Panorama - The Cumbria Shootings: review

Panorama’s programme on the Cumbria Shootings on Monday evening was short, sharp and horrific. Sensibly, the makers scarcely attempted to answer the many questions surrounding Derrick Bird’s motives for killing twelve people, and then himself in a peaceful wood, but rather focused on following the geographical course he took, just one week ago.

The contrast between the sunlit landscape and the terrible crimes that Bird committed was shocking. Even Conan Doyle, when writing in 'The Copper Beeches' about 'the dreadful record of sin' to be found in the countryside could never have imagined a single man being responsible for such a trail of wanton, pointless destruction. Some of the stories told, albeit briefly, were heartbreaking. Bird started the day by shooting his twin brother, and later he killed – presumably at random – a woman whose twin sister described her own tragic loss. His victims included fellow taxi drivers, many if not all of them perhaps chosen as a result of some grudge, and passers-by who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The chief constable of Cumbria police, Craig Mackey, was grilled by the journalist, but denied that Bird could have been caught more quickly and before killing so many people. We don’t know all the facts, of course, but instinctively I have a great deal of sympathy for Mr Mackey’s points, which he put in a reasonable and by no means unduly defensive manner. There are questions to be asked about whether ambulances were allowed, quickly enough, to attend to the victims, but no doubt the answers will emerge in due course.

Strikingly, at the end of the programme, several people who were deeply affected by the shootings – including one man whom Bird shot in the face – expressed a degree of sympathy for the ‘normal bloke’ who snapped in such a terrible way, and with such appalling consequences. This is an extraordinary case which has made a deep impression on countless people, including me. A good deal has now emerged about the personal misfortunes which Bird suffered and which may help to explain, though not excuse, his conduct. But whether it will ever be fully explained remains far from clear.

Policing, Bookdagger and Bookwise

After Derrick Bird's shooting spree in Cumbria on Wednesday, almost inevitably people are looking for someone or something to blame, given that the culprit is now beyond reach of earthly justice. For example, there is a suggestion that the Cumbria police would be more effective if they were part of a larger, merged force.

Now I'm not an expert on police force structures, but the issue of possible merger was a live one four or five years ago, and touched on in my early Lake District Mysteries. Suffice to say that, while merger may bring some advantages, there are also plenty of obvious disadvantages. Not least the risk of reducing locally-based policing, which (at least in my opinion) can contribute to keeping communities safe and cohesive. There might also be a tendency to focus on urban, rather than rural, policing. I do hope that the tragedies in Cumbria don't result in knee-jerk reactions.

On a lighter note, I've contributed a couple more columns to Bookdagger, one on the subject of Eurocrime, and the other taking crime fiction conventions as my topic. Here is a link to the site if you would like to read more: Bookdagger

Last Sunday I had the intriguing experience of discovering that a book of mine featured in The Sunday Times Bookwise quiz. I've had a go at that quiz hundreds of times over the years and I'm not sure I've ever got 100% correct answers, proving I don't know my literature quite as well as I ought to. But there were enough clues for me to identify that the answer to one of the questions was The Arsenic Labyrinth!

Derrick Bird and the Cumbria Shootings

Yesterday’s news of Derrick Bird’s killing spree in Cumbria is so appalling that it is difficult to take in. There is, no doubt, much yet to be revealed about the man who murdered at least a dozen people in such peaceful places as Whitehaven and Seascale, who shot many others, and who finally ended his own life – in the paradoxically lovely Lake District village of Boot. But this terrible tragedy is another reminder of the chasm between fictional crime, which entertains so many of us, and the real thing, which in this case has lasting and disastrous consequences for so many innocent people.

Well-written crime fiction can, I think, help us to understand the mind-set of murderers, and I honestly believe that is a valuable function. But I must admit that it is difficult at this point to comprehend why a man who apparently was a reasonably well liked taxi driver should suddenly embark on a mass killing spree. No doubt – like a good many people – he had a darker side, but the man had only just become a grandfather and does not seem, on the basis of early reports, to have had a significant criminal record. He has ruined so much, for so many – what on earth possessed him? One report suggests that there is a connection with a family dispute about a will (oddly enough, I was talking to a friend about the bitterness of some will disputes only a couple of days ago) but whether that helps to explain why Derrick Bird went berserk remains to be seen.

In one news report, the comment was made that ‘lessons will have to be learned’. It’s a typical response to a bad news story, but I tend to agree with Nigel Eastman, a professor of law in psychiatry writing in The Daily Telegraph, who says that cases like this are ‘unpredictable and unpreventable’. This may be dismissed by some as a counsel of despair, but (although I don’t claim to be an expert) it matches the conclusion I reached when I researched spree killings for my book Urge to Kill.

Spree killings in the UK are thankfully rare – off hand, I can only recall Hungerford in the 80s and Dunblane in the 90s. It may give comfort to some to think that passing new laws can put an end to crimes of this kind, but I’m not sure you can legislate for the Derrick Birds of this world.

I am very sad that Cumbria, a marvellous county that I grow fonder of with every visit, has witnessed so many tragedies in recent months. First, the fatal floods of winter, then the deaths of teenagers in a school coach trip crash, now this. In my books, I write about a fictionalised Cumbria Constabulary, deliberately distanced in various ways from the real organisation. But the men and women of Cumbria Police now have a truly dreadful task on their hands, dealing with the aftermath of this shocking sequence of events, and they and the people whose loved ones have died or been injured have my utmost sympathy.