PLANNING row killer Albert Dryden is making a bid for freedom 12 years after he gunned down a council officer.

Planning inspector Harry Collinson was shot at point blank range when council officers moved in to demolish Dryden's illegally-built bungalow in 1991.

And after serving 12 years of his life sentence Dryden is making a second bid for parole.

Following years of negotiations with Dryden, council chiefs brought in bulldozers to flatten his property at Butsfield, near Consett, County Durham in June 1991.

But the former steelworker went on the rampage shooting dead 46-year-old Mr Collinson and injuring a policeman and a local news reporter.

He shot Mr Collinson twice in the chest and once in the head while he lay on the ground.

The whole shocking drama was caught on television as camera crews were there expecting to cover a planning story.

Two reporters and a photographer were also caught up in the terrifying scenes.

Dryden was jailed for life at Newcastle Crown Court in 1992 and is currently serving his sentence at Rye Hill prison in Warwickshire.

After a failed release bid in 2001, Dryden is expected to be back before the parole board in the next few weeks where his future will be decided.

If parole officials decide he has made any progress from his previous hearing then they could set out plans which would lead to an open prison and release.

However, the decision would be dependent on the reports from the prison service, a psychiatrist and his probation officer.

They also has to decide whether the prisoner carries any degree of risk of committing further offences.

Dryden's long-time friends, father and son John and Justin Snowdon, from Satley, near Consett, said it was time he was released.

Justin, 34, a haulage contractor, said: "I think Albert should be released from prison. He has served his time. He has done 12 years and that is a long time.

"I feel he has been locked away enough now and I think he is sorry for what he did.

"I think he has changed over the years. I speak to him on the telephone every month or so and he seems quite sad about it.

"He deserves a second chance."

At the time of his trial a jury at Newcastle Crown Court took two hours to reject Dryden's claim of diminished responsibility and he was sentenced to life.

He received a second life sentence for the attempted murder of Michael Dunstan, Derwentside council's solicitor.

He was also given two seven-year concurrent jail sentences for wounding BBC reporter Tony Belmont and PC Stephen Campbell.

His bungalow was demolished in the early 90s after Dryden, now 63, was safely behind bars.