Derrick Bird inquests: Day two

Neil Jacques, 52, said Bird was obsessing about his tax problems and had resigned himself to being jailed after not declaring his real income for 15 years.

Bird's behaviour became increasingly agitated in the three days running up to the murder spree, the witness told the hearing.

Bird appeared "shaking and petrified", telling his friend, "I might as well top myself", and kept repeating over and over to himself that his brother David and solicitor Kevin Commons were in "cahoots" against him.

Mr Jacques had known Bird since high school and lived a few doors down from the killer's terrace home in Rowrah, Cumbria.

He was Bird's "best friend" and saw him three times on the day before the shootings, he said.

Bird, 52, went on to kill his twin David, solicitor Mr Commons, 60, and ten other innocent victims during his rampage through west Cumbria on June 2 last year, before turning the gun on himself.

Earlier the inquest, at the Energus centre in Workington, heard Bird was worried over a tax investigation into undeclared income and had sought the advice of his twin and Mr Commons.

Today on the second day of the hearing Mr Jacques was questioned at length by coroner David Roberts.

The witness said Bird first began to change his behaviour after the tax inquiry began in May.

"He said he received a form and he was bothered because he had too much savings and he had to declare it," Mr Jacques said.

"He was bothered and concerned. He had not paid any tax for 15 years and they were going to find out if he filled the form in."

Both men agreed that the "**** would hit the fan" if he gave details and returned the paperwork.

"He just kept repeating, he thought he was going to go to prison," Mr Jacques said.

Bird also told his friend that he had been to see his twin's friend and solicitor, Kevin Commons, and "it wasn't looking good".

Mr Jacques added: "He said he did not think they were trying to help him. They were against him. He said...they were stitching him up."

In the days before the murders Bird was in such despair he talked of suicide, the inquest heard.

Mr Jacques said Bird had told him: "I might as well top myself."

His friend said he did not take the remark seriously and replied: "Don't be so daft,"

On June 1, the day before the murders, Bird first called at Mr Jacques's house around 1pm, wanting to "have a word".

Bird was due to have a meeting with Mr Commons and an accountant the next day and had convinced himself he was going to be arrested on the spot and put in jail over his tax affairs.

The witness was asked by the coroner how Bird appeared to him.

"Very distressed, not himself," Mr Jacques said. "He was shaking, petrified sort of thing.

"He says, 'I think I'm going to get locked up tomorrow so you might as well have my gun'."

Bird got a Winchester 12-bore shotgun out of his safe and handed it over to Mr Jacques for safe keeping.

Mr Jacques said he thought this was a "good idea" because of Bird's state of mind.

"What do you mean by that?" Mr Roberts asked.

"Well he mentioned he was going to top himself so he might harm himself," he replied.

Later at around 6pm Bird again called on his friend.

He was still shaking and worried and Mr Jacques said he kept repeating to himself that the solicitor and his brother had "stitched him up".

Another friend, Graeme Curnow, arrived and both tried to tell him not to worry so much. Bird appeared to be listening to the advice.

But Mr Jacques said before the meeting broke up at 8pm, Bird said to him: "You think I'm paranoid don't you?"

"I just told him he was being paranoid," Mr Jacques added.

The last time the two friends met was back at Mr Jacques's house when Bird called around at 10pm and stayed until 12.35am.

This time the apparent lift in his mood after the earlier meeting involving Mr Curnow had gone and now he was "glum" and repeating himself again.

"He just said David and his solicitor were in cahoots together. They had stitched him up.

"He mentioned David had taped him on the phone."

Mr Jacques advised him to go to the meeting with the solicitor to "sort it out" and promised to ring him the next day to see what had happened.

It was the last time they saw each other.

Gunman Derrick Bird boasted "Whitehaven will be as famous as Dunblane" just weeks before he massacred 12 people, the inquest heard.

Bird, 52, gave the chilling warning in the foyer of a swimming pool in Hensingham, near Whitehaven, where he had been diving while training with Solway Sub Aqua Club.

Peter McLean, also a member of the club, told the hearing the pair had been talking about a boat trip that taxi-driver Bird was planning when - out of the blue - he suddenly made the remark.

"He turned his back on me and said Whitehaven will be as famous as Dunblane," Mr McLean said.

After Coroner David Roberts asked the witness what his reaction was, Mr McLean replied: "'Infamous, you mean,' I said. I only know Dunblane for one thing. He was walking away and he turned around and said 'You will see soon enough'.

Mr Roberts asked him: "At the time, what did you make of that remark?"

Mr McLean replied: "At first I thought it was a sinister thing to say, but it is such a weird thing to say. I couldn't understand why he said it."

"When I went down to the pub after the pool, I mentioned it to a few people. Everybody thought it was such a weird thing to come out with. At the time it did not mean anything to me. I told my wife when I got home. It was such a weird thing to say, it had no relevance."

Mr McLean was giving evidence on the second day of the inquest into the deaths of all 12 victims and Bird following the massacre on June 2 last year. The witness said he could not remember exactly when Bird made the remark but it was four to six weeks before the murders, so had to be some time in April.

Mr McLean added that he knew of Dunblane only through the massacre of children there, when crazed gunman Thomas Hamilton shot 16 youngsters and a teacher dead at a school in the Scottish town in March 1996.