Pottery Cottage murders

Pottery Cottage murders
Location	Pottery Cottage, Eastmoor, Chesterfield
Coordinates	53°14′16.8″N 1°32′47.4″W
Date	12-14 January 1977
Deaths	Arthur Minton (72) Amy Minton (68) Richard Moran (36) Sarah Moran (10) William Hughes (30; perpetrator)
Injured	4 (2 seriously)
Perpetrator	William Hughes

The Pottery Cottage murders happened in Eastmoor, Chesterfield in January 1977. William Thomas Hughes escaped from police whilst being moved from prison to court where he was facing charges of rape and assault.^[1] He stabbed two prison officers during his escape and then took five members of a local family hostage. Only one person from this family survived.^[2][3][4]

Police shot Hughes dead after he had killed four members of the family. He was the first person to be shot dead by the Derbyshire Constabulary.^[5][6]

References

1. "˜The bullet just bounced off his head and made him more wild". Lancashire Post. June 2, 2017.
2. "Knife-crazy killer shot dead". Daily Mirror. 15 January 1977. p. 1 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "Victims of the crazy knife killer". Daily Mirror. 16 January 1977. pp. 1, 4, 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. Roper, Matt (3 March 2020). "Pottery Cottage killings still haunt police investigator after four decades". Daily Mirror.
5. Crowson, Isaac (22 November 2017). "The hero cop who brought mass murderer's rampage to an end". Derby Telegraph.
6. "40 Years On: Four members of same family held captive and killed by escaped convict in Derbyshire". Derbyshire Times. January 17, 2017.