Pressure led gunman Derrick Bird to 'go postal'

Jun 5 2010 by Vicky Robson, The Journal

A LEADING North East criminologist has shed some light into the mind of Cumbrian killer Derrick Bird.

Dr Steve Hall, a senior lecturer in criminology at Northumbria University, thinks Bird may have carried out the shooting spree that left 12 dead because he was “under immense pressure”.

He believes the circumstances which tipped Bird over the edge on Wednesday, will become clearer as more details about his life begin to unfold.

Dr Hall told The Journal: “At this point, without clear biographical details, it’s impossible to be certain, but it looks as though he was under pressure in various aspects of his life.

“There was friction between workmates at the taxi rank and tax problems, and apparently he was worried about uncertainties in his mother’s will.

“So the pressure seems to have got to him. It’s very rare in this country, but it’s very common in the USA.

“Because his initial victims were workmates, what Bird did started out as a ‘workplace shooting’, or ‘going postal’ – so named because the first workplace shooting occurred in a US post office in the 80s – but Bird took it further and started to select random targets.”

But Dr Hall disagrees with the comparisons between Wednesday’s shooting and previous massacres including Hungerford and Dunblane.

In 1987, gun fanatic Michael Ryan went on a shooting rampage in Hungerford, Berkshire. He killed 16 people, including his mother, before killing himself.

And in 1996, a former Scout leader, Thomas Hamilton, entered the gymnasium at Dunblane Primary School, killing 16 children and a teacher.

Dr Hall said “I think this was totally different to Hungerford and Dunblane, where there were signs of prior psychological disturbance in both perpetrators.”