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Service remembering 12 victims to be held close to where taxi driver worked in Whitehaven
West Cumbria is holding a muted commemoration of the tragic killings a year ago when imagined slights and groundless fears of tax prosecution drove taxi driver Derrick Bird to shoot dead 12 people and leave 11 others with serious injuries.
The pointless and largely random nature of the worst crime in the county's history has left little appetite for more than silent community tributes to the dead followed by church bells pealing out to assert that life goes on.
Lessons from the handling of the terrifying three-hour stalking of targets, before Bird turned his gun on himself at the Lake District beauty spot of Boot, have been few. Two inquiries called for better co-ordination between emergency services and made modest suggestions about gun licence checks, but otherwise largely concluded that an exceptional crisis had been dealt with as capably as anyone could expect.
Villages along the zig-zag route taken by Bird from Whitehaven past Sellafield power station to Boot are organising a variety of church services and community gatherings on Thursday 2 June, the first anniversary of the crime.
The main commemoration will be in the centre of the Georgian port, where the 52-year-old shot dead taxi-driving colleague Darren Rewcastle, 43, after killing his own twin brother David and the family's solicitor, 60-year-old Kevin Commons, at their homes nearby.
A brief service and two minutes' silence will be held at 11.55am in the gardens of St Nicholas' church, just down the road from the taxi rank where Bird's resentment at everyday joshing became part of his lethal breakdown.
Few families of the victims are expected to take part and the Press Complaints Commission has issued a request from relatives and friends of seven of the victims, and of David Bird, for no approaches to be made to them by journalists.
Bird's close relatives have given their first television interview since last June's shooting. It is being broadcast tonight on ITV1 at 10.35pm. The wife and three daughters of Bird's twin brother say they constantly feel the need to apologise for his actions to the community. They go on to say that Bird's sons, Graeme and Jamie, have been deeply affected by their father's actions and are "hurting like everybody else".
David Bird's wife Susan, who was separated from him, says when she heard about the shootings, she knew Derrick Bird was responsible: "You know when you have the gut feeling. I was phoning David. It was just going to answer machine because, by this time, I knew it was Derrick. I thought the one person that would stop him would be David. I don't think anybody would have known it would go to those extremes."
David Bird's daughter Katie tells ITV: "[Derrick] was our family and he hasn't treated dad differently to any of the other people that he killed. But he was our uncle and these people … [for] everybody else their loved one was killed by a stranger and that makes it so much harder because our dad was killed by his own brother."
Rev John Bannister, the rector of Whitehaven who led a special service in St Nicholas' gardens a week after the shootings, said the first anniversary was a sad but important landmark. Although an NHS helpline dedicated to psychological help in the aftermath remains open, he said West Cumbria's communities had "come through".
"It is by the strength and fortitude of their people that we have done that, with the compassion and dignity which defines the people of west Cumbria," he said. "I pray that this anniversary will provide some strength and support to us all as we continue along the long and painful road of recovery."
Whitehaven will also see a wider commemoration once the sharpness of the immediate anniversary has passed, with candles shining in windows in the town – whose centre is considered the UK's most perfect Georgian setpiece – on Thursday night.
On Saturday, community days in Whitehaven and Seascale, where Bird shot dead his last three victims, will see tributes woven into the usual celebrations of summer fetes.
A third point on Bird's route, the small town of Egremont, will hold a ceremony of two minutes' silence at the war memorial.
The parish church of St Mary and St Michael has also organised a "prayer point" for the rest of the week.
The classical soprano Joan Rodgers, who grew up locally, will perform at Whitehaven's event, while Seascale ends an afternoon of races, stalls, art competitions and BMX bike demonstrations with a gathering of remembrance along the seafront.
The villagers who died there summed up the random nature of Bird's killing: estate agent Jamie Clark, 23; retired Sellafield worker Michael Pike, 64; and Jane Robinson, 66, who was delivering mail-order clothing catalogues. In each case, he used some everyday pretext such as asking the time to call them over to his Citroen Picasso before suddenly opening fire.
Bird's other victims were mother-of-two Susan Hughes, 57; retired security worker Kenneth Fishburn, 71; retired couple James, 67, and Jennifer Jackson, 68; retired Sellafield worker and part-time molecatcher Isaac Dixon, 65; and semi-pro rugby league player Garry Purdham, 31.
Elaine Woodburn, leader of Copeland district council, which will fly all flags at half mast, said private mourning and reflection was likely to be the main mark of the anniversary. She said: "It was a tragic day for so many people in the borough and the events of that day will stay with us for ever.
"As a community, it is important that we take the time to pause and reflect on the events of a year ago and remember those who are no longer with us, or whose lives were affected by what happened on that awful day. People will want to reflect in their own way, but the two-minute silence is a simple gesture of respect."