The murder of Harry Collinson, the planning officer for Derwentside District Council, took place in 1991 at Butsfield, County Durham, England. At the time of the murder, the Derwentside District Council was involved in a dispute with Albert Dryden over the erection of a dwelling by Dryden in the countryside without planning permission. At approximately 9:00 am on 20 June 1991, as television news crews filmed, Dryden aimed a handgun—a .455 Webley Mk VI revolver—at Collinson and shot him dead. As the journalists and council staff fled, Dryden opened fire again, wounding television reporter Tony Belmont and Police Constable Stephen Campbell. A standoff situation followed as armed police officers—who had been on stand-by for the incident at nearby Consett—raced to the scene and Dryden retreated to a caravan on the property. Dryden warned them that the buildings were booby trapped with explosives, that he had planted land mines in the ground around the property, and had a cache of hand grenades inside the caravan. At approximately 11:20 am, police negotiators offered to install a field telephone to enable them to better communicate with him. Dryden came out of the caravan to the perimeter fence to watch them and, realising that Dryden's holster was empty, tactical firearms officer Sgt John Taylor immediately wrestled him to the ground. Assisted by PCs Chris Barber, Andy Reay and Philip Brown, Taylor was able to subdue Dryden and he was taken into police custody. Dryden was tried at Newcastle upon Tyne during March–April 1992. Found guilty of Collinson's murder, the attempted murder of council solicitor Michael Dunston—whom he had apparently been aiming for when he shot at the group—and the wounding of a reporter and a police officer, Dryden was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment and two terms of seven years' imprisonment, to run concurrently. Dryden's appeal against the conviction was dismissed, and his applications for parole were refused as he showed no remorse for his crimes. In 2017, Dryden suffered a stroke and was released from prison to a nursing home on compassionate grounds. Dryden died on 15 September 2018 aged 78 in a care home following his prison release. Background Albert Dryden Albert Dryden was born on 12 May 1940 at Consett, County Durham, England, which was then one of the world's most prominent steel-making towns. He was the fifth of eight children born to Albert and Nora Dryden. His parents