Derrick Bird, the man who killed 12 people in Cumbria by going on a shooting spree is thought to have called to the majority of the victims before shooting them. Derek Bird drove around in a grey Citroen Picasso looking for certain people to shoot. When he saw someone that he wanted to shoot he would call out there name to grab their attention, and even call them over to his car, and then aim to shoot them in the face. Many people escaped being killed by seeing the crazed look in Derek Bird’s eyes and were able to moved out of the firing line, however many suffered serious injuries. Some of victims have no known contact with Derek Bird and the reason behind him shooting them is thought to just been down to the crazy state of mind he was in. Two walkers, who were unaware of what had happened over the last few hours, saw Derek leave his crashed car at the end of his killing spree and offered him their help, risking their lives without realising, but Derek walked straight passed them with only one thing in his mind, ‘to kill himself’.

A man who killed his ex girlfriend and their young son had been arrested a week earlier for threatening to kill them. The forty four year old man stabbed his ex girlfriend and son before turning the knife on himself. His ex girlfriend was in a new relationship and was three months pregnant with her new partner. The killer and his ex girlfriend were found dead at the scene but their 23 month child was found alive and was taken to hospital by air ambulance, but unfortunately the toddler died later from his injuries. An investigation may take place into any mistakes made by the police when the arrest took place a week earlier, and why the killer was released enabling him to do what he had set out to do the first time.

Mindless vandalism continually frustrates local residents. Many of us park our cars on the street outside of our houses, but many of do so leaving our vehicles at risk. A friend of mine was relieved not to have parked their car on the street outside her house a few nights ago as all cars parked on the street were vandalised in one evening. All cars had one or more tyres slashed leaving many residents unable to drive to work. The damage is believed to have been caused by teenagers who are on their school half term break, which consistently raises questions over facilities available to teenagers outside of school hours. This and other damage to vehicles happens quite frequently around the country leaving car owners to pay out for vehicle repairs.

Should owning a gun become illegal? Following the shootings in Cumbria questions have been raised over why the gunman who went on the killing spree in Cumbria was allowed to own a firearm. The shootings in Cumbria was the third of it’s type in the UK in the last 23 years. In 1987 a gunman roamed the streets of Hungerford in Berkshire killing 16 people and injuring another 15. In Dunblane in 1996 17 people were shot, 16 of them school children, which all took place in a primary school. In all incidents the gunman has turned the gun on himself before the police could intervene. Many believe owning a gun should become illegal, however no action over gun regulations is likely to be taken following the latest incident due to the fact that all three massacre’s are random attacks without a known motive. The gun regulations will come under further scrutiny over the next few months.

A taxi driver in Cumbria went on a killing spree on Wednesday morning which ended up in twelve people being killed. Eleven other people were wounded and seven of the wounded are still in hospital. The killings took place within the space of three hours before the gunman turned the gun on himself. Three people known to the gunman were shot first, including his twin brother, fellow colleague, and solicitor. The remaining shootings were random attacks. Police are investigating to discover the reasons behind the ruthless attack, but it is believed that the attack was a result of financial and family issues, and possibly from a dispute over a will. Investigators have stated there is a good chance they will never discover the full reasons behind the attack.

A report has been released by the Foreign office showing the countries where British Citizens are most likely to be arrested. The country with the highest number of British arrests, outside of the UK, is Spain with almost 2300 arrests. The USA is second with over 1500 arrests. The report show’s that overall there were over 6900 British arrests abroad in 2009. The report also shows that were almost 1000 drug related arrests, over 5500 British death abroad, and over 3000 Britons hospitalised. However comparing the number of arrests to the number of visitors, the country with where British people are most likely to be arrested is the United Arab Emirates.

A teacher who was accused of assaulting a pupil with a glue stick has been cleared. The female teacher allegedly injured a twelve year old boy by slamming a pritt stick down on his thumb, however it has been discovered that the boy has behavioural and learning difficulties and a history of false allegations, therefore the allegations against the teacher were dropped. The teacher, who has been teaching for 30 years, broke down in tears after being cleared.
Allegations by pupils have to be taken very seriously, but when the allegations involve teachers who are quite obviously innocent you can only imagine how difficult the whole process can be for them. Pupils have a lot more protection than teachers and even the smallest allegation can end a teachers career. Children and young teenagers sometimes don’t realise the severity of the allegations they make.

A woman has been arrested following the death of her two children at a hotel in Spain. The woman left a sign on the hotel room door stating the children were ill and they should not be disturbed. She then went to the hotel reception and requested that an ambulance is called. The hotel staff asked why an ambulance should be called and the woman stated to the hotel staff ‘you will see when you look in my hotel room’. The woman was arrested and is being tested for psychiatric problems. Since then the husband of the woman arrested has been also been arrested for sexually assaulting a young girl 15 years ago. The husband and his wife fled to Spain in 2007 following accusations against him relating to the assault,s and have been on the run ever since.

An investigation is taking place into the murder of a woman who was killed by her husband. The husband, who is a chef, killed his wife with a griddle pan and stored her body in a freezer for three years. The body was discovered in a wheelie bin by the landlord of the rented property with a sleeping eye mask still covering her face. The man killed his wife the day before inviting round a woman who he had started dating. He even had the audacity to have sex with the woman in the bed where he had killed his wife. The relationship didn’t last long and the man soon moved away with a new girlfriend to Malta.
He told his wife’s family and friends that she died of natural causes but when they asked for a death certificate he would always provide them with an excuse. The man has admitted manslaughter but denies murder.

I recently relocated from living in a town center to a lovely area located a few miles outside of the town center. It is so refreshing not to hear screaming and shouting outside your front door. I would frequently hear people fighting, vandalizing, and shouting abuse. Most of the violence was alcohol induced and during the day time time the incidents were few and far between, but hearing and seeing these incidents on a regular basis could make anyone feel on edge. I think town center violence is a real problem and seriously affects the people living there as well as local retailers. I have watched the town center I lived in slowly deteriorate as a result of all the violence and the town struggles to generate visitors as it has now built up a bad reputation.