The murder of Harry Collinson, the planning officer for Derwentside District Council, occurred on 20 June 1991 at Butsfield, County Durham, England.

[1] At the time of the murder, Derwentside District Council was involved in a dispute with Albert Dryden, a local landowner, over the erection of a dwelling on his rural property without planning permission.

[4][5] As the journalists and council staff fled, Dryden opened fire again, wounding BBC television reporter Tony Belmont and Police Constable Stephen Campbell.

[6] Dryden warned them that the buildings were booby trapped with explosives, that he had planted land mines in the ground around the property and had a cache of hand grenades inside the caravan.

[8] Dryden came out of the caravan to the perimeter fence to watch them and, realising that his holster was empty, tactical firearms officer Sgt John Taylor immediately wrestled him to the ground.

[17] Dryden's father worked for the Consett Iron Company and was described by Police Sergeant David Blackie as "the epitome of a northern patriarch, a strict, clean-living man who did his best to bring up his children straight and true through the good times and bad.

[19][20] Dryden developed an early interest in weapons and firearms, and at age 11 purchased his first handgun—the unlicensed World War I Webley Mk VI revolver he later used to murder Collinson.

Dryden then opened fire on the fleeing group, hitting PC Campbell in the thigh and BBC North East reporter Tony Belmont in the arm.

[24][25] A fuller version of the footage, including a prior visit and the aftermath of the shooting, now forms part of the BBC's internal training course on filming safety.

A subsequent search of the property and Dryden's home in Consett uncovered ten handguns, fifteen rifles, three shotguns, two homemade mortars with eight projectiles, an improvised propane bomb and a 20mm cannon modified to be attached to one of his vehicles.

[28][29] However, Dryden's increasingly bizarre behaviour, his decision to dig a deep trench in which to build a bungalow with just the roof showing, and his threats towards—and physical assaults against—council staff brought the men into conflict.

[30] It was also revealed that the council had wanted to visit the site under cover of darkness to carry out the demolition, when Dryden would have been asleep at his home several miles away in Consett; Collinson disagreed with this underhand tactic and insisted that their actions should take place during the day and in the presence of the media to avoid any allegations of inappropriate conduct.