Derrick Bird inquest: Police send text messages to gunman

The footage begins with Bird – who killed twelve people and injured 11 before turning the gun on himself – driving around in Whitehaven last June. He is seen waving his double-barrelled rifle out of the window of his car after he had just gunned down two taxi drivers.

The video goes on to show Bird turning back on to Duke Street where he fires two more shots as people run for cover.

The 52-year-old is then pictured driving past Whitehaven Police Station and stopping just before traffic lights at the corner of Lowther Street where – out of camera shot – he shoots taxi driver Paul Wilson in the face.

Mr Wilson told the jury that he thought Bird was “playing a prank” when he opened fire on him. He was walking along Scotch Street when Bird called him over to his taxi and shot him in the face as he bent down to his passenger window.

He said it was only when the police officers told him he had been shot that he put his hand up to his face and realised he was bleeding.

Meanwhile, Inspector Craig Lorry told the inquests into the shootings that he left a meeting with local councillors when he heard about the shootings over his police radio.

He then made his way to Lowther Street, Whitehaven, where he heard a “loud bang” and saw a “flash” coming from Bird’s car as he opened fire on fellow taxi driver Paul Wilson.

How brazen the offence was, and how much information was flowing into us at such a rapid rate of knots. Inspector Craig Lory

Mr Lory followed the car on foot until a pursuing police van went past him. He then went back to Whitehaven police station, where he made contact with the force incident commander, informing him that he was a trained negotiator.

Mr Lory said: “I phoned Derrick Bird on his mobile phone. I received no reply. 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.”

He added that during his 20 years with the police he had never “seen the like” of an incident like this.

“How brazen the offence was, and how much information was flowing into us at such a rapid rate of knots,” he said.

“My main drive, my main goal, is to ensure the safety of the public. Ensure nobody else was hurt.”

He was giving evidence at the inquests into the deaths of Bird’s twin brother David, solicitor Kevin Commons, Mr Rewcastle, Susan Hughes, Kenneth Fishburn, Isaac Dixon, Jennifer Jackson, and her husband James, Garry Purdham, Jamie Clark, Michael Pike, Jane Robinson, and Bird himself.