I have a stupid question and I know mumsnet will know

[bigbadbarry]

Why are they naming this Dale Cregan, are they not usually very careful to say "a man is being held"? Is it because he was already wanted?

He was already out on bail for attempted murder and the police had been looking for him. I believe there was a £50K reward to find him. I am sure that is what I read last night.

They quite often name the person arrested. Not unusual at all.

Are you sure? Usually the official naming is when charges are brought (before that they give age, sex and perhaps location) as soemtimes those arrested are completely exonerated. If course information about the case already in the public domain means it's someiptimes easy to work out who the detainees must be (recent exampe: Philpott parents).

In is case there is also a public interest because of the pre-existing manhunt, and also he turned himself in rather than being apprehended, and I don't know if either of ise factors make a difference.

Oops sorry I wandered off. I also thought that while they name people who have been charged, they don't usually do so before.

Pretty sure it's because he was wanted anyway, his name had already been released for that.

They named the landlord in Bristol who had nothing whatsoever to do with killing his tenant, and hadn't been charged.

I said that to DH but he thought he was named by the press not by the police. I can't remember.

I can't remember either. But how would the press have known if the police hadn't told them?

Isn't it because he handed himself in, and therefore I presume pleaded guilty/admitted the crime?

I'm not sure though but that was my take on it.

He handed himself in because the police had already said they wanted to talk to him etc. but I don't think that he has pleaded guilty, as there would be no need to keep questioning him if he had.

Now they are naming e other chap they have arrested and I don't think he had broken bail. Maybe they always can but sometimes choose not to?

Miss M The police did not name the Bristol landlord. It was the media who did that.

How would they know? Well, it wasn't difficult to work out and they were hanging around the place all the time and would have seen him leave anyway.

Meanwhile the BBC are reporting that the man arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder re the two GMP officers has been released without charge. Not sure if it was the police who named him or not.

It will be a long time before Cregan is asked to enter a plea, that process comes a long way down the line. Makes no odds if he admits anything now or not. Look at the bloke charged with the murder of Sian O'Callaghan. He showed them where her body was AND volunteered the burial site of another victim that no one knew about .... and he is pleading Not Guilty.