Police tell man to get rid of knife he found just 50 yards from murder scene because they're too BUSY

A man today told of his shock after police told him to throw away a knife he’d found just yards from the scene of a fatal stabbing.

Dave MacDonald expected officers, who were desperately searching for the murder weapon, to be round his house within minutes of him making the phone call.

But, to his amazement, the civilian switchboard operator came back to say officers were too busy to collect the potentially vital clue to a young father’s death.

The engineer was stunned when the operator left a message with a work colleague saying: ‘Sorry love, we haven’t got time to pick the knife up - can you just throw it away yourself.’

It took another call to detectives before a shocked CID officer dashed over to see Mr MacDonald and take the six-inch-long paring knife away - and to thank him for his help.

Mr MacDonald, a works manager at a screw manufactures in Bolton, said: ‘I couldn’t believe the attitude of the operator.

‘You would think with all this knife crime going on, it would be all hands on deck.

‘There have been police trawling the streets looking for the weapon and I genuinely believed I had found it lying there.

'Yet this operator seemed to think it not important enough and asked that I throw it away myself - I couldn’t believe it.’

The incident occurred on Tuesday just two days after 31-year old martial arts expert Paul Gilligan was stabbed to death outside the Pepper Alley pub in Bolton.

The killing was the climax to a weekend of knife crime in the town in which five people were stabbed.

Although a teenager was held over Gilligan’s murder, detectives from Greater Manchester Police failed to find the murder weapon.

Officers from the Tactical Aid Unit, armed with equipment to search down drains, conducted a sweep of the area immediately surrounding the entrance to the pub.

Mr MacDonald made his discovery while taking his lunch break outside his work - just 400 yards from the scene of the stabbing.

He added: ‘We were just walking round the corner just outside our offices when I saw trhe knife lying in a doorway.

‘Because it was so close to the murder I just put two and twio togther and thought it was the murder weapon which killed Mr Gilligan.

‘I called up police and got a switchboard operator who took my details said someone would come back to me.

‘A short while later we got a call back at work and the operator left a message telling us officers did not have time to pick up the knife said we should dispose of it ourselves. I was furious.’

‘There was no way we were going to dispose of that knife. I made some others calls and a phone call was made to the local CID who immediately sent an officer to pick it up.

‘He was very grateful for our help and apologised for what happened. They even rang me at home to say thanks again.

Mr MacDonald’s boss John Crowder, director of Ajax Equipment said: ‘I was shocked when Dave told me what had happened.

‘It doesn’t really fill you with confidence. I was just so disgusted. I find it totally unbelievable.

'You get gangs of youths driving cars around here and dumping all sorts of stuff.

‘This is the small kind of knife they seem to be carrying about these days.

'Even if this knife has nothing to do with a stabbing, the police should still be taking it away.’

Police are examining the weapon and are to investigate why Mr MacDonald was told to dispose of the knife.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Hitchen, from Bolton CID, said he was reviewing the circumstances of the call and thanked Mr MacDonald for bringing it the police’s attention.

He added: ‘As soon as we heard about it, we collected the knife and I would encourage members of the public to continue reporting any such findings to us.

‘The public has a huge part to play in helping to solve crimes and the information they provide is vital.’

Mr Gilligan from Little Hulton, was killed during a night out in Bolton town centre.

A post-mortem examination revealed he received two stab wounds, one to the chest and one to the shoulder, in an incident in the Pepper Alley pub in Crown Street, just after 12.50am on Sunday.

Annual crime figures revealed Greater Manchester has the third highest level of knife crime in England and Wales.

The figures show there were 2,294 incidents between April, 2007, and March, 2008, and were released days after a recent spree of five knife attacks in Bolton.

But Superintendent Dave Flitcroft said ‘Crime in Bolton, including knife crime, has reduced overall.

‘The events of last weekend were unprecedented and do not reflect the reality in relation to the level of knife crime.

Any knife crime is a concern and we will re-double our efforts to prevent similar tragedies from taking place.’

Leon Ramsden, 19, of Chorley New Road, Bolton, has been charged with Mr Gilligan’s murder and is due to appear at Manchester Crown Court on July 23.