Massacre gunman shot two victims as police closed in

The 52-year-old taxi driver, from Rowrah, Cumbria, murdered the last two of his 12 victims as he blasted his way through the town of Seascale, the hearing into the deaths was told.

Both Michael Pike, 64, a former pipe fitter and management consultant, and Jane Robinson, 66, were gunned down within a few hundreds yards of each other on the same stretch of road in the town where they both lived.

Closed circuit TV cameras showed Bird at 11.27am on June 2, seconds before the double killing, followed seven minutes and 43 seconds later by chasing police cars.

Engineer Gillian Culshaw was walking down Drigg Road into Seascale, going for an ice cream with her young children Jordan and Mia, when she spotted Mr Pike cycling up the hill towards her.

She then saw Bird in his Citroen Picasso taxi driving “really, really close” behind Mr Pike.

Bird, who later shot himself, was driving “really slowly”, then touched the back wheel of the bike with the left wing of his car and it “buckled”, Ms Culshaw told the inquest at the Energus centre in Workington.

She then heard two loud “pop” sounds and Mr Pike slumped against a wall at the side of the road before Bird slowly drove away from the scene.

She asked a bystander to check on Mr Pike to see if he was all right, but was told, “No. I’m sorry. There’s no pulse”.

Builders working on a nearby house then covered the victim with a sheet.

Seconds later, Bird travelled farther up the hill where Jane Robinson was in the process of delivering Betterware catalogues door-to-door.

Bird is thought to have called her over to his car, then shot her in the face at point-blank range as she appeared to peer into his vehicle.

Delivery van driver David Willis was in his cab 20ft away dealing with paperwork when he heard the shotgun blast and looked up.

“At that instant I saw a body slump backwards on to the pavement,” Mr Willis told the hearing.

“Then he just drove away calmly.

“There was no one else around so I got out of my van and walked across the road towards the victim.

“I thought, ‘What am I going to find here?’

“I saw a trickle of blood running down the pavement into the gutter and saw it was a woman, with a small build, with massive facial injuries.

“She was obviously dead, no movement, her eyes were open but the extent of the injuries, she could not possibly be alive.”

Bird’s shooting spree brought Cumbria to a standstill last summer. The hearing continues.