“I went outside and I saw a man at the bus stop lying there and someone was helping him.”He had been shot in the leg. “A helicopter was buzzing around overhead.”One of the cars pulled up at a bus stop and then headed back in the direction from which it had come.”By this stage, as they approached Rochdale, the gunmen were apparently firing indiscriminately at bystanders.A 75-year-old man waiting at a bus stop in Edenfield Road was shot in the leg as the car sped past.”I heard some echoing noises – at first I didn’t think they were gunshots,” said a local bookmaker. They dumped the Rover and hijacked a BMW saloon being driven by a 27-year-old woman.They are said to have fired their weapons into the air before forcing the woman into the back seat and setting off in the direction of Rochdale.”There were two marked police Range Rovers going at high speed, followed by other unmarked cars with flashing lights,” said Wendy Albison, 60, a hairdresser in the village of Bamford. The car sped off – the Lancashire officers in high-speed pursuit.With the force’s helicopter overhead, the chase headed south towards Manchester, with the police radio-ing their colleagues in the Greater Manchester force for assistance.In an attempt to shake off their pursuers, the men in the car drove into Horwich, near Bolton.

Dumping the woman owner of the car they had taken as hostage, the two men tried, unsuccessfully, to escape on foot.The drama that ended in the centre of Rochdale yesterday afternoon and resulted in the shooting of five bystanders, had begun an hour earlier at Thornton Services at Garstang on the M6 close to Lancaster.Police tried to question the occupants of a red Rover. The BMW went round the corner and I couldn’t see it any more then a lot more police vehicles arrived.”
Moments later, the police rammed the hijacked vehicle off the road and the two occupants jumped from the car, firing at the police who had surrounded them. “A BMW went by at about 90mph, followed by the first police car. “I heard a helicopter overhead and went out to see what was happening,” said Anthony Hodgson, who watched the gunmen tear past with a police convoy 200 yards behind, and people in the street diving for cover. AS THE silver BMW roared down the road, pursued by police, the front-seat passenger leant from his window repeatedly and shot at bystanders with an assault rifle. It brought it all up again now, and we feel it was for nothing.”An inquest in February 1997 recorded an open verdict on Louise’s death but criticised Dr Evans for her mathematical skills.Mrs Wood said: “We feel that it was right that Hilary Evans was let off She was made a scapegoat.”. The dosage should have been checked before being administered but it was not, the GMC was told.Dr Evans, 29, of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, was found not guilty of serious professional misconduct on Tuesday.Louise’s grandmother, Dorothy Wood, of Rotherham, said yesterday the family was “disgusted and distressed” by the decision “It was upsetting when it happened.

I’m very pleased with the decision that the GMC has reached today.”Allegations by nurses that they had warned Dr Michel the dose was excessive were found unproven.The morphine was supposed to sedate the seven-week premature baby, who weighed 1.5kg and was suffering breathing problems, so that a chest drain tube could be inserted.The dose was drawn up by Hilary Evans, a junior doctor, who made an error in calculation and placed a decimal point in the wrong place. Dr Shorland reported the matter to the coroner when she realised there was cause for concern, said her barrister, Robert Seabrook.Announcing the decision, Sir Herbert Duthie, chair of the GMC professional conduct committee, told both doctors: “Taking all relevant matters into consideration, the committee has adjudged you to be not guilty of serious professional misconduct.”Outside the hearing, Dr Michel said: “This has been a very long and distressing time for everyone involved, especially Louise’s family, and I realise that the matter has been fully investigated. She said she believed Louise’s death was caused by respiratory problems. The consultant should have known the morphine overdose was a possible cause of death, the committee found.Dr Shorland also should have immediately informed the coroner about the death of the baby.The consultant admitted to making “a grave error of judgement” in not referring the case to the coroner. Dr Jean Shorland, a consultant paediatrician whose job included monitoring drug dosages, instructed him to complete a “potentially misleading” death certificate, which made no mention of the overdose, the GMC professional conduct committee heard. Within an hour of the two injections she was dead.
Dr Vivian Michel, 45, a registrar, administered the fatal dose.

Louise Wood was one day old when she received a morphine dose 100 times the intended amount at Rotherham District General Hospital on 1 October 1995. TWO DOCTORS accused of covering up a massive morphine overdose given to a premature baby were found not guilty of serious professional misconduct yesterday by the General Medical Council. Whether the feeling is mutual remains to be seen.Lord Hollick, a New Labour supporter who has financial interests in television including Channel 5, already seems to be burying the hatchet with Mr Montgomery.He has been telling senior journalists at The Express that Mr Montgomery was “a good chief executive” at the Mirror.. The sale would involve a kiss-and-make-up act between Lord Hollick and Mr Montgomery as the two did not get on when Lord Hollick was a non-executive director at the Mirror group under Mr Montgomery.Journalists at The Express, a number of whom worked under Mr Montgomery, are said to be alarmed at the prospect of renewing acquaintance with him.One man who has stated in print that he is not the biggest fan of Mr Montgomery is the Express columnist and former Independent editor Andrew Marr.He is said to have run into Mr Montgomery at a restaurant where the latter said how nice it would be to work together again.