Three police officers saw Derrick Bird at the start of his shooting spree, police have confirmed. And Channel 4 News has learnt he had tea with his brother at their mother’s days before the shooting.
Police officers in Whitehaven saw Derrick Bird firing his weapons right at the beginning of his rampage.
In a statement issued this afternoon, Cumbria police said that upon witnessing Derrick Bird’s grey taxi with a shotgun pointing out from the window, a police officer immediately alerted the communications centre.
The police officer then got “into the nearest vehicle, driven by a Whitehaven man, to follow it and provide updates on Bird’s location”.
At a press conference this afternoon, Cumbria Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde elaborated on the information given in the police statement.
He stressed that the police officers following Bird were able to provide useful information to the communications centre. He said he had every confidence that police would have stopped Bird had the opportunity arisen.
DCC Hyde confirmed that no shot had been discharged at police officers by Derrick Bird.
Local bobby’s priorities changed
From Cumbrian Police description of those first few minutes of Bird’s murderous rampage, the first officer PC Mick Taylor, a local town bobby, had valiantly tried to get as close as possible to Bird, writes Channel 4 News home affairs correspondent Simon Israel.
But his priorities changed when the 52 year old cab driver shot two people on the street. He had to make sure they and other members public were safe as more people had come out from their homes to see what was going on.
Reports that he commandered the taxi appear not to be correct. For the cab driver himself, Paul Goodwin said he was following Bird, having seen him shoot two of colleagues on the Whitehaven cab rank and told the constable to get in to the cab.
Another two unarmed officers were in a transit van behind them and took up the pursuit around the town’s one-way system. Bird turned into a driveway and pointed the shot gun at them, according to the police account, and they were forced to take protective measures althught it not clear what they were.
Bird then sped off and the two officers could not find anyone who had spotted which way Bird went.
Cumbria police statement issued at 15.42 on Monday 7 June 2010
Cumbria Constabulary can confirm that three unarmed police constables had sight of him in Whitehaven but at no point did they have an opportunity to end the killings sooner.
At about 10:33am a Neighbourhood Policing officer based at Whitehaven Police Station in Scotch Street heard shots fired and ran out of the station to assist. Upon witnessing a grey taxi with a shotgun pointing out of the front passenger's window he responded immediately by alerting the communications centre and getting into the nearest vehicle, driven by a Whitehaven man, to follow it and provide updates on Bird's location.
He travelled from Duke Street down Scotch Street and Lowther Street before turning right onto Coach Road where Bird was seen to slow down as he passed a taxi travelling in the opposite direction. As the two cars passed each other, the officer saw him shoot the driver of the other taxi.
The officer immediately went to the assistance of the injured man by giving immediate first aid, treating serious injuries and ensuring all of their safety by moving him and his female passenger, who had also been shot, out of Bird's line of sight.
A double crewed unarmed police transit van that was following behind them from Flatts Walk overtook to take up a position behind Bird's taxi and continued to follow Bird to provide sightings to the police control room and the armed response vehicles who were on their way to the scene.
The officers in the Transit van were able to follow under instructions from the Force Incident Manager to provide information about Bird's location, which they did. Bird then appeared to pull into a driveway, turned and pointed the gun directly at the unarmed officers.
They were forced to protect themselves after it became clear they could not reverse due to the traffic that had built up behind them. We believe he then drove off at speed.
Despite having just witnessed a shooting and having a gun pointed at them, the officers attempted to follow him and despite asking passer-bys where he had driven, were unable to locate him again. They continued to stay in the area where further reports of Birds location were given.
These officers were at the time unarmed and in a vehicle not suitable for a high speed persuit. Whilst they had no opportunity to bring an end to Bird's rampage they provided valuable information regarding his whereabouts and likely route. They also provided immediate assistance to those shot and injured in the area.
DCC Stuart Hyde said: "Our officers are expected to deal with difficult and challenging situations. This incident was unprecedented and exceptional circumstances were fast-moving and highly dangerous. Had any officer or member of staff had the clear opportunity to stop Bird I am confident they would have taken it."
Chief Constable Mackie has divided Derrick Bird’s rampage into three stages.
During phase one, in the early hours of Wednesday, Bird he murdered his brother David and his solicitor, Kevin Commons.
Phase two, between 10.30am and 11.35am, saw Bird kill 10 people.
In phase three, Bird is known to have been travelling along isolated country back roads. He was last seen alive at 12.30pm.
A call came into police at 10.33am reporting shots fired on Duke Street in Whitehaven, where Darren Rewcastle was shot dead at the taxi rank.
From the ACPO Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms
Tactics should be sufficiently flexible to take into account situations where the initial intelligence is insufficient to confirm or negate the nature or existence of a threat. In such situations further investigation by unarmed officers may be deemed inappropriate.
Consideration should be given to further investigative assessment (with authorised firearms deployment) being carried out by AFOs in a more discreet operation with the following aims -
a. To gather sufficient information to either confirm or negate the intelligence in respect of the nature or existence of a threat.
b. To be in a position to immediately contain the situation should the need arise.
c. To be in a position to neutralise the threat, again, should the need arise.