Gangster accused of four murders 'fantasised about decapitating his enemy'

• Cregan denies murders of Mark and David Short in May and August 2012
• But psychiatrist claims he admitted the killings in pre-trial interviews
• Cregan was paranoid the Short family were trying to kill him, trial told
• Cregan also said he was a drug dealer who earned up to £20,000 a week
• Claims Cregan told him 'a big relief rushed through my body' after
• 'Fantasised smashing his head with a hammer and cutting his head off'
• Later murdered PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone with gun and grenade
  

By Helen Lawson for the Daily Mail

Published: 08:46 EST, 21 March 2013 | Updated: 08:00 EST, 22 March 2013

Dale Cregan, who killed PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone in September, is on trial for the murders of David and Mark Short

One-eyed killer Dale Cregan told a psychiatrist that he fantasised about stabbing a father, smashing his head with a hammer and cutting his head off, a court heard.

Cregan, 29, is on trial for the murders of father and son David and Mark Short in August and May last year, which he denies.

He went on to kill PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone in an ambush in Hattersley, Greater Manchester, in September.

In one interview Cregan allegedly admitted all four killings and told the psychiatrist he had 'the best sleep of my life' after killing David Short, 46, with his 'calling card' of a hand grenade.

Cregan also said he was a drug dealer who earned up to £20,000 a week, he was paranoid that the Short family were trying to kill him and he had 'fantasies' about murdering David Short.

Cregan is accused of shooting David Short before tossing a hand grenade at him, blowing his body apart at his home in Clayton, east Manchester, just months after shooting dead his son Mark Short, 23, in an attack on the Cotton Tree Pub in Droylsden, Manchester, on May 25 last year.

After months on the run, Cregan lured PC Hughes, 23, and PC Bone, 32, with a bogus burglary report before he opened fire on the unarmed and unsuspecting officers and threw a hand grenade at the stricken victims.

Dr James Collins, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, told Preston Crown Court he interviewed Cregan three times in January this year ahead of the trial.

He said Cregan told him David Short had threatened to rape his sister and his son, and he was worried the Short family would also harm his other family.

Dr Collins, quoting Cregan from notes he made of the interviews, said: '"I used to get visions of them killing my son, perhaps by a stray bullet. I was also worried about my mother and brother.

'Since I lost my eye it’s been worse.

'I thought if I killed David Short I thought all these thoughts would go away.

'I did feel better after killing him. I felt better for a couple of days but all the thoughts came back.

'The paranoia was so bad I used to just sit in the house on my own.

'David Short was the biggest threat. I felt quite good about myself when I killed him"'

Nicholas Clarke QC, prosecuting, asked Dr Collins: 'Did you specifically ask him about the offences he is charged with?'

A consultant forensic psychiatrist told the court that Cregan told him David Short (left, with son Mark) had threatened to rape his sister and his son and he was worried the Short family would also harm his other family

Dr Collins replied: 'He told me that he killed two police officers and David Short and he also killed Mark Short.

'He told me he had been thinking of killing David Short for five years in a general sense but more particularly in some detail for some weeks.'

Cregan told the psychiatrist that on the day Mark Short was murdered, he had been to the gym then went on to drink 10 bottles of Peroni in a pub and took some cocaine.

He described going into the Cotton Tree Pub and shooting John Short, Michael Belcher, also a member of the Short family, and Mark Short - but David Short was in the toilet when he entered the pub.

Mark Short was blasted in the neck and died in his father’s arms.

Cregan told Dr Collins: 'David Short had previously told me if I killed him, Mark and John would kill me.

'I was not really bothered about the others. I just wanted to kill David Short.

'The night I shot David Short I had the best sleep of my life.'

Cregan has already admitted the killings of PC Fiona Bone, left, and PC Nicola Hughes, right, in September 2012

Cregan added: 'I had thoughts of killing David Short since he threatened to rape my sister.

'I couldn’t get him out of my head. It was on my mind constantly, I could not put the thoughts away.

'I thought if I kill him, maybe I will get a rest.

'When I was having my fantasies I used to think about stabbing him repeatedly, smashing his head with a hammer and cutting his head off.

'I shot David Short point-blank in the head, three times, but I would have preferred it if I would’ve used a knife.

'I felt calm before killing David Short but, after, a big relief rushed through my body.

'If I’d had time, I would have cut his head off and arms and legs. I would’ve gone and got a knife from the kitchen and used that.

'The thoughts were such, I knew I would have to do it.

'However, after I killed Mark Short, he said he would rape my son, he said he would set him on fire.

'He threatened my whole family. He told me "The gloves are off".

'So I was always going to kill him.

'It was not an urge - it was because what it was doing to me if I didn’t do it.'

Cregan told the psychiatrist that, as a youngster, he would have fist fights with the nephews of David Short, who came into his neighbourhood and tried to bully people.

He said he would not let them bully him and he also developed a 'bad fetish' for knives.

He said he spent 18 months with his sister in Tenerife and, when he returned, began to own guns because he was interested in them, not because he needed them while drug dealing, and he went on to own around 10 firearms including machine guns.

Mark Short was killed at the Cotton Tree pub in May last year

Cregan said he began dealing cocaine at the age of 22, making £20,000 a week.

He would get drugs from Holland and would only deal with a couple of people he knew to distribute them.

He also acquired hand grenades from Holland, the court heard.

Cregan said the problem with the Short family was not a turf war over drugs because 'as far as he knew' they did not deal drugs.

The jury heard that Cregan denied involvement in an incident when David Short was knocked off his motorbike and had his throat cut.

But he did admit confronting him in an earlier incident and firing a gun five times at his enemy - but the weapon was loaded with blank cartridges.

Cregan denies that any of his co-defendants were involved in the alleged murders.

He denies the Short murders and the attempted murder of the three others injured in the pub attack along with causing an explosion and the attempted murder of Sharon Hark in a separate attack minutes after the murder of David Short.

Leon Atkinson, 35, from Ashton-under-Lyne, is alleged to have first ordered the attack on the Shorts after his mother was slapped by one of their family.

He denies the murder of Mark Short and the attempted murder of the three others in the pub at the time, along with Luke Livesey, 27, from Hattersley, Damian Gorman, 38, from Glossop, Ryan Hadfield, 28, from Droylsden, and Matthew James, 33, from Clayton, who all deny the same charges.

Anthony Wilkinson, 33, from Beswick, Manchester, denies the murder of David Short, the attempted murder of Sharon Hark, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and causing an explosion.

Jermaine Ward, 24, and Francis Dixon, 37, from Stalybridge, both deny the murder of David Short, the attempted murder of Sharon Hark and one count of causing an explosion.

Mohammed Ali, 32, from Chadderton, denies assisting an offender.

The trial continues.