Kenneth Fishburn died in Egremont at the hands of Derrick Bird just because he went later than normal to the bookmakers, writes MARK HENNESSY
DIANE LOWRY sat behind the counter at the Ladbroke’s betting office in Egremont yesterday morning staring into space as a dozen men sorted out their racing selections or used the slot-machines.
For 19 years, Kenneth Fishburn had called in nearly every day: "Since he retired, he used to come about 9.30 for a read of the Racing Post and a cup of tea," Ms Lowry told The Irish Timesyesterday.
On Wednesday, however, Mr Fishburn was late, not leaving his neatly kept cottage near the bridge on the outskirts of the village until nearly 11am.
Moments later, Derrick Bird drove to the other side of the road and shot him dead on the bridge.
By then, Bird had killed four times, or perhaps more, including little more than a minute before, Sue Hughes, a mother of two, who was murdered as she walked down Haggot End Road.
“I’m just on auto-pilot. Ken wasn’t just a customer, he was a friend. A taxi driver came in and told us that he had been knocked down on the road. I rushed down and there he was lying on the footpath on the bridge.”
By then, a nurse had come to tend to him, but, unable to find a pulse, she shook her head.
Ms Lowry arrived. Only then did she learn that Mr Fishburn had died at the hands of a lone gunman.
By noon yesterday, a growing pile of bouquets gathered on the bridge, including one, accompanied by a note written on a Ladbrokes betting docket: “Tragically taken, but never forgotten. Miss you forever, your girls Marc, Ladbrokes.”
Ms Hughes’s nephew, Andrew, stood at the scene of his aunt’s death yesterday afternoon, reluctant to talk: “Look, I know you lads have your job to do, but all I’ll say is that she was spot on.”
Life or death in Cumbria on Wednesday was decided by luck, nothing more. Mr Fishburn was late. Fellow Egremont resident Michelle Rogers saved her sons’ lives by texting them to make sure they turned off the lights.
The sons, Russell Elliott and Lee Rogers, had left home when the text arrived. Turning back, they did as their mother instructed. If not, they would have on the bridge just at the moment that Bird drove through.
Neighbour Lisa Foster was but one of those who brought flowers to the scene of Mrs Hughes’ murder: “I got a call to say that there was a gunman. I was just shaking with disbelief.”
Her son, Jamie, had been out at the time on a driving lesson, but he returned home safely still unaware of the slaughter: “He came in and said that there had been an accident at the bridge, and that there were people around someone on the ground.”
Elsewhere, the story was the same. Garry Purdham was cutting hedges by a seven-bar gate near the Red Admiral Hotel on a country road when Bird stopped, seeking directions.
When the father of two came near, he was shot at point-blank range. Bouquets were tied to the gate in ever-increasing numbers yesterday, including one from his parents: “A beautiful son, taken from us in the prime of life. We will miss you so much.”
And there was one from his wife, Ros and two boys: “Gar, Daddy, Gaggy,” it read, “Words will never express how much we love you. Always be with us, Ros and your wonderful boys.”
Some of his family came across the fields to add their tributes, with one young man ahead furious with reporters and photographers present: “Just leave them alone, go away, go away,” he said angrily.
In Seascale, the flowers were fewer, but the incomprehension was the same.
The alarm had begun to spread by the time Bird passed through here shortly after 11am yesterday, with warnings to take the children off the beach.
Lyn Edwards, a retired teacher who runs a drop-in centre for local teenagers just yards from the bridge was one of those to get a warning call: “I was told to get everybody out of the car park.”
Rushing to the scene, Ms Edwards was already too late. Publican Harry Berger had encountered Bird at the single-lane road under the railway. Berger’s Land Rover collided with Bird’s taxi. The 52-year-old shot him twice in the chest. Berger survived.
Neighbour William Hogg was another to get a warning from a neighbour who had been “alerted that a gunman was on the loose and heading towards Seascale”, he told The Irish Times in yesterday’s afternoon sun.
Locals rushed to offer aid as Bird sped away.
Just a hundred yards away up the hill, he encountered retired Sellafield worker Michael Pike, who was returning to the village after his morning cycle. He was shot in the neck.
The horror went on, yard by yard. Three hundred yards away, 66-year-old identical twin Jane Robinson was delivering Betterware shopping catalogues near her home. She too died at Bird’s hands.
Her sister, Barrie, was just yards away in the home that they had shared for decades, “Singing Surf”, where they and their mother had run a successful play school forty years ago.
Local GP Barrie Walker was one of those who rushed to the scene from the local medical centre: “The girls were watching (Mr Pike’s killing). He looked straight at them and these kids were mute for the next two hours. They couldn’t speak for the next two hours.”
Others can speak, but none can understand.