A LOCAL man being hunted by detectives investigating a triple murder was arrested after a spectacular car crash near Hawkshaw early yesterday.
Peter Hall (34), from Moss Shaw Way, Radcliffe, was detained by two Bury police officers after being found hiding near the scene of the accident.
Earlier, Bolton CID had taken the unusual step of naming Hall as the man they wanted to quiz over the death of his girlfriend Celeste Bates (30), and her sons Daniel, aged eight, and 16-month-old Milo.
Celeste, a residential home worker, and her two children were discovered battered to death at their terraced home in Egerton, Bolton, on Wednesday.
Hours before Hall was arrested, the Greater Manchester Police helicopter made several sweeps over Radcliffe's Moss Shaw estate in a bid to locate the wanted man.
Then, at 2.10am yesterday, his red Honda Civic smashed into a telegraph pole after careering out of control on Tottington Road, near its junction with Watling Street.
The vehicle was catapulted across the remote road and landed in a compound storing empty gas cylinders. Hall suffered only cuts and bruises.
Minutes after the crash, local residents discovered Hall sitting on the grass putting on his shoes. As they went to help him, he leapt to his feet and ran off.
Residents contacted the police and within minutes all roads and country lanes were sealed off.
A police helicopter was scrambled to the area and hovered overhead using its heat-seeking detection equipment as officers searched fields.
Hall was arrested within 15 minutes, hiding less than half a mile from the scene of the accident.
Late yesterday afternoon, murder squad detectives revealed that they were not seeking anyone else in connection with the three deaths.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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