From grudge to gun mayhem

Police believe the 52-year-old killer deliberately targeted some of his victims before he began shooting randomly at passers-by during his three-and-a-half-hour rampage.

Bird knew the first three people he shot dead – his twin brother, a solicitor and a fellow taxi-driver. This fuelled claims that either a family feud or a dispute about his work had led to the massacre, which claimed the lives of nine others.

But the daughters of his twin brother David Bird insisted there had been no family rift as they told of their devastation at their father's death at the hands of their uncle.

One of Bird's friends, fellow taxi driver Mark Cooper, said the gunman was worried about going to jail because the Inland Revenue were reportedly investigating him for tax evasion.

Mr Cooper explained: "He said, 'They have caught me with 60,000 in the bank, the tax people'. He just said, 'I'll go to jail'.

"He just asked me if he could handle jail. He didn't want to go."

Mr Cooper, 45, said he had known Bird for 15 years but was not sure where he had got the money from. "He wasn't tight but he didn't splash the cash," he added.

Det Chief Supt Iain Goulding said yesterday Cumbria Police's investigation would consider whether the motive could have been "financial or domestic".

It has emerged that Bird was dismissed from his job at Sellafield in 1990 after being convicted of stealing from his employer. Having received a 12-month suspended sentence, he was allowed to obtain a shotgun licence in 1995 and a licence for a rifle in 2007.

Answering concerns about Bird's possession of the weapons used to murder 12 people and injure 11 more, despite his conviction for dishonesty, Det Chief Supt Goulding said Bird had never been to prison, nor had officers found any record of any mental health problems or indications that he was using medication.

Questions remain, however, about when the killing spree actually began. It emerged yesterday that the divorced father-of-two was seen in his car outside one of his first victim's homes at 5.30am – five hours before he began firing shots in Whitehaven.

A former schoolfriend of the killer, Iris Carruthers, 49, said he had been "in a world of his own" as he drove past her while she walked her dog close to solicitor Kevin Commons's home in Frizington. Mr Commons, 60, was later found dead on his drive.

Bird, who recently became a grandfather, is thought to have left his house in the village of Rowrah that morning armed with a shotgun and .22 rifle with telescopic sight.

After killing Mr Commons and his own twin brother, Bird went to Whitehaven, where he shot at three fellow taxi drivers, killing Darren Rewcastle.

A second cabbie, former soldier Don Reed, was shot in the back but managed to crawl away.

The gunman then travelled south through the Cumbrian countryside, shooting at people he encountered along the way in Egremont, Wilton, Gosforth and Seascale, before taking his own life. Police refused to be drawn last night on whether a suicide note had been recovered.

Home Secretary Theresa May said police had confirmed Bird's gun licences covered the two weapons seized. She and the Prime Minister David Cameron are due to visit Cumbria today to meet senior police officers.

The killings provoked debate in the House of Commons yesterday about whether gun laws needed to change.

The Labour MP for Barrow and Furness, John Woodcock, called for a review and Labour Shadow Home Secretary and Hull MP Alan Johnson said firearms laws should be examined to see whether follow-up checks on licence-holders were adequate. There could be a greater role for doctors and the NHS in assessing whether a gun owner's mental health had deteriorated, he suggested.

The Prince of Wales, in a message to the Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria, said: "We would be so grateful if you could somehow convey our deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathy to the poor families whose lives have been so torn apart by such brutally tragic circumstances."

Mother stunned by son's actions

The mother of Derrick Bird was said to be stunned that he had killed his brother and 11 others before taking his own life.

The killer's cousin Joy Ryan, said Mary Bird was distraught and had moved out of her home since yesterday after the deaths of her twin sons, David and Derrick. Ms Ryan said: "I saw her yesterday and she was just stunned."