Stalybridge, before they decided to go to a pub in Glossop.
3:07pm An angry Gorman claims he is not good friends with Cregan, and that he “wouldn’t get involved in that sort of s**t” and he is “not a violent person”.
3:04pm The co-defendant again tells court Cregan and Livesey came into the pub, with Cregan immediately telling Gorman, “It’s s**t in here”, before they all left.
3:00pm Gorman reiterates he had no plans to see Cregan, Livesey and Hadfield that evening, and only found out they were coming to see him as they were en route in the taxi from The Organ pub, where they had been drinking.
2:56pm Gorman claims he returned to The New Inn, where he had ended up that evening, around 20 minutes after being picked up by Cregan, Livesey and Hadfield in a taxi, which travelled to Stalybridge. The taxi picked him up just after 10pm.
2:51pm Gorman tells the court that on the afternoon of the shooting, May 25, he estimates he drank 4-6 shots, 2-4 bottles of Kopparberg and 6-8 pints of lager in several pubs with several friends.
2:46pm Gorman has claimed there is “nothing sinister” in any calls made between himself, Cregan and Livesey in the days after May 13, when Theresa Atkinson was slapped by Raymond Young, a friend of the Short family. Gorman was in Mallorca during this period.
2:41pm Mr Clarke is now looking at Gorman’s mobile usage while he was abroad in Mallorca, the week before the murder.
2:38pm After Judge Holroyde prompts Gorman to answer Mr Clarke’s question, following his repeated claims of there being nothing sinister in stopping using his phone, he replies: “I just decided to get a new number”.
2:35pm Gorman is being asked why the phone he had used on the day of the murder, May 25, was last used on May 27 and not topped up again, given he regularly topped up the mobile. “There’s nothing sinister in it,” he replies.
2:28pm Mr Clarke asks why Gorman had 23 phones registered to him. Gorman replies: “I don’t know, I didn’t realise it was a crime to carry phones.”
2:23pm Mr Clarke says: “You showed him that gun because that’s how you operate, that’s how you work”, to which Gorman replies: “Never”.
2:21pm Focus has turned to other convictions and accused offences, including allegedly showing the landlord of a Manchester pub from which he was barred a gun in a dispute in 2004.
2:19pm Mr Clarke says: “I am suggesting you are a bully”, to which Gorman replies: “Far from it…I’m not a violent person.” Gorman insists that no physical violence took place in the 2011 confrontation.
2:18pm Gorman, however, claims he does not know what he said exactly, but tells the court he does not wish to contest the statement.
2:15pm Defence has agreed, based on a police statement, that Gorman told the complainant: “I am going to take my frustrations out on you…I am going to give you a good f******g kicking. I am going to sort you out…I am going to get my kicking trainers for you.”
2:12pm Gorman is being questioned on an incident from January 2011, where he was convicted of a section 5 public order offence relating to a verbal confrontation.
2:11pm Mr Clarke is running Gorman through his past offences, with focus upon convictions involving motor vehicle theft and drugs offences.
2:06pm Gorman has “no idea” who shot him as the gunman was wearing a balaclava, and had no idea why he was targeted. “I am not in a gang and was not in a gang,” he tells court.
2:04pm The focus of Mr Clarke’s questioning is the pub shooting, which Gorman was a victim of in “2003 or 2004”.
2:00pm The jury has returned to court and we are back underway with Nicholas Clarke QC continuing the cross-examination of Gorman.
1:00pm Mr Justice Holroyde has sent the jury out for lunch, with proceedings set to resume at 2pm.
12:57pm An angry Gorman has been dressed down by Mr Justice Holroyde, who warns him to stop asking questions of the prosecutor, who the defendant has accused of “coming out with garbage”.
12:55pm Mr Clarke has now asked Gorman to try on the balaclava presented to him earlier, and adjust it in several different ways. The prosecutor proposes the balaclava was worn by Gorman to disguise his distinctive facial scars, a claim which Gorman angrily refutes, claiming anyone committing murder would wear a balaclava to cover the whole face.
12:53pm Discussion has led to Gorman’s list of witnesses, with prosecution pointing out that a witness Gorman is relying upon to discern the key’s whereabouts was not mentioned in his initial defence statement.
12:50pm Gorman is being questioned by Mr Clarke over the whereabouts of a spare key to his former address on the day of May 25.
12:39pm Gorman is being asked about his knowledge of his former address, near to where the burnt out Ford Focus was found – the alleged getaway vehicle.
12:37pm Under questioning, Gorman has told the court his Hollingsworth address had been visited by Cregan “about six times” and Livesey “a couple of times”.
12:34pm Gorman initially claims his only nickname is “Damo”, but concedes that he sometimes goes by “Dome Boy” after a harsh line of questioning by the prosecution.
12:31pm Mr Clarke is showing Gorman a series of correspondences written to him by Hadfield. Questioning is revolving around Hadfield’s naming of Gorman. Within the letters, Gorman is addressed as “Damo”, “Dome” and “Dome Boy”.
