THE terrorist outrage in New York last Tuesday sent a shudder down the spine of millions of people all over the world... but witnessing those horrific images sparked special anguish for one local man .

When news flashed around the world, that two hijacked planes had smashed into the World Trade Centre towers in downtown Manhattan, while a third had struck the Pentagon in Washington and one had exploded in a field 80 miles South of Pittsburgh, a sudden feeling of disbelief descended across the whole country.

That nightmare has really struck home for Neville Bullock, councillor for Billinge and Seneley Green, who sat and watched with horror the elegant buildings he had visited earlier this year, simply vanish from view.

In March, Neville travelled over to New York with current Mayor of St Helens, Councillor Keith Roberts who was deputy at the time and Ken Pinder, cabinet member for Law and Order, to observe the different methods and procedures used by individual departments in relation to various acts of crime.

The main aim of the three-day visit was to study the New York Police Department Compstat Review, which is a monthly report highlighting various statistics linked to car crime, business crime, drugs and prostitution.

The trip was organised by Steven Fishner, criminal justice co-ordinator, Cary Tamler, special assistant and Eric Hatzimemos, assistant counsel to the Mayor Rudolph Guiliani who all work together at City Hall.

Mr Fishner, who is the Mayor's principal advisor on criminal justice matters and the implementation of policy, strategy, budget and legislation, also works closely with the police, fire, correction, probation and juvenile justice departments.

As part of the itinerary Neville and his colleagues visited the 23rd floor of the World Trade Centre, which is a high profile security area specifically assigned to the emergency management team. The chiefs of police, fire and ambulance always meet in this room to direct operations if a crime related incident or serious disaster has occurred.

Councillor Bullock, told the Star: "When I heard about the awful tragedy in New York I could not believe what had happened. As I witnessed the two trade centres collapsing, I could actually feel the evil coming out of the screen and I was very worried for my friends in the police and fire service as well as others who were experiencing tremendous suffering.

"I managed to contact the families of the people I knew in the early hours of Wednesday morning and they were all very angry and distraught about the whole situation. To be honest I actually felt as though I was with the people at the time and could really sense the pain and anguish building up inside them.

"Without doubt the feeling amongst American people is that there will be serious repercussions in the near future and retribution will almost certainly be carried out.

"It is important to note the hard work Mayor Rudolph Guiliani has put in since taking over the post in 1993. During his time in office, which is due to finish after a second term in November of this year, he has managed to reduce crime in the city thanks to almost doubling New York's police force from 26,000 to 48,000.

"In respect of the hundreds of firefighters and police who lost their lives trying to save people, it is hard to express my feelings at a time like this. I am left with a deep-rooted sorrow."