THE family of gunman Derrick Bird were last night struggling to understand what turned the quiet taxi driver into a mass killer.

TWELVE people were killed and 11 were wounded when taxi driver Derrick Bird went on a gun rampage.

WHITEHAVEN, Egremont and Gosforth might just as easily have been Quilty, Spanish Point and Mullagh, or maybe Courtown, Ballygarret and Knockbrandon. Or, if the truth be told, any shy, idyllic backwater on this island.

The family of gunman Derrick Bird were tonight struggling to understand what turned the quiet taxi driver into a mass killer.

British police were today investigating what sparked gunman Derrick Bird's killing spree amid reports he was involved in a bitter family feud.

“YOU won’t see me again,’ Derrick Bird chillingly told a friend before embarking on a shooting spree across rural northwestern England, killing 12 people and wounding 25 others, including his mother, before turning the gun on himself.

DERRICK BIRD’S killing spree began when he shot several colleagues in Whitehaven in Cumbria, then drove his cab through the countryside of the Lake District blasting other victims, apparently at random.

WITNESSES described their horror as they fled the path of taxi driver Derrick Bird, whose shooting rampage has left 12 people dead and 25 injured.

A HERO policeman who was swept to his death in the Cumbrian floods had devoted himself to helping others cope with tragedy, mourners were told.

A team of British amateur adventurers today told how they braved polar bears and frostbite to complete one of the last great arctic challenges.