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Police-killer Dale Cregan's mother cleared | Police-killer Dale Cregan's mother cleared |
(35 minutes later) | |
Police-killer Dale Cregan's mother has been cleared of obtaining secret information from a police worker during a manhunt for her son. | |
Anita Cregan, 56, Kathryn Smith, 25 and Sean Booth, 31 all denied misconduct in a public office between 1 September 2011 and 9 September 2012. | |
At Manchester Crown Court, Ms Smith, a police call handler, was cleared of looking for and disclosing information. | |
Mr Booth and Mrs Cregan were cleared of aiding and abetting her to offend. | |
At the time of the alleged offences, Dale Cregan was on the run from Greater Manchester Police (GMP). | |
He was being sought in connection with the murders of father and son David and Mark Short and a £50,000 reward was on offer for his arrest. | |
The prosecution claimed that Ms Smith, of Condor Close, Droylsden, used a police computer system while on duty to check developments in the search for the murderer. | |
The jury was told she passed the information to her then boyfriend, Mr Booth, who lived on the same street and grew up with Dale Cregan. | |
In turn, he passed details on to Cregan's mother, the court heard. | |
The daughter of a police inspector with GMP, Ms Smith burst into tears and covered her face as the verdict was given. | |
Outside court Mrs Cregan, of Sutton Drive, Droylsden, said: "I thank the jury for coming to their decision and it should never have come to court anyway in the first place. | |
"I feel sorry for Kathryn and Sean, they were only here because they were linked to me and my name is Cregan." | |
Dale Cregan was given a whole-life sentence in June for the murders of PCs Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23. | |
They were shot dead by the fugitive when he lured them to a house in Hattersley by reporting a fake burglary. | |
He was also jailed for the murders of David and Mark Short. |