Police repeatedly called killer’s mobile phone

Bird was captured on camera as he pulled up to a junction in Whitehaven with his driver’s side window open and the double-barrelled weapon clutched in his right hand.

He had just fired two shots across a crowded taxi rank after he had shot dead one taxi driver and gunned down another little more than a minute earlier.

The public cameras picked up images of Bird’s grey Citroen Picasso taxi in the reflection of a bar window as he stopped along the rank in Duke Street on the morning of June 2 last year.

Bird, a 52-year-old taxi driver, killed 12 people and injured 11 more during his rampage, before turning the gun on himself.

Coroner David Roberts authorised the release of the images played on numerous occasions to the inquest jury on day six of the hearings into the deaths of Bird and those he killed.

CCTV cameras also captured him on a second circuit of the town’s one-way system as he drove down Lowther Street with shoppers unaware of the events that had just unfolded.

Bird turned back on to Duke Street and fired two more shots as people ran for cover.

He then drove past Whitehaven police station and stopped near traffic lights at the corner of Lowther Street where – out of camera shot – he shot taxi driver Paul Wilson in the face.

Earlier, the inquest in Workington was told that police made repeated efforts to contact Bird on his mobile phone from 10.55am but received no reply.

Inspector Craig Lory said: “I left a message asking him to stop and to contact me. I continued calling the mobile and texted him, asking Bird to stop what he was doing and reassuring him he would not be hurt. I received no reply.”

The hearing continues.