Derrick Bird

Derek Bird

Since 2nd June 2010, the name "Derek Bird" will be remembered for the carnage he wrought in and around the town of Whitehaven, Cumbria on that day.

Summary of events

Twelve people were shot dead and a further eleven wounded in a rampage that began in the early hours of Wednesday morning 2 June 2010, when Derek Bird killed his twin brother David Bird at his home in Lamplugh. His second victim was his solicitor Kevin Commons, killed on the driveway of his home in Yeat House Road, Frizington. There followed an extended rampage through Whitehaven, Egremont, Seascale, Drigg, and Eskdale with the police very much aware of the grave nature of events but unable to corner the gunman. Bird was eventually found dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds by a police dog-handler in a wooded area close to the village of Boot at about 1:30 that afternoon. The episode counts among the worst mass killings in UK history.

Locations where people were killed

• High Trees, Lamplugh - Gunman's twin bother shot in the early hours
• Yeat House Road, Frizington - shots fired gunmans's solicitor Kevin Commons killed
• Duke Street, Whitehaven - shots fired, Darren Rewcastle killed
• Orgill, Haggard End, Egremont - shots fired Susan Hughes killed
• Bridge End, Egremont - shots fired Kenneth Fishburn killed whilst riding bicycle
• Town End Farm, Wilton - Shots fired, Jennifer and James Jackson killed
• Near Carlton Wood - shots fired Issac Dixon killed
• Gosforth - shots fired Garry Purdham killed
• Drigg Road, Seascale - shots fired Michael Pike and Jane Robinson killed
• Gosforth Road, Seascale - shots fired Jamie Clark killed
• wooded area in Boot - Bird found shot dead.

Map

• Locations of the shootings - Map

Mainstream media coverage

MSM coverage of the events of 2 June was understandably massive - wall-to-wall while Bird remained at large even - until about two weeks afterward. There was plenty of analysis of why/how anyone could carry out seemingly random cold-blooded murders. Favorites were (and as at 6 September remain):

• Thirteen years coping with a feeling of gnawing injustice at being denied any inheritance on the death of his parents by a £25,000 sum paid by them to his twin bother David.
• Serious problems with the Inland Revenue over unpaid tax from his extended period of self-employment
• A potpourri of amateur psychological 'problems' diagnosed by this and that family member or acquaintance

.... then all went quiet. and has remained so, especially following stories that local people wanted "..to be left alone to come to terms....etc etc".

As at 6 September 2010:

• From representative MSM coverage, there has been no inquiry into Bird's life between his late teens and his employment at Sellafield in 1990
• inquests are outstanding.
• the results of the Cumbria Police internal inquiry are awaited and it is unclear whether or not there will be any other official inquiry.

The elephant in the Establishment living-room

It is likely that all of the problems Derek Bird was wrestling with - so copiously pored over in the press - had some bearing on what he did, but.... it seems there is one item of enormous potential significance which nobody is talking about - the public because they are unaware of it; Officialdom because it poses a whole raft of awkward and embarrassing questions for the Establishment:

It is that of Derek Bird's Military service in Northern Ireland from 1977 to 1989.

Distillation of a long article by Trowbridge Ford

Apparently Bird acquired the nickname "Birdy" (a nickname reported in the press) after spotting wounded IRA member Francis Hughes hiding in woodland during a search that followed his escape from a firefight with British soldiers - the result of a stake-out. It is alleged that soon afterwards Bird received 'Special Observation Patrol' training and was involved in the operation that resulted in the death of Francis Bradley on 18 February 1986. It is further alleged that there were/are a number of ex-army men among his victims and/or intended victims, who knew all about his army service and who ribbed him mercilessly about it and his other problems.

It appears that these multiple issues peaked with the announcement at the end of May 2010 by John Larkin, Northern Ireland's first Attorney General since direct rule, that there would be a new inquest into the Francis Bradley Assassination and that all the soldiers involved (which would include Bird) would this time be required to attend and give evidence.

• See Also Madden and Finucane press release dated 9 July 2010

However, more than three months after that announcement and the subsequent Cumbria rampage by Derek Bird, there has been no follow-up by Northern Ireland's Chief Coroner John Lecky.

The silence is deafening.

Wikispooks comment

It is clear that, if the Trowbridge Ford allegations are true, then they have very considerable bearing on what happened in Cumbria on 2 June 2010. They pose a whole raft of questions which the authorities would clearly prefer not to have to answer.

The problem is that to date (6 September 2010), nobody appears to be asking them.

Representative MSM Coverage

• The deadly hate that festered for 13 years: Gun killer held grudge against twin for 'robbing' him of his £25,000 inheritance - Daily Mail 5 June 2010
• Cumbria shootings are not just 'inexplicable' - The Guardian 5 June 2010
• Police release details - The Westmorland Gazette 5 June 2010
• 12 killings confirmed in Cumbria Shootings - Sunday Times 2 June 2010
• Cumbria shootings: Derrick Bird, his twin and the £60,000 tax inquiry - Telegraph 3-June 2010
• Cumbria killer Derrick Bird 'probed over tax' - BBC News 5 June 2010
• Something inside Birdy - The Independent 6 Jun 2010. This is MSM journalism at its best. All the facts (as could reasonably be known just 4 days after the events), including much background information going back to Bird's employment at Selafield in 1990, and a bit of sober-minded speculation - all in a readable narrative style.