Family of gun killer ‘baffled’ by his crimes

THE sons of a cab driver who killed 12 people in a gun rampage across rural northwestern England described him as “the nicest man you could ever meet” yesterday, adding they were baffled by his crimes.

Derrick Bird, 52, killed his twin brother David and their family’s lawyer plus 10 other people and also injured 11. Most of the killings came as he drove around taking pot-shots at passers-by in the sleepy county of Cumbria.

In their first public comments on the tragedy, Bird’s two sons Graeme, 28, and Jamie, 16, said their father was a “loving, cheerful” man whose death had left them “devastated”.

“To us, he was the nicest man you could ever meet,” they said in a statement read out to journalists by a local clergyman. “We would like to say that we do not know why our dad committed these horrific crimes. We are both mortified by the sad events.” The brothers also sent their condolences to the families of those killed by Bird. Police had earlier confirmed Bird was being investigated over his tax affairs, although they said they were still unsure of a motive for the killings. A friend of Bird, Mark Cooper, said the cabbie had told him: “‘They have caught me with £60,000 (€72,480) in the bank, the tax people’.” Cooper added: “He just said: ‘I’ll go to jail’.”

Another friend, Neil Jacques said he had spent the night before the killings with Bird. “He had something on his mind – that he was going to go to jail over tax evasion. I said he needed to talk to the solicitor. He said he was going to see the solicitor the next day.”

Jacques said the last thing Bird said to him was: “Do you think I’m paranoid?”

Reports suggested Bird had argued with his twin David – who was found dead in the bedroom of his home – over money and their mother’s will. But in another statement, from Bird’s surviving brother Brian and his family, it was again stressed that they knew of no apparent motive for the “devastating” losses.

“We cannot offer any reason why Derrick took it upon himself to commit these crimes,” they said.

A number of commemorative events were held in the area yesterday, including outdoor religious services in the towns of Whitehaven and Seascale, which were among those affected by the killings. The clergyman who read out the family statements, Reverend Jim Marshall, curate of St Michael’s Church in Lamplugh, said that neither family members nor local people blamed Bird for what had happened.

“The family puts no blame on Derrick,” he said.

“They knew Derrick for 52 years. There was a new Derrick for a few hours of last Wednesday and the two things were very separate in the minds and memories of the family.” The man the family had known was “not the person they saw on Wednesday”, and that they have “dreadful sorrow within them and dreadful sadness within them”.

Marshall said: “If they had the strength to do it, they were the sort of people who would have gone round to each one of the [families of] people killed and wounded to apologise. That is the strength of their feelings.

“Having said that their brother, their father and son is a person who in all sorts of respects still has their respect because he’s not the person they saw and heard about on Wednesday.

“For 52 years they see one man, for several hours they heard about another.”

Bird’s elderly mother, Mary, has been told about what her son had done but “may not know some of the details”, he said. She discovered what her son had done watching news reports on the television. Marshall said: “She was horrified... She was just stunned and still can’t take it in. That is the last time she watched the television. She doesn’t want to turn the TV on now.”

Mrs Bird has been unwell recently, spending two long spells in hospital in the past two years, but returned home to Ennerdale a few weeks ago. Marshall read out a short statement on behalf of Graeme and Jamie Bird, Derrick’s two sons.

It said: “We are utterly devastated about the death of our father Derrick Bird. To us, he was the nicest man you could ever meet. He was a loving dad and recently became a grandfather.

“We would like to say that we do not know why our dad committed these horrific crimes. We are both mortified by these sad events.”

Marshall read out another statement on behalf of Brian Bird, which said: “My family and I are extremely saddened by the events on Wednesday. The loss of both my brothers is devastating. They were both very caring, family people... My family and I are saddened at the loss of life and woundings and can only offer our condolences to the families concerned.

“We appreciate what they are suffering at this time. We cannot offer any reason why Derrick took it upon himself to commit these crimes. We are in shock and dismay.”

The statements were released as communities gathered for memorial services to remember those who died. Details also emerged of a potential 13th victim who apparently survived only by chance. Neighbours of Jason Carey said Bird, 52, banged on his door after killing other friends and family he apparently held grudges against. But Carey, who is from Wilton and was a scuba teacher at the club Bird attended, was still in bed and failed to answer his door. One neighbour said: “He knew him from the scuba club and they’d had some sort of dispute.

“He’d been on the late shift and didn’t get up in time to answer the door. Birdy left and went along the road shooting at the others.”