Prisoners 'compete to collect £20,000 bounty on double police killer Dale Cregan's one remaining eye after he is moved back to jail'

  • Dale Cregan murdered PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes in September 2012
  • He's serving a whole life sentence for four murders and three attempted murders
  • The head of a London crime family has offered Cregan's fellow inmates £20k to take his remaining eye  - he lost the other in unknown circumstances  

The one-eyed killer: Cregan, 34, is serving a whole life sentence for four murders, including two female police officers

The one-eyed killer: Cregan, 34, is serving a whole life sentence for four murders, including two female police officers

Double police killer Dale Cregan is living in fear as fellow prisoners queue up to collect a £20,000 bounty on his one remaining eye.

Cregan, 34, is serving a whole life sentence for the murders of two female police officers in 2012 by falsely luring them to his home with fake reports of criminal damage.

He was jailed in 2013 after admitting to four murders, but was moved to Ashworth Hospital shortly after when he went on hunger strike.

The bounty was put out on the killer's eye by the head of a London crime family, who is also behind bars, the Daily Star reported. He feels sympathy towards David Short, 46, and his son Mark, 23, who Cregan killed.  

The cocaine kingpin was told he would die in prison when he was jailed for life without parole for shooting police officers Fiona Bone, 32,  and Nicola Hughes, 23, in 2012.

He was already on the run for the murders of David and Mark Short when he killed the two policewomen after luring them to a house with a fake 999 call before shooting them 32 times on the doorstep and then throwing a grenade at them.

The murderer, who is also a convicted drug-dealer, lost his other eye in unknown circumstances years ago.

Police discovered the 34-year-old is at risk of attack, as the bounty has been on offer since he was jailed in 2013.  

The crime lord has said the £20,000 reward is payable upon the destruction of Cregan's good right eye.  

Cregan became known as 'the one-eyed killer' after a highly publicised trial in 2013 where he was convicted on four murders and three attempted murders.  

He wears a black false eye in his left socket which became a badge of honour on the streets while he was at large. 

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Cregan murdered police officers Fiona Bone, 32, (left) and Nicola Hughes, 23, (right) in September 2012

Cregan murdered police officers Fiona Bone, 32, (left) and Nicola Hughes, 23, (right) in September 2012

Cregan was on the run for the murders of father and son Mark Short, 23, and David Short, 46, (pictured together) when he killed PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes

Cregan was on the run for the murders of father and son Mark Short, 23, and David Short, 46, (pictured together) when he killed PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes

His criminal associates claim he used it to intimidate drug dealers while making £20,000 a week peddling cocaine.  

Various stories as to how he lost his eye have surfaced over the years. He claims it was lost in a fight with Thai police while others say it was damaged by a knuckleduster in a bar fight.   

But police have cast suspicion on both accounts as there is no scar damage around his eye socket.  

PC Fiona Bone was a victim of Cregan's bloody rampage

PC Fiona Bone was a victim of Cregan's bloody rampage

Their leading theory is it was carved out by a rival criminal.  

He is terrified of losing his one good eye and going blind, according to Daily Star sources. 

He spends most of his time hiding in his cell and has 'no friends in prison'.    

An insider said: 'He is a marked man and he knows it. 

'Many see putting a scar on Cregan's face or leaving him disfigured as some sort of trophy.    

After being handed a life sentence in 2013 following a £5 million trial, Cregan went to the HM Prison Full Sutton.   

But only a two months later he went on hunger strike and was transferred to Ashworth Hospital, where he bragged about using the gym, cooking pizzas and playing snooker.

He spent four years in the Merseyside mental health unit, where infamous Moors Murderer Ian Brady saw out his life, before returning to HMP Manchester, commonly known as Strangeways.

Ashworth hospital offers comfortable bedrooms and patients are allowed personal items such as CDs, photos and books.

Cregan was carrying several military grenades when he was arrested by police

Cregan was carrying several military grenades when he was arrested by police

The killer was arrested after he handed himself in at Hyde Road Police Station in Manchester Cregan is escorted to the hospital where he brags of snooker

The killer was arrested after he handed himself in at Hyde Road Police Station in Manchester Cregan is escorted to the hospital where he brags of snooker

Cregan was moved to Ashworth Hospital for four years when he went on hunger strike

Cregan was moved to Ashworth Hospital for four years when he went on hunger strike

Art and music workshops, pottery and cooking classes, and social events such as bingo and film nights are also offered to the patients.  

The Ministry of justice is keen to keep prisoners out of hospital an in jail.

It costs them £300,000-a-year to detain prisons in hospitals, six times what it does to keep them behind bars.  

Cregan is only the 49th prisoner in England and Wales to be give a 'whole life' sentence.

THE ONE-EYED POLICE KILLER 

One-eyed Dale Cregan is currently serving a life sentence for brutally killing four people, including two policewomen, in 2012 with guns and grenades.

Cregan's killing spree started when he murdered amateur boxer Mark Short, 23, at a pub in Droylsden, Manchester, in April.

Three other people, believed to be related to the victim, were also wounded, suffering leg and back injuries.

Four months later Mark Short's father David was killed in a gun attack in Clayton, Manchester. Mr Short had branded his son's murderers 'cowards'.

Nine minutes after the incident, police received reports that shots had been fired at a second property in Droylsden, where there was also a grenade blast. Nobody was injured in the incident.

Detectives said they wanted to speak to Cregan, who they had released in May after linking him to the first murder but did not have the evidence to charge him.

One-eyed Dale Cregan is currently serving a life sentence for brutally killing four people, including two policewomen, in 2012 with guns and grenades

One-eyed Dale Cregan is currently serving a life sentence for brutally killing four people, including two policewomen, in 2012 with guns and grenades

In September that year the killer used a fake 999 call to lure officers Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes to a house.

When they arrived, Cregan shot them and threw an M75 grenade at them. Both officers were hit by at least eight bullets as Cregan fired 32 shots in 31 seconds.

He later handed himself in at a police station, admitting to killing the unarmed women.

The gangster admitted the attempted murder of three others in a high profile court case the following year.

During his four-month trial, which began in February 2013, Cregan was detained at Manchester Prison.

The trial was held at Preston Crown Court, where scaffolding was erected to accommodate armed officers.

Police snipers watched over the building from nearby offices and the daily convoy, carrying Cregan between Manchester and Preston, included two prison vans, police cars, motorcycle outriders and a helicopter.

In total 120 Greater Manchester Police officers were deployed daily and the total cost of the trial was estimated to be in excess of £5 million.

Cregan was convicted of all four murders and three attempted murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order on June 13, 2013.

He was told he would never see release after admitting to the killings which prompted public outcry and an outpouring of sympathy for the police.

His accomplice, Anthony Wilkinson, was jailed for a minimum of 35 years for his part in the gun and grenade murder of David Short.

In April 2015 he was temporarily moved to the high-security psychiatric unit Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside after going on hunger strike for a second time.

He was said to have started refusing food at the Category A jail HMP Manchester, formerly known as Strangeways, after being moved to solitary confinement. 

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