Mourners remember Cumbria solicitor

THE funeral for a solicitor shot dead in the driveway of his home by Derrick Bird took place yesterday.

Kevin Joseph Commons, 60, was the second of 12 victims in Bird's rampage through west Cumbria last Wednesday.

Mr Commons, though understood to be an intensely private man, was a well-known figure locally in west Cumbria because of his legal practice. He was also the Bird family solicitor, being a good friend of the killer's twin, David.

About 150 mourners attended St John the Evangelist Church in Workington for a private service open only to family, close friends and work colleagues of Mr Commons.

Canon John Kelly, a retired vicar known to Mr Commons' family, said: "The sheer magnitude of what happened on that fateful day defies belief."