A CO DOWN sportsman shot and seriously wounded his life long friend and then shot and killed himself on a shooting trip, a Belfast inquest was told yesterday.
Mr Noel Drummond (49), who lived at Silverstream Avenue in Bangor, was said by the coroner to have had murderous thoughts in his mind when he shot his friend just a week before Christmas two years ago (December 18th, 1995).
The double shooting took place in woodlands at Crawfordsburn, along the Co Down coast.
No motive was found for the shootings but the coroner, Mr John Leckey, said they were deliberate and carried out while Mr Drummond was mentally disturbed.
The survivor of the shotgun attack, Mr David McGimpsey (51), of Glenariff Park, also in Bangor, Co Down, who is now permanently disabled, gave his evidence to the inquest from a wheelchair.
He said he and Mr Drummond had not had any arguments and had been friends from their schooldays. He brought Mr Drummond in his car to the farmland but was surprised his friend had brought his shotgun with him on a Sunday, as he thought they were only going to train a young spaniel dog in the bracken. Mr Drummond told him that he was bringing his gun in case they saw a fox.
Mr McGimpsey said that on a previous occasion, Mr Drummond had "acted strangely and was edgy" and kept "lagging" behind, which was unusual, as people on a shooting trip always kept in line for safety reasons.
Mr McGimpsey said that when the shot hit him on the back of his head, he fell forward on his face. When he heard another shot, he thought his dog was the target.
Mr Drummond's body was found a few yards away. He had died from a self inflicted shot to the head.