All you need to know as police killer Dale Cregan moved to Aintree Hospital

Dale Cregan, who killed two men and two police officers, was transferred from Ashworth hospital to Aintree in a high-security operation on Monday

Six points you need to know as police killer Dale Cregan moved to Aintree Hospital

• Dale Cregan, one of the UK’s most notorious convicted killers, was moved from the high-security Ashworth hospital to Aintree University Hospital on Monday, December 1. The transfer took place late at night and involved strict security measures designed to prevent any risks to the public or to staff.

• Photos showed a significant police presence outside Aintree earlier in the week. Merseyside Police later confirmed they had been present to support hospital staff while a patient, understood to be Cregan, received medical treatment. Once the appointment concluded, police withdrew their presence.

• Cregan previously required armed-guard hospital treatment at Manchester Eye Hospital for a growth on his remaining eye. It is not clear if the appointment at Aintree was for the same reason. Cregan, who was transferred to Ashworth from a mainstream prison shortly after his conviction in 2013, claimed he lost his left eye during a fight on a trip to Thailand.

• Cregan is serving a whole-life sentence for murdering David Short and Mark Short, two gangland rivals, as well as police officers Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone in 2012. He had been a fugitive after killing the Shorts and lured the officers to his hideout with a fake burglary call, executing them in an extremely violent attack that shocked the UK.

• Cregan fired 32 shots he fired from his Glock – with its extended magazine. As he opened the front door to the maisonette in Abbey Gardens, to confront the approaching officers, he blasted them both in the chest. The only reason they didn’t die immediately was because they were wearing body armour.

• A shot to PC Hughes’ back severed her spinal cord and she collapsed paralysed onto the ground. She was shot three more times either as she fell, or while laying face down on the path. Cregan then fired another 24 shots at PC Bone. Some missed. The brave officer fought back and managed to draw her Taser stun gun. She pulled the trigger but hit the pavement rather than Cregan. She suffered eight gunshot wounds. One of those bullets penetrated a gap in the side of the body armour under her arm and caused fatal injuries to her heart.

• Read the full story here.