On a quiet winter evening in 2002, Daniel “Danny” Regan, a twenty-five-year-old father of two, was gunned down in his own home in a chilling, targeted attack that has haunted the Merseyside community for over two decades. His murder, described by police as a cold-blooded “gangland-style execution,” remains unsolved despite repeated appeals for information.
Danny was found dead inside his heavily secured house at the intersection of Cooper Lane and Station Road in Haydock, St Helens, Merseyside, England, on or around Sunday, December 15th, 2002. Police believe the fatal shooting actually occurred on the evening of Thursday, December 12th. The property, in an area sometimes referred to locally as a “sleepy hollow” due to its relatively peaceful setting, featured high security measures including a spiked fence.
A gunman had forced entry through the conservatory door, armed with either a semi-automatic or pump-action shotgun. The intruder chased Danny through the house, firing several rounds. One shot missed and shattered a conservatory window, but another struck Danny in the chest, proving fatal. He died from his injuries at the scene.
Originally from Leeds, Danny had moved to Haydock about a year earlier but maintained connections to the Sheffield area, where he socialized. Reports at the time linked him to drug dealing, suggesting the killing may have been a targeted hit related to that lifestyle. Despite this, family members described him as a loving son and father who did not deserve such a violent end.
His mother, Pat Regan, became a vocal anti-gun crime campaigner after his death and was a founding member of Mothers Against Guns. Tragically, she herself was murdered in 2008, stabbed to death by her twenty-one-year-old grandson Rakeim Regan, who was later diagnosed with severe paranoid schizophrenia.
Merseyside Police launched a major investigation. A silver or gray Rover car with registration J609 MBU, stolen from the Manchester area earlier on the day of the murder, was later found burnt out on Station Road and is believed to have been used by the killer or killers.
Detectives released a composite sketch of a man seen near the home on the night of the killing, appealing for anyone with information to come forward. Multiple arrests were made in the years following, but no one has ever been charged with the murder.
The case has been reviewed several times, with fresh appeals issued on anniversaries, including the twentieth and twenty-third. In statements, officers from Merseyside Police’s Serious Crime Review Unit have emphasized that “a murder investigation is never closed” and urged anyone with even small pieces of information to contact them, offering assurances of witness protection measures if needed.
More than two decades later, Danny Regan’s family still waits for justice.
Crime Immemorial 