HORRIFIC details of Derrick Bird's ruthless killing spree were revealed for the first time today at the inquest into the deaths of his 12 victims.

The 11-person inquest jury at the Energos Conference Centre near Workington had been warned by west and north Cumbria coroner David Roberts it will have to listen to 'distressing evidence' of the gunman's killing rampage in last summer.

The taxi driver, 52, began his murders by blasting his semi-naked twin brother David in his bedroom, shooting him 11 times.

Days before, David told his estranged wife Susan that his brother was "going mad" and needed to be sectioned.

He was worried about a tax investigation involving up to £60,000 of income, some of which was not declared, and feared he would be sent to jail.

And Derrick's son, Graeme told how his father was "not his normal self", worried and holding his head in his hands in despair the day before the murders.

Relatives of the dead held hands to their faces as the full horror of the taxi-driver's rampage through West Cumbria was revealed for the first time.

During the murders on June 2 last year, Bird, 52, carrying a 12-bore sawn-off shotgun and a .22 rifle, had repeatedly stopped his Citroen Picasso car, called victims over as if to ask the time or for directions, then blasted them in the face with a shotgun.

On more than one occasion he left his vehicle, changed his weapon to the rifle, and finished off his victims by shooting them in the head at point blank range.

Graeme Bird, 29, said his father was "not his normal self" the day before the shootings and was worried he was being "set up" to go to jail.

He said his father did not appear worried when he previously mentioned his tax investigation but when visiting his home on June 1 last year he "sat on the sofa with his head on his hands".

"He said he was going for a meeting with the accountant the following day and he said he was getting arrested and going to prison.

"Then he sat on the sofa and he just had his head in his hands.

"He thought he was being set up and he was going to attend this meeting and be arrested."

David's wife, Susan Bird, told how Derrick Bird began to "pester" her husband and was "obsessed" with his problems over the investigation into his tax affairs.

Describing the twins' relationship, she said: "I would describe them as close. When Derrick had problems he would turn to David.

"If there was anything that went wrong for Derrick he would always go to David for help."

Tracey Stephenson, one of David's daughters, said her father told her Derrick had begun to "confide" in him over his tax problems.

Her statement ended with words her father had told her days before the murder spree.

"Uncle Derrick needed to be sectioned. He was going mad."

In the early hours of June 2 he left his own shabby terrace house in Rowrah, armed with the shotgun and rifle, heading for his twin's house.

David Bird's bullet-riddled body - he had suffered 15 different entry and exit wounds - was only found around 11am by a neighbour.

Bird went on to murder solicitor Kevin Commons, 60, at his home in Frizington.

Next he went to the taxi rank in Whitehaven where he had suffered ridicule from other cabbies over his "personal hygiene and the cleanliness of his taxi".

He shot dead fellow driver Darren Rewcastle, 43, before driving to Egremont where he murdered Susan Hughes, 57, a mother-of-two who was carrying her shopping to her home in Egremont.

He then pulled up alongside Kenneth Fishburn, 71, who shot at close range with the shotgun. Mr Fishburn was killed instantly.

He went on to kill Isaac Dixon, 65, Jennifer Jackson, 68 and her husband James, 67, in the village of Wilton, local farmer and amateur rugby league player, Garry Purdham, 31, near Gosforth, estate agent Jamie Clark, 23, the youngest victim, outside Seascale and Mike Pike, 64, and Jamie Robinson, 66, in the town.

Ms Robinson was the final murder victim, though Bird went on to injure four other innocent victims before turning the gun on himself in woodland just outside the village of Boot.

Bird knelt down on the ground, placed the rifle barrel on the centre of his forehead and fired a single round into his head, killing himself instantly.

The inquest was adjourned until tomorrow. It is expected to last for five weeks.