Discovery Channel
On Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010, a popular, mild-mannered taxi driver embarked on a deadly three-hour shooting rampage, which left twelve people dead and many more injured in the quiet and peaceful rural communities of West Cumbria.
Derrick Bird’s victims included his own twin brother, his solicitor and a taxi driver colleague, as well as several strangers, whom he shot and killed at random. After armed police pursued him to a local beauty spot, he eventually turned the guns - which he owned legally - on himself.
The carnage, which created 30 separate crime scenes across the county, shocked one of the most crime-free parts of Britain. To many Bird, 52, was a well-known and happy-go-lucky local personality, who showed no previous signs of violence or mental disorder.
This programme attempts to clarify and explain the tragic and bewildering events. It will feature in-depth interviews with those who knew Bird prior to the massacre, eye witnesses to the slaughter and some of those injured in the shootings - including fellow taxi driver Don Reed and Les Hunter, a stranger shot at random by Bird on his murderous journey.
It asks a broad range of experts - including a leading forensic psychologist, a firearms specialist, a gun control campaigner and a top police officer - what steps they believe could be taken to prevent apparently crazed gunmen with a death wish from taking slaughter to the streets.