Murder mystery continues

THE mystery surrounding the murder of a drug dealer in Derker four years ago continues after the latest suspect was released without charge.

A 31-year-old Oldham man was arrested on Monday night on suspicion of the notorious killing of Timothy MacPherson.

The 29-year-old was gunned down in a cold-blooded execution in Acre Lane on July 2, 2004.

But after a day of questioning police let the man go, leaving the long-running case unsolved.

Mr MacPherson, from Lancaster, was shot in the neck and stomach at close range and found by bin men in the backyard of a rented house.

Three men were originally charged with the murder in 2005 but pleaded not guilty and no one was ever convicted.

At their first trial, Markus Waine, from Lancaster, was acquitted with Curtis Ruthven (31), of Anchor Street, Oldham and Damian Loughman (28), of Boston Street, Oldham also acquitted after a retrial.

The Chronicle understands that the man questioned by police was not one of the trio.

The trials at Manchester Crown Court in 2006 heard that Mr MacPherson was lured from his home turf in Lancaster to Oldham. A motive was never established but the victim was involved “in the murky and often violent world of drug dealing.”

Mr MacPherson had been released from prison shortly before his death and had a lengthy police record for drug offences.

The murder sparked an international police investigation in 2004 when detectives worked with Interpol to trace Mr Waine after he left the country. He was eventually found in Hamburg, Germany a year later and extradited and charged.