EXCLUSIVE: Families of murdered PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone appeal for help to fund National Memorial

Th families of two murdered Greater Manchester Police Officers say it is disappointing that a major donation for a national memorial to honour fallen PCs has been scrapped.

The UK Police Memorial is due to be built in Staffordshire, to remember thousands of officers, including PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes.

They were brutally attacked by gangland killer Dale Cregan in 2012.

It was thought that the national Police Federation would donate £1,000,000 towards the memorial, but they have since offered up a quarter of a million pounds and say they have no plans to put forward any additional funds.

Bryn Hughes said:

"It's disappointing. Obviously, there's a reason for it but it's disappointing we've reached that position.

"It will happen, no doubt about it. I've seen the design but to actually see it and stand in front of it, it would be overwhelming."

Bryn, and Fiona's father Paul Bone, are joining the fundraising push to help raise the money needed to get the memorial up and running.

It is thought it will cost more than £4 million in total, with around a quarter of that still left to raise.

PFEW National Chair, John Apter, said the Federation was “fully supportive of the plans to build a police memorial” which will “complement the other memorials across the country.”

“Police officers face danger and some of life’s most unpleasant jobs in order that a civilised society such as ours can operate and we must never take it for granted that a small number of those never make it home at the end of their shifts.

"I have personally been a supporter of this project. While we have been asked to give a further £760,000 towards the project, at this stage we have no immediate plans to donate any more than we already have. We are currently operating at a deficit budget and while this is reduced significantly over the last two years, what is in reserves is approximately less than ones years’ operating costs and it would be wrong of us if we were to give a significant amount of money away and then not be able to fund cases in support of our members, or as a result then be required to put up subscription rates which have currently been frozen for eight years."