Friend of police killer loses his damages claim

A JAILED pal of police killer Dale Cregan - cleared of involvement in one of his murders - has lost a damages claim against the government.

Francis ‘Fran’ Dixon, 41, from Stalybridge, was out of prison on licence, serving life for his part in a 60-mile police pursuit in which five innocent people were shot, when he was accused of being involved in one of Cregan’s murders.

He was hauled back to jail and, despite being found not guilty of the gun-and-grenade murder of David Short, remained behind bars.

Claiming damages, he blamed the Ministry of Justice for what his lawyers said was a five-and-a-half month delay in his eventual release, which he argued was a breach of his right to liberty under Article 5 of the Human Rights Convention.

Dixon’s case was dismissed by Judge Stephen Davies at the High Court in September 2015 and has now been rejected again at London’s Court of Appeal.

During Cregan’s trial, Dixon described the police killer as a lifelong family friend. He portrayed himself as a hard working family man and father-of-two who made a living delivering luxury cars to dealerships up and down the country. The pair had grown up together. They had been neighbours in Droylsden.

The jury which cleared him was unaware that, at the time of his alleged involvement, Dixon was out of prison on licence, having been jailed for life in 2000 for conspiracy to commit armed robbery and carrying firearms.

During the Court of Appeal hearing, Dixon’s lawyers said a hold-up in producing a psychological assessment due to experts being on maternity leave meant his re-release on licence occurred later than it should.

Lady Justice Rafferty, Sir Jeremy Sullivan and Lord Justice Henderson dismissed Dixon’s argument that the original High Court decision was wrong.

“The judge’s assessment cannot, in my view, be faulted,” said Lord Justice Henderson.