Rampaging gunman kills 12

Divorced father-of-two Derrick Bird, 52, reportedly shot his twin brother David and the family solicitor before killing a fellow cabbie in Whitehaven, Cumbria, and driving his cab through the countryside, firing at passers-by, apparently at random.

His bloody campaign ended when armed police found his body in woodland 20 miles away after a frantic manhunt lasting three-and-a-half hours yesterday.

Last night, as detectives investigated 30 different crime scenes across the west of the county, there were fears the death toll could rise and speculation that the massacre had originated in a bitter family feud over a will.

Police said they were continuing to search for bodies and three of his victims were in a critical condition in hospital.

Cumbria Police's deputy chief constable, Stuart Hyde, said his officers were investigating a "terrifying and horrifying incident".

"At this stage we've recovered 12 bodies plus Mr Bird and are continuing to search.

"We've got a lot of evidence to recover. The 25 injured are in a range of conditions.

"There were two weapons; we've recovered both of them. We're going to conduct a full investigation."

After leaving home, Bird apparently shot dead a fellow taxi driver at about 10.30am at a cab rank in Duke Street, Whitehaven.

Witnesses then reported seeing him drive through the town with a shotgun hanging out of the window of his taxi.

After leaving the town, he travelled south along the coast, shooting people in Gosforth, Seascale and Egremont before heading inland and abandoning his car in the hamlet of Boot, near where his body was found at 1.40pm.

Every armed police officer in Cumbria had been assigned to the manhunt, with neighbouring forces also contributing. North Yorkshire Police sent armed response units and dog handlers.

Residents named one of Bird's victims as Garry Purdham, a man in his 30s with two young children who played rugby league for Workington Town.

Mr Purdham, from a farming family, had been working in a field near Gosforth when he was gunned down.

Another of Bird's victims was Jane Robinson, 66, who was shot in Drigg Road, Seascale, just yards from the home she shared with her twin sister Barrie.

Harry Berger, the landlord of the Woolpack pub in Boot, was said to be recovering in hospital after being shot in the arm.

David Cameron updated the House of Commons on the tragedy at the start of his first Prime Minister's Questions since entering Number 10, telling MPs they would be "alarmed and shocked by the events unfolding in Cumbria".

The Prime Minister added: "When lives and communities are suddenly shattered in this way, our thoughts should be with all those caught up in these tragic events, especially the families and friends of those killed or injured."

The Queen last night said she was "deeply shocked" by the shootings in Cumbria and shared the country's "grief and horror".

She also expressed her sympathy for the families of those killed and injured by Bird in a message to the Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria, her official representative in the county.