Alison remembered

Chief Supt Tim Forber addresses the memorial service outside Oldham police station, in Barn Street

Tribute to PC 10 years after she was killed on duty
Police colleagues, friends and family of PC Alison Armitage gathered at her memorial to mark the tenth anniversary of her death.

Alison was killed in the line of duty on March 5, 2001, as she and colleagues investigated a stolen car, and tributes were laid on Friday at her memorial in George Square, near Oldham police station.

PC Armitage, who lived in Grotton, worked in the Operational Support Unit at Chadderton Police Station. The week before her death she had helped arrest a gang of armed bank robbers in Shaw.

The 29-year-old officer died from pelvic and chest injuries after she was struck by a stolen Vauxhall Vectra in a derelict pub car park in Robert Street, Hollinwood.

PC Armitage was the first Greater Manchester policewoman to be killed in the line of duty.

Thomas Whaley (19), of Abbeyhills Road, Oldham, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of gross negligence in 2002 and was jailed for eight years.