A police colleague of two female officers killed by a drug dealer four years ago filled out his own death report and official body tag before hanging himself in a park, an inquest has heard.

Andrew Summerscales, 46, was one of the first on the scene after Dale Cregan set a gun and grenade ambush for Nicola Hughes, 23, and Fiona Bone, 32, after making a bogus emergency call in September 2012.

Mr Summerscales' son, Joshua, 21, told Stockport Coroner’s Court that his father’s life “changed that day” as he sank into a depression and suffered from post-traumatic stress.

He had “loved” being a police officer, but always struggled to cope with the loss of his colleagues after they were lured to their deaths by Dale Cregan, 33, who was already wanted by police for another double murder before the attack in Hattersley, Greater Manchester. He continues to serve life in prison without parole.

Joanne Kearsley, the area coroner for Manchester South, was told that Mr Summerscales went back to work after a year of treatment for depression, but he finally left the police in November 2015 after 15 years' service.

She said there was no doubt that the deaths “affected him greatly” but it was not the first tragedy in his life. As a Liverpool football fan he had been in the Leppings Lane end on the day of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 when 96 fans lost their lives.