12:24pm Mr Reid has completed his questioning, and lead prosecutor Nicholas Clarke QC, is beginning his cross-examination.
12:18pm Mr Reid is scrutinising Gorman’s mobile phone activity on the evening of May 25.
12:15pm Gorman tells the court that once he left co-defendants Cregan, Livesey and Hadfield for The New Inn pub on the evening of the shooting, he had no plans to see them again the same day.
12:10pm Mr Carus completes questioning, and Paul Reid QC, representing co-defendant Luke Livesey, begins his cross-examination.
12:09pm The defendant tells jurors claims he was part of an organised gang to avenge the slapping were “a load of nonsense”.
12:08pm Gorman tells the court he did not know Atkinson, or any of his family. Atkinson is accused of arranging the shooting after his mother, Theresa, was slapped by a friend of the Short family.
12:00pm Cross-examination of Damien Gorman begins with questioning by Roderick Carus QC, representing co-defendant Leon Atkinson.
11:55am After the shooting, court hears that Gorman had his spleen removed and spent two months in intensive care on various medications. He tells the jury he has been on anti-depressants that make him ‘a bit on edge’.
11:54am Gorman said: “He let off a shot. I’m off to do a runner. But I’ve had to run past him towards him to get away and he carried on shooting.” He took three shots to the chest and two to the arm. The gunman is still unknown.
11:50am Court hears that Gorman was the victim of another pub shooting at The Old Dog in 2003, just after the Manchester derby. He insists this was not part of a ‘feud’ with the Short family.
11:33am Mr Wigglesworth has completed his questioning, and the jury has been sent for a 20 minute break. Cross-examination will begin at 11.50am.
11:28am Mr Wigglesworth QC asks Gorman where he would burn out a car if he were to take part in such a murder, to which Gorman replies he “wouldn’t get involved” in any such activity but if he did, he would not destroy the car in the vicinity of his address, where the alleged getaway Ford Focus was found.
11:15am Gorman, he tells court, spoke to his girlfriend soon after, who confirmed police were at their home. Gorman later decided to hand himself into police after consultation with his solicitor.
11:14am Cregan told Gorman, jurors are told, that the police had been trying to seize his mobile phone and SIM card, and asked Gorman whether police had visited him for the same reason.
11:13am Gorman, who was arrested on June 12 and bailed a day later, received a call from co-defendant Cregan on August 7.
11:11am Mr Wigglesworth QC is now focusing questioning on selected dates in the weeks after Mr Short’s murder.
11:09am Gorman refutes suggestions from another witness that he threatened her into silence the day after the murder as “a load of nonsense”.
11:02am The address had been vacant since March 2012.
11:00am The court is now looking at photographs taken of the interior and exterior of Gorman’s home, captured during investigations.
10:59am However, he claims that someone had thrown the balaclava into his property.
10:58am He accepts he owned a balaclava, claiming he used it “to go on crossers [quad motorbikes]” and it was “nothing to do with any of this s**t”.
10:57am Gorman tries on a balaclava recovered from his back garden, much to the amusement of the defendants. He claims he is not trying to be funny, but that “the balaclava mentioned [in evidence] has eye holes. The three people in the car were seen. and none of them had balaclavas.”
10:52am Asked by Mr Wiggleworth, one by one, whether the clothing belongs to him, he replies “no”, adding they were “not my cup of tea”.
10:51am Gorman is now examining a series of clothing, which a witness has formerly attributed to him wearing around the time of the murder, including tracksuit bottoms, a t-shirt and a pair of shoes.
10:38am Gorman told the court he asked Livesey where he had ended up the evening before, to which he replied he had ended up ‘going home’ rather than out for the night.
10:37am He tells jurors that he spoke to co-defendant Livesey the morning after on his girlfriend’s mobile phone, and at that point knew ‘nothing at all’ of the murder or the burning out of the Ford Focus, the alleged getaway vehicle.
10:34am Gorman claims he soon returned to The New Inn pub, and was in there at 11.49pm, the time of the shooting. His mobile was switched off, missing a call from his girlfriend at 11.55pm, and claimed he left the pub to return home ‘not much later’ than 12.10am.
10:30am Gorman confirms cell site data which shows him at The New Inn, Hollingsworth, on the evening of the murder. Gorman tells the jury, that co-defendants Dale Cregan, Luke Livesey and Ryan Hadfield picked him up from the pub in a taxi at around 10.12pm.
10:20am Ray Wigglesworth QC is continuing questioning of Damien Gorman, one of six men accused of murdering Mark Short, at the Cotton Tree pub, Droylsden, on May 25 last year.
10:15am The judge, jury, defendants and barristers are all in place for day 34 of the trial, and court one is back in session.
10:12am Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the Dale Cregan murder trial, it’s day 34 and we’re back in Preston to bring you the latest.
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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