Thursday, June 3, 2010

What has our dad done? Anguish of mass murderer's sons as family feud is blamed for massacre which left 13 dead

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In shock: Derrick Bird's sons Jamie, 16, and Graeme, 28, outside their mother's home in Cumbria today


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Victims: Garry Purdham (left) and Susan Hughes were both killed by Derrick Bird


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Shot down: (left to right) Taxi driver Darren Rewcastle, Jane Robinson and mole catcher Isaac Dixon


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Wounded but alive: Whitehaven taxi driver Don Reed was shot and injured by Bird


* Killer Derrick Bird had held gun licence for 20 years
* Police face questions about why he wasn't stopped sooner
* Victims include his own twin brother and family solicitor
* Six still in hospital - 2 'stable but serious', 4 'comfortable'
* Cameron warns against 'knee-jerk' gun crackdown

Grief etched across his ashen face, the son of mass murderer Derrick Bird today appeared barely able to contain his anguish.

As Graeme Bird spent 90 agonising minutes with his stunned mother Linda - the gunman's ex wife, police were struggling to piece together what turned a 'quiet' cabbie into a killer.

The 52-year-old's bloody spree before he killed himself left 12 people dead yesterday across a string of usually peaceful Lake District towns.

Bird's younger son Jamie, 16, was later also seen outside his mother's home in Lamplugh. His fringe swept across his face, he looked shell-shocked following the events of the last 24 hours.
Detectives are now probing claims that the 52-year-old grandfather had been embroiled in a furious feud with his family about his financial affairs.

It appears clashes with fellow taxi drivers may have been the trigger than sent Bird, who was described by friends as a quiet, unassuming man, over the edge.

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Forensic officers examine a car containing a body near Seascale after 52-year-old grandfather Derrick Bird's rampage yesterday

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Police officers gather close to the site near the village of Boot, where Bird's body was found

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On guard: Police officers stand outside the unassuming house where Derrick Bird lived with his mother

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Victims: Bird struck across Cumbria leaving 11 dead in a deadly killing spree

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Shattered: Floral tributes were also left in a field where farmer Garry Purdham, 31, was shot dead

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Misery: Graeme Bird's wife Victoria who had their first child just two weeks ago is close to tears in the car



He apparently had a petty row with rivals over stealing fares the night before the massacre. is said to have stormed off saying: 'There's going to be a rampage tomorrow.'
The violence was so widespread and indiscriminate that police had to use a helicopter to find some bodies.

The killings, the worst bloodbath since Dunblane in 1996, has already prompted calls for tightening of Britain's gun laws.

Fellow taxi driver Mark Cooper said there had been long-running tensions between the drivers about some drivers taking customers from the back of the rank but suggested wider financial trouble was probably more to blame.

'That's been going on weeks and months, everybody does it. If you're sitting at number one you could be here for ever. There's a lot more taxis on so it's harder to make a living. Obviously with other financial pressures he had, and his mother being ill as well, it's just got to him,' he said.

Mr Cooper insisted the horrific violence was totally out of character. 'Nothing seemed to bother him.
"He'd come down and if he made a pound or made a hundred pounds he wasn't bothered. He used to have a laugh and a joke with you, go for a drink with you,' he said.
Police have confirmed that Bird had held a licence for 20 years for both weapons - a 22 rifle and a shot gun - he used on his spree. More than 100 detectives are working on the sprawling inquiry.

They are working on 30 separate crime scenes amid growing questions about why they failed to stop Bird sooner.Critics suggested the death toll could have been much lower if officers had tracked down the rampaging taxi driver more quickly.

Among the messages of condolence left on the website of local paper the Whitehaven News were angry condemnations of Cumbria Police's handling of the tragedy.

Bob Lunn wrote: 'I feel sorry for the people who have died, and the family and friends that they left behind.

'But how was this guy not stopped sooner? I can understand the inevitable two or three people getting shot, but 12 dead?

'The police should have been all over it as soon as there was a reported shooting. Another (sic) other country and this guy would have been taken out hours earlier. The police have a lot to answer for in my opinion.'

Another critic, giving his name as Simon, added: 'What I can't understand is why did it take so long for the police to find the gunman.

'It's been reported that at 10.30am, when the shootings at Duke Street happened, there was an immediate report made to police of the incident and a description of the car and licence plate.

'But somehow the police could not find him and stop him before he killed himself three hours later.

'Fair enough, Cumbria is a big county, but when you've got two police helicopters in the air, and most of Cumbria police mobilised, you wonder why it took them so long.'
A Cumbria Police spokeswoman said the force could not comment on the criticism.

David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May are due to visit the scenes of the shootings tomorrow.

Today, Bird's eldest son Graham, 28, appeared in public for the first time since the killings to visit his mother in the tiny village of Lamplugh.

He left without making any comment. Yesterday's tragedy came just two weeks after Mr Bird became a father for the first time. It should have been a time of pride and celebration.

Instead, he and his wife Victoria are left to rake over the details of his father's life in a desperate bid to understand the horror that has engulfed them.

The whole family are completely shocked at the turn of events - not least Bird's elderly mother Mary who is said to be utterly distraught.

Relative Joy Ryan, who also lives in Rowrah, said: 'I saw her yesterday and she was just stunned.
She just couldn't make sense of it. She kept saying she wanted to talk to them, she wanted to talk to her sons.'

Mrs Ryan was astonished when her cousin was named as the gunman. Like many others, she insisted he was a 'quiet man' who had always been friendly.

'The first I heard was that someone with a gun was going mad in Whitehaven and the news said it was Derrick Bird and I just thought it must have been somebody else,' she said.


THE 12 VICTIMS

DAVID BIRD: Bird's first victim was his twin brother

KEVIN COMMONS: Bird's solicitor was found dead in the driveway of his house in Frizington

DARREN REWCASTLE: Fellow cabbie was killed at the taxi rank in Whitehaven

KENNETH FISHBURN: Killed as he crossed a bridge in the village of Egremont

SUSAN HUGHES: Shot in Egremont as she walked home with her shopping

JAMES & JENNIFER JACKSON: Mrs Jackson was shot in the street in Wilton. Her husband went to look for her and was also killed

ISAAC DIXON: The part-time mole catcher was talking to a farmer when Bird shot him at a field in Carleton

GARRY PURDHAM: A farmer and rugby player, the father-of-two was shot as he trimmed hedges with his uncle in a field near Gosforth

MICHAEL PIKE: Bird killed him as he rode his bike through the village of Seascale

JANE ROBINSON: Shot dead yards from the home she shared with her twin sister, Barrie, in Seascale

JAMIE CLARK: Estate agent, 23, was on his way back from a viewing when he was killed in Seascale






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