Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Live TV gun killer freed after 26yrs
Planning officer shooter suffers stroke
A KILLER who shot dead a council officer in front of TV cameras during a planning row has been released from prison after suffering a stroke.
Albert Dryden, 76, was serving life for murdering planning officer Harry Collinson in a dispute over demolishing his bungalow. Dryden was in jail for 26 years and was expected to die behind bars because he refused to show remorse for the killing.
But Dryden, a former steelworker, has now been freed from Haverigg Prison, Cumbria, and moved to a residential care home after having a stroke.
Mr Collinson, 46, was enforcing the demolition of Dryden’s illegally built bungalow near Consett, Co Durham, when he was killed.
Dryden asked the TV crew, “Have you got this?” before firing at Mr Collinson with a First World War pistol, on June 20, 1991. He then shot and wounded police officer Stephen Campbell and BBC reporter Tony Belmont.
The live recording was later shown to mirror.co.uk millions on TV news bulletins.
Mr Collinson’s brother, Roy, said: “I could not care less what happens to Dryden. If he dies slowly, that is good.
“He never showed one bit of remorse. If the police had done their job properly, my brother wouldn’t have been killed.”
Dryden built his bungalow in a hollow, because he wrongly thought he did not need planning permission, which the council refused to grant. Durham County councillor, Alex Watson, was leader of the district council at the time. He said: “Mr Dryden has had a severe stroke. He cannot speak. He has more than paid the penalty. “He is not going to recover, and the prison authorities decided he should be released. He cannot harm anyone” Former reporter Garry Willey, who witnessed the killing, said: “It was one of the first times a murder was captured on camera and went out on the news. It is hard to think of another case like it.”