A drugs boss had prison letters from one-eyed cop killer Dale Cregan in a bedside draw when police raided his home. Leon Atkinson, 44, stood trial accused of murder nearly ten years ago alongside his pal Cregan but was acquitted.
Now, though, been jailed for 15 years for his role in an international cocaine gang which also laundered more than £9 million in dirty money. During a search of his home in Atherton, officers found 'prison letters addressed to Aki from Dale Cregan', Manchester Crown Court heard.
The letters were found in a bedside table in a chest of drawers in the property's master bedroom. Cregan will die behind bars after being handed a whole life term for four murders, including police officers Pc Nicola Hughes, 23, and Pc Fiona Bone, 32.
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Cregan also murdered 23-year-old amateur boxer Mark Short at The Cotton Tree pub in Droylsden in May 2012, before murdering his victim's father, 46-year-old David Short, in a gun-and grenade attack at his home in Clayton three months later. Prosecutors at Cregan's trial alleged that he was acting on orders from Atkinson to exact revenge against the Short family, after one of them had 'disrespected' his mother.
Atkinson denied any involvement and told jurors that Cregan, a gym partner with whom he had been ‘good friends’, may have ‘done it off his own back’. Atkinson was cleared of murdering Mark Short and three associated counts of attempted murder.
PCs Hughes and Bone were murdered by Cregan in September 2012 while he remained on the run. They were lured to a house in Mottram, Tameside, to bogus reports of a burglary. Cregan ambushed the unarmed officers and opened fire, before using his 'calling card' of throwing a hand grenade at his victims. He later handed himself in to police.
The trial in 2013 heard that a feud between the Shorts and the Atkinsons preceded Cregan's killing spree. Prosecutors alleged that Atkinson wanted to take revenge after Raymond Young, an extended member of the Short family, slapped Leon Atkinson's mother after she repeatedly tried to bottle him in Droysden's Cotton Tree pub.
Young had chuckled when she had made a sexual comment in the pub, the trial heard. Cregan had a feud with the Short family and David Short in particular, which went back to his youth as he got into fights with his nephews.
Atkinson, of Brindley Close, Atherton, denied any involvement, and said he had been ‘happy’ with Young's explanation. He was acquitted.
Now behind bars
Atkinson is now beginning a 15 year sentence, though, after being unmasked as a 'regional supplier' for a huge cocaine gang peddling drugs imported to the UK.
He sold on drugs imported into the UK by a contact was linked to at least 28 kilos of cocaine. Atkinson took on 13 kilos of the 30 kilos of cocaine stolen in an audacious armed robbery at the stashhouse of a notorious Liverpool gang.
Two men were seriously injured after members of the Cox crime gang struck in a meticulously planned heist. The handover of the 13 kilos took place near Manchester City's training ground.
Prosecutor Richard Wright QC said Atkinson was 'part of a network of organised criminals and crime groups involved in the supply of substantial quantities of class A controlled drugs, in particular cocaine'.
"Those involved in the conspiracy to transfer criminal property were involved in transferring, in the space of three months, £9,331,090. This was plainly a national and international operation." The offences were committed from March to June 2020, at the height of lockdown.
Defending, Brett Weaver appealed to the sentencing judge not to sentence Atkinson on 'the basis of any reputation he may have'. He described Atkinson as a 'middle man' or 'broker'.
"He is not at the very top of the supply chain in this case," said Mr Weaver. He said Atkinson's wife has given birth since he was remanded in prison, and that the Covid lockdown has meant more restricted visiting.
Atkinson has now been sentenced to 15 years in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
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