Jake Davison argued with his mother before shooting her dead, an inquest into Thursday’s Plymouth shooting heard today.
The 22-year-old apprentice crane operator then went on to kill another four people with a licenced shotgun before turning the gun on himself. The court heard that Davison had died from a “shotgun wound to the head.”
Opening the inquests into the deaths of the gunman’s five victims, senior coroner for Plymouth, Ian Arrow, called on evidence from the senior investigating officer at Devon and Cornwall Police.
Detective Inspector Steve Hambly confirmed the death of Maxine Davison, 51, at 17 Biddick Drive on Thursday evening, saying: “A former trawler woman by occupation.. she sustained fatal gun wounds following an argument with her son.”
Inspector Hambly said that, on the present evidence, her cause of death was shotgun wounds to the torso and head.
Coroner Ian Arrow also opened the hearings into the deaths of Sophie Martyn, 3, her father Lee Martyn, 43, Stephen Washington, 58, and Kate Shepherd, 66.
Inspector Hambly told the court that Lee Martyn had died of gun shot wounds to the head and torso after going “walking with his daughter Sophie and his family dog.” Sophie, 3, was also “shot by an assailant that was not known to her” and died of a shot gun wound to the head.
Stephen Washington, 58, was “out walking his dogs” when he was attacked by Davison on a footpath that runs near Biddick Drive, Keyham. He died of a “shot gun wound to the chest”, pending further toxicology reports.
Artist Katherine Shepherd, 66, was shot in the abdomen and received immediate medical attention but later died at Derriford hospital.
In a separate hearing in the afternoon, Mr Arrow opened the inquest into the death of apprentice crane operator Jake Davison. Detective Inspector Hambly told the later hearing that “following an argument with his mother, Jake then fatally wounded his mother... fatally wounded four others, before taking his own life.”
Inspector Hambly added that the cause of Davison’s death was a “shotgun wound to the head, pending histology and toxicology.”
The senior coroner, Ian Arrow, asked the police officer to contact the Independent Office for Police Conduct - who are carrying out a separate investigation into how Jake Davison was allowed a shotgun licence.
Coroner Arrow asked the IOPC to consider recommendations made following a 2012 New Year’s Day shooting by Michael Atherton, 42, who used a shotgun to kill himself, his partner Susan McGoldrick, her sister Alison Turnbull and Ms Turnbull’s daughter Tanya.
At the time, Durham Police admitted that it knew that Mr Atherton had had a history of violence and his inquest hearing was told how the force had missed opportunities to remove the weapons he legally owned.
Mr Atherton had had his weapons confiscated but later returned to him after officers opted to give him a “final warning”.
Following the tragedy, changes were made to the Firearms Act 1968 to prevent any person who received a suspended sentence of three months or more from possessing a firearm.
Last Thursday’s shootings have sparked calls for further gun control regulation and police forces across England and Wales have been asked to review their firearms application process in light of the tragedy.
Home Secretary, Priti Patel, announced that new statutory guidance will be published, spelling out that nobody should be given a firearm licence until their doctor has informed the police of any medical conditions that would make them unfit to have a gun.
It emerged since the shooting that Jake Davison, 22, received help from mental health practitioners over lockdown.
In a written statement to parliament, Patel said: “The new guidance... will mean that no one is given a firearms licence unless their doctor has confirmed to the police whether or not they have any relevant medical conditions, including an assessment of their mental health, and it will make explicit that firearms applicants may be subject to social media checks.”