Cregan Arrest: Suspect Was Held At Gunpoint

The man arrested on suspicion of killing two policewomen was held at gunpoint after walking into a police station, it has emerged.

Counter staff hit a panic button then asked Dale Cregan to go back outside Hyde police station in Greater Manchester, where he was confronted by armed officers who had been scrambled to the scene.

Cregan, 29, had arrived at the station in a blue BMW around an hour after PCs Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32, had been killed in a gun and grenade attack on Tuesday morning.

The officers had been called to an empty council house in Abbey Gardens, Hatteserly, after an apparently routine burglary report.

Witnesses said a hail of bullets was fired, and a grenade was used.

Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "We can only imagine the reaction of the counter staff at the police station.

"This is an hour or so since the killing of the two police officers.

"They were clearly in some quandary about how to deal with him, and establish exactly who he was.

"He was kept talking, and whoever was dealing with him asked him to go back outside the police station.

"The panic button was pressed and by the time whoever was dealing with him had got him outside the police station an armed response unit had turned up.

"At that point Mr Cregan was held at gunpoint while police did what they could to establish what he was telling them, and exactly who he was."

Cregan is still being questioned on suspicion of the deaths of the two police officers, and in connection with the murders of David and Mark Short who died earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Detectives are trying to piece together the final moments of the fallen officers, while forensic teams scour the area they were killed in for clues.

A police cordon remains in the area for specialist officers to carry out their examination of the site.

Earlier, a forensic expert could be seen up a ladder examining the gutter of a house on the street, while others checked drains.