Stabbed burglar householder bailed

Police at the scene in Salford where a suspected burglar was stabbed to death
12 April 2012

A householder who was arrested on suspicion of murdering a burglar has been released on bail, police said.

Peter Flanagan has been bailed to July 25 pending further inquiries.

John Bennell, 27, from Hyde, Greater Manchester, died from a stab wound to the chest after four masked men tried to break in the back door of a terraced house in Salford at midnight on Wednesday.

Mr Flanagan, 59, was arrested on suspicion of murder. His son Neil, 27, and a 21-year-old woman have since been released.

Meanwhile, police have also arrested a man in connection with the incident on suspicion of burglary. The man, 30, from the Tameside area, was arrested on Friday and is in police custody, Greater Manchester Police said.

Officers were earlier granted an extension of 36 hours to question Mr Flanagan, before he was bailed.

Police sources confirmed that Mr Bennell had been arrested in Tamworth, Staffordshire, earlier this month on suspicion of burglary. He was held in custody overnight and then released by Staffordshire Police pending further inquiries.

It is believed he was carried from the house in Ethel Avenue, Salford, to a nearby street after being stabbed in the break-in.

Police were first alerted by a frantic 999 call from a woman to reports of a burglary at the house, then a second call to reports of an injured man being carried along the street nearby.

Mr Bennell was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. A post-mortem examination confirmed he died as a result of a knife wound to the chest. Police have made an appeal to the public to try to trace his accomplices.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in