Cregan on "hunger strike" after move request rejected

Police killer Dale Cregan has gone on "hunger strike" at the maximum-security jail where he is serving his life sentence.

He is unhappy at being kept in segregation at HMP Full Sutton, near York – and has said he wants to be moved to Strangeways to be nearer his family.

It is understood he has begun refusing food after prison bosses rejected his request to be moved out of segregation.

Sources said that one-eyed Cregan, 30, wants to be able to be allowed to mix with other prisoners.He has also said he is unhappy at being kept in the high-security prison more than 80 miles away from Manchester.

Cregan, from Droylsden, was given a whole-life jail term in June for the murders of David Short, 46, and son Mark, 23, and policewomen Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32, in a horrifying gun and grenade attack.

Cregan has started his sentence segregated from other prisoners because of the continuing threat to his safety. It is understood he has only recently started to refuse food.

A spokeswoman for the Prison Service said the service does not comment on individual prisoners.She said: “We take food refusal extremely seriously. If a prisoner chooses to refuse food for any reason, the Prison Service works with healthcare staff to monitor their physical and mental health.

“Prisoners who are considered mentally capable are entitled to refuse health interventions, provided they fully understand the consequences of their decision.”

In June it was reported that a rival criminal gang had put a £20,000 bounty placed on his remaining good eye.

It is understood the imprisoned head of a crime family in the south of England made the ‘contract’ payable on the destruction of Cregan’s one good right eye in prison.