Family united at funeral of gun killer’s twin

GUNMAN Derrick Bird’s family were united in grief yesterday as they said goodbye to the killer’s twin brother, David.

More than 500 mourners gathered at the Victorian church of St Michael’s in Lamplugh in west Cumbria.

David Bird, 52, was his brother’s first victim in the shooting spree which stunned the nation two weeks ago.

David Bird, a father of three girls, was reportedly shot in his bed before his brother went on to kill 11 other people and then himself in the tranquil hamlet of Boot. Yesterday, the killer’s eldest son, Graeme, 28, and his wife, Victoria, joined their uncle David’s daughters and estranged wife, Susan, in paying their last respects. David’s Bird’s children, Rachel, 28, Tracey, 26, and Katie, 19, penned a tribute, read to the congregation by the Reverend Jim Marshall.

“Dad, where do we start?” they said. “Not only were you one in a million, but more like one in a billion. No one will ever know a character quite like you again.

“You were quirky, hilarious, cheeky and downright cute.

“You brought laughter everywhere you went and always put a smile on everyone’s faces.

“You always showed us girls great affection like at Easter when you used to eat the back half of our Easter eggs and then wrap it back up so we’d never know.”

The girls paid tribute to their father’s keen sense of mischief, saying: “And only you could get away with asking every girl you knew if they had still been taking their ugly pills. You were our hero, dad.”

In the weeks after the murders, much was made about the apparent chasm between Bird’s wealth and that of his taxi-driving brother who lived a few miles away in a pebble-dashed mid terrace.

The brothers’ father, Joseph, gave David £25,000 (€30,000) in a will – with the sum meant to be made good between Derrick and their eldest brother Brian.

But it had not happened as the brothers’ mother, Mary – too poorly to attend yesterday – survived her husband and inherited his estate.

Reports suggested Bird, being investigated for apparent tax evasion, was embittered about his brother’s wealth, though David Bird’s daughters denied there was a family feud. Though details have not yet been released, Derrick Bird’s funeral will be held on Friday. The family wanted to hold it last as a mark of respect to Bird’s victims.