Interview with Mohammed Imran Ali

Locally, Mohammed Imran Ali is a homelessness volunteer, a community-minded businessman, and a boxing gym director. 

But further afield, he’s known for a very different reason. In 2013, ‘Irish Imy’ was convicted as the ‘getaway driver’ for cop killer Dale Cregan – who also murdered a father and son, David and Mark Short.

With his conviction now spent – meaning under the eyes of the law, it can be ‘effectively ignored’ as of September last year – Ali wants to add a new entry to the long list of job titles he’s accrued since leaving prison: as councillor for Werneth at Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council. 

“My past is in plain sight,” Ali said. “They’re not my proudest moments. But if there’s a better person out there for the job, show me, and I’ll get behind them instead.” 

Ali agreed to meet the M.E.N. to speak about his ‘Make Werneth Great Again’ election campaign, inviting us to a private room at the Failsworth Housing Units. Arriving in a large black range rover, wearing a well-tailored tweed suit, he has clear trepidations about the interview. 

He’s open about his past, but says he’s also frustrated that his name is ‘frequently demonised’ both online and in the council chambers – and by the media. 

“It was a complete waste of life,” he said when asked how he reflects on that period of his life. “That’s why I speak to the local community to deter youngsters from going down that path. I think a lot of me helping people is me dealing with my own PTSD from that lifestyle.”

On February 12, 2013, Dale Cregan lured two young police officers, PC Fiona Bone, 32, and PC Nicola Hughes, 23, to the scene of a staged burglary in Hattersley. He then murdered them in a vicious gun and grenade attack. 

Ali’s involvement predates the police murders, when Cregan set his sights on the alleged ‘rival family’ of the Shorts, carrying out several attempted and two actual murders. Cregan open-fired at a pub in Droylsden, and carried out further violent attacks in Clayton, including with grenades. 

“I didn’t know Cregan,” Ali said. “I got a call from a friend who said he needed help. When I got there, there were two other men with him. One of them was Cregan. 

“They told me they’d shot Dave Short, we need a place to stay and lay low. I took them to an apartment I had access to in Leeds, dropped them off there, and that was it. Six weeks later, the idiot has done what he’s done, and we’ve all been remanded in custody.”

At court, Judge Holroyde sentenced Ali to seven years for ‘a serious example of the offence of assisting an offender’. Aggravating factors included Ali’s ‘bad record’, with drug trafficking offences and an assault. 

The first time Ali left juvenile prison, he wanted to join the army and turn his life around, he told the M.E.N. But the dream quickly shattered when the army recruiter asked him if he had a criminal record.

Ali said: “When a young lad with a chip on his shoulder, when he’s trying to change his life and he gets that kick in his face, then you sort of become anti-establishment. The only other role models in my community at that time were people who were living the criminal lifestyle. So I got drawn into it. 
 

“Every job I went to saw I had a criminal record and turned me down. This is [part of the reason] I want to become a councillor – because I know the system. I know how it sets up people to fail.”
 
It was in prison, shortly before his early release in 2016, that Ali said he realised his true calling. 

“I was watching an ad on TV about the Yemen war. And I thought as soon as I come out – I want to start helping others,” he said. Unable to travel on probation, he started volunteering with homeless shelters and foodbanks. 

Ali said: “When you go down that path, you start to notice things – the deprivation in the area. For me the area I grew up in in Werneth, it was such a vibrant area. But when I was driving around, it was depressing. Everything’s gone to pot. The alleyways were filthy, the houses were worn down. There was just no life. 

“I remember [when I was younger] people knocking on their neighbours’ doors and passing food around that they’d cooked that day. It was a wonderful place to live. Now people don’t bother with each other. I thought: something needed to be done.” 

Gradually, Ali says he became more involved in the community – organising events, distributing donated food and bedding, working as an NHS responder during the pandemic. Some of his methods were ‘unorthodox’ such as ‘vigilante’ crime-watch groups.

“But I kept thinking why is it like this?” Ali went on. “Obviously, 14 years of austerity from the Tories hasn’t helped. But it was deeper than that. It was like the community lost the will. 

“I was looking at councillors then, and I was wondering – what have they actually done? They could have been pushing for more. Over time, I feel, that’s what created the deprivation in Werneth.” 

Ali is contesting the seat from Labour councillor Fida Hussain, who was first elected in 2002. Hussain wouldn’t directly respond to a request for comment, but council leader Arooj Shah defended him as an ‘outstanding colleague and ward councillor’. 

Cllr Shah said: “For over two decades Fida has served the people of Werneth with commitment and possesses deep local knowledge. The entire Labour group and I will be campaigning relentlessly to ensure he is returned in May, so he can continue standing up for residents and delivering for the community he has represented since 2002.”

There is a long-standing friendship between Ali and Shah, which is often referenced by elected members in the council chambers, and more often discussed online. 

“I’m definitely used as a political bashing tool in the council,” Ali said. “My name is mentioned a lot. But I just think: you’re wasting tax payer’s money. I’m a tax payer, and I know what I want my money spent on – and it’s not for councillors to have political digs at people.

“If I didn’t have a friendship with Arooj, I could’ve quite easily come out of prison and be getting on with my life. I wouldn’t have been brought into public life. These vocal idiots have forced me to come into public life. So I’m here now. 

“Everything they’re going to say is all old news. There’s no substance to it. … Everyone’s manifestos talk about rehabilitation: I’ve served my time. That’s the British justice system.”

Ali’s manifesto is clear: tackle deprivation in Werneth and bring the community together again. Asked if he believes he’ll win the election, he answers with an unblinking ‘yeah’ without hesitation. 

“For a long time, people have just been blind voting, just letting the elders vote,” he said. “Now they’ve got an alternative.” 

As we part ways in the snow outside the Housing Unit, Ali speaks more freely about the debt he feels he owes Werneth – for welcoming him and his family when they moved there from Ireland – and how that has motivated his work in the community. 

“I mean, don’t look at my past, look at my f****** present!” he called out. Then waved us off with a bright red gully-grab he’s got stashed in the back of his huge Range Rover for blocked storm drains. 

Ali is standing as an independent in the upcoming local elections; Fida Hussain is standing for Labour; and Rangzib Nazir is standing for te Oldham Group and Worker’s Party. Other parties are yet to announce their candidates.