Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
It was just an ordinary day but by the end of it two much-loved colleagues were dead
EX-COP ON DALE CREGAN KILLINGS FIVE YEARS ON
EX-COP Julian Broddle recalls with dread and horror the four words that crackled out over his police radio: Shots fired... officers down.
He raced to the scene to find PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone dying in the street – victims of one-eyed monster Dale Cregan.
The warped fugitive had lured police with a hoax burglary call.
And in a crime that shocked the nation he executed Nicola, 23, and Fiona, 32, in cold blood as they approached his lair. He fired 32 shots from a Glock pistol and hurled a grenade at the pair.
Today – National Police Memorial Day, honouring officers who die in the line of duty – haunted Julian, 52, tells of his anguish as he came across the stricken pair.
And in a new book he reveals how the two officers had asked to go on patrol together that day so that they could talk about plans for a staff Christmas party.
It was September 18, 2012 that Cregan’s crimes shook Greater Manchester Police to the core.
NIGHTMARE
Julian says in his book Down The Line: “The day started normally when all of a sudden there was an alarming call on our personal radios that there had been gunshots and officers down.
“We sped off to assist. We got to Hyde to be confronted with our worst nightmare.
“Paramedics were already working on Nicola and Fiona, trying to keep them alive.
“I overheard a senior paramedic say that one of the officers hadn’t made it and it’s highly unlikely the other will survive.
“The police force is one big family and we all go through the pain when we hear such words. It was a devastating blow.
“Orders were given to clear the area, but I thought ‘I’m going nowhere’ so offered to start the door-to-door enquiries.
“I could already see the stress and horror on the faces of colleagues leaving the scene.”
Julian told how it was six hours before many officers discovered Nicola and Fiona had died.
He had arrived back at Ashtonunder-Lyne station before being called to an emergency meeting.
Julian said: “I went upstairs and there was a team ready to inform everyone of the situation. I saw our chief superintendent, the entire team that worked with Fiona and Nicola and several supervisors.
“There was total silence in the room. The chief superintendent and the deputy chief constable were stood together waiting to tell us what they knew. Neither mentioned the situation of Fiona and Nicola. Suddenly one of the constables shouted ‘Sir, how are Nicola and Fiona? Are they going to be all right?’ Wow... they didn’t know.
“The chief superintendent told them calmly that Nicola and Fiona were dead.”
Colleagues were left in anguish – but determined to see justice done.
Gloating Cregan handed himself in– allegedly saying he was sorry he killed two women police officers as he had wanted to kill men.
A stash of grenades was later recovered, proof that Cregan was capable of yet more mayhem.
He initially denied murdering the officers and two gangland rivals, but changed his plea to guilty and is serving life. Julian added: “Nicola and Fiona were tasked to go to a suspected burglary and had their lives taken away from them when Cregan shot them in cold blood.
“Nicola and Fiona weren’t actually meant to be working together that day.
“It was meant to be another police officer and one of the girls, but they got together because they were working out the details of the Christmas party.
“They wanted to work out how much to put in the kitty every week, so asked to go together.
“The following weeks were surreal and it was a horrible time, although it was amazing the way everyone came together to help Manchester Police. There were
officers from all over wanting to help out on days off. Messages poured in from the UK and across the world.”
Last Monday, family and former colleagues of the two officers gathered for a minute’s silence in a memorial garden at Hyde police station.
Speaking about the anniversary, Julian said: “It was five years ago the other day and he’s obviously locked up for the rest of his life.
“He took two brilliant female officers who were going to have wonderful careers.
“He was the first person to kill two female officers. It was one of the most horrendous crimes of the last 100 years.”
Julian’s book also reveals how he lost the police job he loved after a random drug test last December showed cocaine in his system. The dad of three insists he has never taken illegal drugs and the traces must have been in anti-stress pills he bought on the internet.
MISTAKE
Before becoming a policeman in 1997, he had been a professional footballer for 16 years, playing for the likes of Scunthorpe, Barnsley, St Mirren and Raith Rovers.
He says in his book: “I had drug tests throughout my football career and never had a problem. I certainly wouldn’t have taken drugs as a frontline police officer. I’ve never taken cocaine or any other drug so I thought they must have made a mistake with the samples.
“Years earlier, I had rashly bought some drugs over the internet to deal with stress. They might have been from America. Years later, I found them and took some.
“It seems I had enough in my system to have been taking cocaine for three to four months.”
Prior to that Julian had an “exemplary” police career over 18 years and had received a chief constable’s commendation. Speaking about the challenges and stresses of being a police officer, he said: “Police budgets have been stripped and thousands of officers are leaving because of stress, staffing levels and the lack of resources.
“That is making it harder and harder for the officers left.
“I was very proud to have been a cop. I just hope in the tragic deaths of Nicola and Fiona that the public recognise what dangers the police face every day.”
patrick.hill@trinitymirror.com
Down The Line: The Julian Broddle story is available in Kindle format and paperback on Amazon.