Detectives comb area for murder weapon

THIS is how cold case murder detectives are searching for a weapon used to kill a young dad 12 years ago.

Paul Croft, 19, was attacked in an alleyway next to the Lord Nelson pub in Pendlebury, Salford, on March 25, 2005.

He was severely beaten with a baseball bat and taken to Salford Royal Hospital, but died a week later without ever regaining consciousness. Two men have been charged with his murder.

Now police are searching woodland in Clifton in a bid to find a murder weapon.

Tactical Aid Unit officers from Greater Manchester Police began a second day of searching, focusing on an area of woodland, dense brambles and pathways off Clively Avenue in Clifton, known locally as the Cornies.

The woodland and undergrowth forms part of the Lower Irwell Valley Improvement Area, Forestry Commission land, and includes the Silverdale area, where the search is being based. Around a dozen officers could be seen yesterday morning carrying out line searches of the land, using wooden sticks to move bushes and brambles.

Specially-trained police sniffer dogs were also brought in, including a Springer Spaniel designed to detect traces of blood.

Images and video footage from the scene reveal a coordinated search effort, with officers dividing the land into sectors in a painstaking hunt for clues.

On Thursday, Greater Manchester Police revealed they had sent a team to the area. In a statement, the force said: “Officers have begun a search of an area of the Cornies, Clifton, in relation to Operation Halma, the investigation into the murder of Paul Croft in March 2005.”

Once the investigation into Mr Croft’s death was switched from the Salford division to force’s Major Incident Team it became a thorough probe costing £1.5m. Police took 300 statements and seized 2,000 exhibits - ten times bigger than the average murder investigation.

In November, James Paul Wilde, 28, of Rake Lane, Swinton, appeared in court charged with Paul’s murder. In January, Paul O’Neill, 35, of Broomhall Road, Pendlebury, Salford, was also charged with Paul’s murder. They are due to go on trial in April at Manchester Crown Court.