BOLTON police dog handler Susan Quinlan and her dog Tyson have been commended by Chief Constable David Wilmot for the part they played in capturing an IRA terrorist.

PC Quinlan was on duty patrolling Higher Broughton looking for car thieves one night in February 1993 when she was called to search land off the M62 at Chat Moss where three men had abandoned an Escort after a police chase.

She did not know at the time that the three were an IRA gang and had just planted explosives around a gas holder in Warrington before shooting PC Mark Toker as he carried out a spot check on their van.

PC Quinlan, who lives in Bolton and works in Salford, arrived minutes after the Escort had been abandoned and one of the terrorists arrested.

After searching the open land for 20 minutes Tyson found bomber Denis Kinsella hiding in a deep drainage ditch and covered with brambles.

Firearms officers moved in and he was arrested although a third terrorist managed to escape.

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