Inquest told of gunman Derrick Bird's porn habit

Killer Derrick Bird was a cold, "emotionally void" man with an interest in extreme porn, an inquest heard today.

The taxi driver, from Rowrah, Cumbria, also head-butted his girlfriend after she tackled him about his habit of ogling other women, the hearing was told.

She dumped him after Bird showed no support when her sister was dying of cancer.

Bird, 52, who killed himself, used the computer at his home every night to access extreme internet pornography, which was found by police experts on the machine after his crime spree across west Cumbria left 12 dead on June 2 last year.

Today at the inquest into the deaths of his victims, the jury heard about Bird's six-year relationship with Judith Fee.

Ms Fee, in a written statement, described Bird as cold and detached, and though she fell in love with him she eventually broke off their relationship.

She first met Bird in the bar at the Washington Central hotel, in Workington, in the summer of 1994.

Ms Fee, 53, said Bird "seemed a really lovely man" though shy but the couple "just clicked" and a relationship began.

A home care supervisor from Workington, Ms Fee had three children from a previous relationship and Bird, who had split from his partner Linda Mills around 1990, had two sons, Graeme and Jamie.

The couple enjoyed days out at the zoo with the children and behaved like a "normal family" she said, but never lived together, both keeping their own homes.

Ms Fee's statement continued: "Derrick's father passed away in 1999 but he never really showed how he was feeling and he didn't cry.

"He kept his grief to himself, but this would be the same during the course of our relationship, he never discussed problems with me, he was a very quiet man who was deep, it was quite difficult to talk to him at times. However if there was something he wanted to do he would always just do it.

"I would have classed him as selfish, just thinking about himself and not considering my feelings, but I loved Derrick so I put up with things."

Ms Fee continued: "Our sex life was always healthy. I had no concerns about him being unfaithful to me during the course of our relationship."

However the one issue that "really upset" her was when they were out together and Bird used to turn his back on her to look at other women.

He "seemed oblivious" to his habit but it often ended in a row.

On January 16 1998 it happened again when they were out, the inquest heard.

"When we returned back to his house we had words, which resulted in Derrick head-butting me in the face," Ms Fee said.

"I contacted the police and immediately after assaulting me Derrick was extremely remorseful towards me and tried to tend to my injury."

Police came but when they arrived things had calmed down and neither were "forthcoming" with information so officers left.

The next year Ms Fee's sister was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

"I would always take my sister for her treatments and then I would rely on Derrick for some emotional support, but it never happened," she said.

"Derrick's feelings on the matter was that it's life and I had to get on with it.

"He seemed emotionally void and when I needed him the most, he wasn't there for me."

As her sister's health worsened they began seeing less of each other but Bird just "didn't seem bothered".

Ms Fee said after her sister died, in February 2000, she broke off the relationship due to Bird's lack of support.

"I could not deal with losing my sister and having a relationship with someone who didn't seem to care," she said.

"When I told Derrick our relationship was over he showed no feelings at all, he didn't ask me to reconsider, he didn't cry or get angry, he just accepted that we were breaking up."

The inquest also heard from Detective Constable Mark Littlejohn, from the High Tech Crime Unit at Cumbria Police.

Mr Littlejohn examined the hard drive from Bird's computer seized from his terraced house in Rowrah.

In a written statement, the officer told the inquest the computer was used solely to access the internet.

"There were no documents and no family photographs saved anywhere on the machine," he said.

"The vast majority of the use centred on internet access to extreme pornography sites.

"These internet sessions tended to take place in the evenings and on average lasted in the region of 20 minutes.

"Prior to the events of the 2nd of June 2010 there appeared to be little change in the user's habits and there was no sign of the system being used in the previous three days.

"There was no sign that any of the victims had been researched using the internet."

The inquest, at Energus in Workington, was adjourned until tomorrow morning.