Pottery Cottage murders
The Pottery Cottage murders took place in Eastmoor, Chesterfield in January 1977, when William Thomas Hughes escaped from custody whilst being transferred from prison to court where he was facing charges of rape and grievous bodily harm. He stabbed two prison officers during his escape and then took five members of a local family hostage, only one of whom survived.

Hughes was shot dead by police marksmen after a high-speed, multiple-vehicle pursuit; he was the first person to be shot dead by Derbyshire Constabulary and the first prison escapee to be shot dead in the United Kingdom in modern times. Chief inspector Peter Howse was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct for his role in apprehending Hughes and saving the life of the survivor. The Prison Service were strongly criticised for systemic failures that prevented them from correctly assessing the danger Hughes had on society; no charges were made against individuals.
Q823600
Chesterfield
LOC
Q1546545
grievous bodily harm
Concept
Q5261560
Derbyshire Constabulary
ORG
Q145
United Kingdom
LOC
Q7269958
Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct
MEDIA
Q1607722
Prison Service
ORG
Q98879175
Pottery Cottage murders
Concept
1977-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
January 1977
DATE
country
country