Man charged with street shooting of Dillon, 5

A 26-year-old man was yesterday charged with murdering schoolboy Dillon Hull in an apparent drugs-related shooting last week. Five-year-old Dillon was gunned down as he went to buy a bottle of pop with his stepfather, John Bates, 28, near the family's home in Bolton, Greater Manchester, last Wednesday.

Greater Manchester police said that the man, of Bolton, would appear before magistrates in the town today charged with the boy's murder and the attempted murder of Mr Bates, who was shot in the abdomen.

The man was among three arrested on Wednesday when armed police swooped on a terraced house a short distance away from the street where Dillon lived with Mr Bates and his mother, Jane Hull. The two other men, aged 25 and 29, were released on police bail on Thursday. The man was charged only a few hours after magistrates had granted detectives permission to continue questioning him for a further 36 hours.