THE MIND-NUMBING moment a father learned of the horrific murder of his young police officer daughter is revealed in a new book celebrating her life.
PC Nicola Hughes, from Diggle, was killed in a gun attack in December 2012 along with colleague PC Fiona Bone after being lured with a false 999 call by Dale Cregan.
Now, Nicola’s father Bryn has written ‘An Extraordinary Sacrifice’, a book which charts his daughter’s life from the joy of her birth to the terrible circumstances of her death.
Bryn recalls first being visited after the tragedy and asked: “Please tell me what’s happened. Then that horrible realisation came.
“You know how the rest of the conversation is going to go but however hard you try there is nothing you can do to prevent what’s coming next.
“‘Don’t you dare tell me she’s dead,’ I said. ‘Not my Nicky, please not my little girl’.”
In the book, he talks of the shock and grief, the challenges the family has faced since her death and describes the inspiring work of the memorial fund that bears his daughter’s name.
Bryn, a former prison officer, says he constantly relives the memories of the dreadful day he lost Nicola and the events that followed.
But the book is also an inspirational account of how the grieving father decided to pay tribute to his daughter by creating a force for good.
The PC Nicola Hughes Memorial Fund has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to help young people whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the violent death of a close relative.
Writing a foreward in the book, the PC’s former Chief Supt Nick Adderley says: “Bryn talks about the love and the life Nicola gave to him and her family and of the support she gave to the countless others who were blessed with having met or worked with Nicola.
“When most other people would understandably withdraw from society, Bryn Hughes was determined not to allow his daughter’s death to have been in vain. He is now determined to turn horror into hope for so many others.”
‘An Extraordinary Sacrifice’ is published by Mereo and is on sale in bookshops now. It is also available as an ebook from www.mereobooks.com
All proceeds go to The PC Nicola Hughes Memorial Fund.
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