'Ban criminals like Derrick Bird from owning guns'

Published on Tuesday 2 November 2010 16:24

A CHANGE in the law to prevent criminals who receive suspended jail terms from holding a gun licence for five years should be introduced, a report into the killings by Derrick Bird has recommended.

The taxi driver, who killed 12 people in a shooting spree in west Cumbria, was sentenced 20 years ago to six months in prison suspended for a year when he was convicted of stealing decorating materials from his then employer.

He also had a drink-driving conviction and had been arrested over claims that he demanded payment with menaces after a customer made off from his cab without paying.

But Bird, 52, was allowed to keep his shotgun certificate, which he acquired just short of his 17th birthday, because neither of his convictions warranted an immediate custodial sentence to trigger an automatic ban on him keeping guns.

An independent review ordered by Cumbria Constabulary yesterday proposed that anyone who is handed a jail term of three months or more which is wholly suspended should be prohibited from possessing licensed weapons for five years.

The review by the chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) Firearms and Licensing Working Group, Adrian Whiting, ruled that "no reasonable opportunities" within the current licensing system could have prevented the killings.

Mr Whiting's recommendation to attach prohibited person status to wholly suspended prison sentences was "very much influenced" by the Cumbria shootings.

"I cannot say it would have made a difference in this case, but it would have been another significant factor," he said.

In his report he said: "Of course Derrick Bird would have been eligible to have made a fresh application for grant well ahead of the events of 2010, but the fact that he would have once been prohibited would have been a specific consideration in any decision to grant again."

Cumbria Constabulary Chief Constable Craig Mackey welcomed the report, saying: "ACC Whiting's review has confirmed that Bird owned his firearms lawfully and that we could not have used our firearms licensing process to identify him as a risk or prevent the tragic shootings."

Meanwhile, more details of Bird's rampage were revealed yesterday, including his bid to retrieve one of his three shotguns, which he had transferred to another certificate-holder the night before the events of 2 June.It emerged he had tried to recover the gun shortly after his first two murders, those of his solicitor Kevin Commons and his twin brother David.

Bird went to the person's house and a two-minute conversation followed before he was refused access to the gun and went on his way towards Whitehaven.

Police also said Bird fired a total of 54 rounds from his two weapons - 23 rounds from his .22 rifle and 31 from his side-by-side hammer action shotgun, which he illegally shortened in the hours before the murders.

Bird, of Rowrah, Cumbria, also injured 11 others in his spree before turning his gun on himself.