Gun victim 'slashed killer's tyres'

Derrick Bird was bullied and taunted by a 'clique' of other taxi drivers in Whitehaven, the inquest heard
12 April 2012

A taxi driver gunned down by Derrick Bird had "bragged" about slashing the tyres on the killer's car, an inquest heard.

Darren Rewcastle, 43, was overheard saying he had "done" the tyres on Bird's Citroen Picasso.

Stephen Brew, a fellow taxi driver and friend of Bird, said the gunman complained that replacing them was costing him more than he was making on the job. Bird named Mr Rewcastle as responsible, pleading to his friend: "What am I to do?"

After the cold-blooded murder of his twin David and solicitor Kevin Commons, 60, Bird drove to the taxi rank in Whitehaven where he and Mr Rewcastle both worked. He called the victim over to his cab and blasted him twice with a shotgun in the face and stomach.

Bird, 52, went on to injure three other taxi drivers in the town, killing 12 people before turning the gun on himself on June 2 last year.

The inquest, now in its fourth day, has heard a number of reasons why Bird may have gone on the shooting spree. He was convinced he was going to jail for not paying enough tax and thought his brother and solicitor Mr Commons had "stitched him up" over the matter.

The hearing at the Energus centre in Workington, Cumbria, has been told that Bird was also worried about his elderly mother's ill-health.

And Bird was also bullied and taunted by a "clique" of other taxi drivers in Whitehaven, the inquest has heard, prompting him to warn: "They are going to get it big style."

The witness said Bird complained that his brother David did not pull his weight in looking after their frail mother and he was left "doing everything" to help her.

The inquest, expected to last four weeks, is also investigating the deaths of Bird's other victims: Susan Hughes, 57, Kenneth Fishburn, 71, Isaac Dixon, 65, Jennifer Jackson, 68, and her husband James, 67, Garry Purdham, 31, Jamie Clark, 23, Michael Pike, 64, Jane Robinson, 66, and Bird himself.

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