Forensic investigators involved in bringing evil murderer Dale Cregan to justice spent three days camped at a home in Herne Bay, it can be revealed today.

Officers from Greater Manchester Police raided the house in Chapel Street in March.

Details of the search can be exclusively revealed for the first time as reporting restrictions have been lifted after Cregan was jailed for life yesterday.

The 29-year-old spent time in the seaside town while on the run from police before taking a taxi to Manchester the day before killing two WPCs.

Print dust was seen on the front door of the house several days after the police search earlier this year.

Several vehicles - including forensic vans, police cars and dog teams - were spotted outside.

Allan Woods, landlord of the Rodneys Sports Bar in North Street, which overlooks the address, said: "Plain clothed CID officers came in and asked if we have CCTV.

"They went upstairs, had a look and took a copy of certain bits.

"I asked if it was about a murder in the town and he said it was a national story, a lot bigger, and showed me a Manchester Police warrant.

“The next thing I knew, three or four forensic vans pulled up in the car park and were going into this house on Chapel Street.

"They were in and out all day and had someone there all night outside."

Reports suggest 16 police officers were at the scene.

Mr Woods, 48, added: "When they opened the door we could see the floor was covered in white dust and the forensic teams were doing their bit.

"They were there for three days, with 24-hour surveilance."

The house is about seven years old and has a small garden of about five metres square.

Cregan, 29, was jailed for life after admitting killing Hyde-based PC Nicola Hughes, 23, from Saddleworth, and PC Fiona Bone, 32, from Sale.

Less than a day earlier, he had taken a 270-mile taxi ride from Herne Bay to Birmingham, before travelling to Manchester later that night.

Cregan, of no fixed address, used Herne Bay firm Abacus Cars to make his journey north, paying £200 in cash for the £190 fare.

He originally asked to go to Gatwick, but then changed his mind - possibly when he realised there were no immediate flights to Manchester.

It is not clear why he was in the east Kent seaside resort.

Less than 24 hours later, Cregan murdered the two unarmed police officers in a gun and grenade attack after they responded to a report of a burglary.

He had been on the run from police after the murder of David Short in Manchester last August and was spotted in several locations across the country.

Greater Manchester Police said seven people remain on bail in connection with assisting an offender.

A spokesman said: "There is an ongoing investigation to identify those people involved in assisting defendants linked to this trial while they were on the run.

"As such, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage as this forms part of a live investigation."

Last month, Cregan changed his plea to guilty in his trial for the murder of Mark Short, 23, in a Droylsden pub in May last year — then shooting the amateur boxer’s dad David, 46, at his Clayton home in August.

The jury was told by his own barrister: "He will die in prison."

Cregan's barrister Simon Csoka QC told jurors: "We are dealing with someone who when he sets out to kill, he kills."

"We are dealing with someone who when he sets out to kill, he kills..." - Simon Csoka QC

At the lengthy trial in Preston Crown Court, two others – Luke Livesey, 27, from Hattersley, and Damian Gorman, 37, from Glossop – were also found guilty of murdering Mark Short. Three others were cleared.

Three people – John Collins, Ryan Pridding and Michael Belcher – were injured in the burst of gunfire at the Cotton Tree pub.

Gorman and Livesey were also found guilty of the attempted murder of the trio, while three others were cleared.

Jermaine Ward, 24, was found guilty of the murder of David Short, while another man was cleared. Anthony Wilkinson, 33, from Beswick, had already pleaded guilty during the trial to murdering Short.

He and Cregan were found not guilty of attempted murder of Sharon Hark and causing an explosion with a hand grenade.

A total of three men were found not guilty of causing an explosion, while Mohammed Imran Ali, 23, from Chadderton, was found guilty of assisting an offender.