Another notable prosecution in his early career was that of serial killer Colin Ireland. When he was promoted and moved to Manchester in 2011 he faced several high-profile cases, one involving a man killed while committing an aggravated burglary in which Afzal decided that the householder acted in reasonable self-defence. Afzal's team were responsible for the swift prosecution of that summer's looters, a judicial response described by an academic as "shock and awe". The Stepping Hill Hospital poisoning incident occurred that autumn, and 2011 closed with the unprovoked murder of a student from India. In 2012 he successfully prosecuted Dale Cregan, who was convicted of four murders (including that of two police officers) and three attempted murders, for which he was sentenced to a whole life order.