Cregan Trial: CCTV Shown Of Grenade Attack

A jury has heard that one of Dale Cregan's alleged victims was chased through his house and shot repeatedly, before a grenade was thrown at him causing "devastating" injuries.

The evidence emerged at Preston Crown Court, where Cregan is also facing charges that he murdered women police officers Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone in a gun and grenade attack.

The jury heard that three months after his son Mark was gunned down in a local pub over a perceived snub to a rival family, killers turned up at David Short's door.

"He was chased through the house and shot many times," said prosecutor Nicholas Clarke QC.

"He tried to run around the side of the house to escape. His injuries were already unsurvivable and then a grenade was thrown onto him.

"Its explosion had devastating consequences for his torso. It is the first time in this country that a military grenade has been deployed in this way."

The court was played CCTV footage showing the deadly attacks on both Mark and David Short, video that has now been released.

Earlier, Mr Clarke told the jury about the background to the murder of Mark Short at the Cotton Tree pub on May 25.

He said: "The Short family had been involved for a number of years in a long-standing feud with members of another local family, the Atkinsons.

"The families had reached a state of uneasy peace following their lengthy dispute."

But the court heard that on May 13, there was a row in the Gardeners Arms pub which carried on into the Cotton Tree.

The row was between Theresa Atkinson - dubbed "the matriarch of the Atkinson family" - and Raymond Young, a member of the Short family.

The jury was told she responded by shouting: "I'm going to get you done by my sons, I'm gonna get you done by my sons."

Mr Clarke told the court that after this incident Theresa Atkinson repeatedly tried to contact her son Leon's mobile phone and they spoke the next morning.

Mr Clarke said straight after that call Leon Atkinson contacted his two brothers and sent a text message to his "old friend" Dale Cregan, who then began making contact with the other defendants alleged to be involved with the Cotton Tree murder.

The jury heard on the night of May 25 the Short family and friends gathered at the Cotton Tree pub for drinks.

The prosecution claims Leon Atkinson, 35, from Ashton-under-Lyne, travelled to a caravan park in Prestatyn, North Wales, to give himself an "incontrovertible alibi".

Cregan, Luke Livesey, 27, from Hattersley, and Damian Gorman, 37, from Glossop, were to carry out the attack, it is claimed.

Ryan Hadfield, 28, from Droylsden, and Matthew James, 33, from Clayton, were to act as "spotters" to ensure the targets - the Short family - were in the pub.

A car pulled up at the pub at 11.49pm, which the prosecution say carried Cregan, Livesey and Gorman.

Mr Clarke said Raymond Young was in the bar and saw the door open. He saw the gunman enter wearing a black balaclava.

"In his outstretched hand was a gun. The gun was fired. Mark Short was nearest to the door when the gunman came in," Mr Clarke said.

Mark Short fell to the ground as the firing continued, focused on the people stood around a pool table.

Three more men, John Collins, Michael Belcher and Ryan Pridding, were also hit and fell to the floor, before the gunman jumped into the front seat of the waiting car.

Mr Clarke added: "At the time that his son Mark was shot, David Short, the head of the Short family, was using the toilet. Otherwise he himself would have been a target. His son died in his arms."

All of the men deny the charges. The trial continues.