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Police were tracking Cumbria killer from the third of his 12 murders

08 June 2010 02:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Police have confirmed for the first time that officers tracked the Cumbria mass murderer Derrick Bird from shortly after his third killing, but were unable to catch up with him for another three hours - while he killed another nine victims, APA reports quoting â€œTime Onlineâ€.
Despite following Bird almost from the start of his 45-mile murderous rampage, police lost sight of him after he pointed the gun at unarmed officers, forcing them to â€œprotect themselvesâ€, according to a statement. He then â€œdrove off at speedâ€ and lost his pursuers.
Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde insisted, â€œNone of our officers had an opportunity to be able to bring this to a conclusion quicker. I think with hindsight itâ€™s possible that people might believe that we could have got there faster or some other things.
â€œThe reality is that this was an exceptional incident in exceptional circumstances. These are ordinary neighbourhood officers.â€
Police first became aware of the danger posed by Bird when an officer at Whitehaven Police Station heard shots near the station at 10.33am, said Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde. About this time Darren Rewcastle, the third of Birdâ€™s victims, was shot dead.
The officer ran out and saw Bird pointing a shotgun from the front window of his taxi, alerted the communications centre, and jumped into a local residentâ€™s car to follow Bird, police said.
The officer then saw Bird shoot into another taxi and stopped to administer first aid to the victim, while a police transit van followed Bird â€“ but the chase came to a halt when Bird pointed his gun at the van and the unarmed officers were unable to reverse because of a buildup of traffic. The officers were forced to â€œprotect themselvesâ€, said police, not specifying how they had done so.
â€œWe believe he then drove off at speed,â€ police said. They were unable to locate Bird after that despite asking passers-by. Meanwhile, Bird proceeded to kill another ten people and then himself, and was out of sight of police until they found him dead in woodlands near Boot at 13.40.
DCC Hyde said, â€œThose officers were putting themselves into imminent danger. They could see that the man was armed. Thatâ€™s a situation that they were not used to and that I sincerely hope they never encounter again in their service.
â€œIf somebody had pointed a weapon at you you would inevitably be highly concerned,â€ he added. He was unable today to specify what time the first armed officers had arrived in pursuit of Bird.
The Cumbria police force has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission following questions over why they were unable to locate and stop Bird before the end of his murderous rampage.
In a sequence of killings which shocked the normally peaceful villages of Cumbria, Birdâ€™s victims included his twin brother, David, and the family solicitor, Kevin Commons, as well as fellow taxi drivers and apparently random passers-by. Another 11 were injured, with more than half of them shot in the face.
Since the massacre it has emerged that Bird faced financial problems including an investigation by tax authorities, and may have resented the greater success of his brother and been involved in a dispute over their fatherâ€™s will.
It was also reported today that a Thai prostitute with whom Bird had been â€œin loveâ€ ended their relationship weeks before the murder, after he had transferred large sums of money to her bank account.