Inquest Hears Plymouth Gunman Killed 5 Victims in 8 Minutes

Undated photo of Jake Davison, posted on his Facebook page. (Jake Davison/Facebook/PA)

A gunman who committed Britain’s worst mass shooting for a decade, murdered all five of his victims in eight minutes and then used his penultimate shotgun cartridge to kill himself.

Jake Davison, 22, killed his mother Maxine, 51, and then shot dead four others, including a young child, in the port city of Plymouth before shooting himself on Aug. 12, 2021.

The entire incident took only 16 minutes, an inquest heard on Wednesday.

The victims were Sophie Martyn, 3, her father Lee Martyn, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66.

It was the worst mass shooting in Britain since June 2010 when Derrick Bird, 52, shot dead 12 people in and around Whitehaven in Cumbria before taking his own life.

Both Bird and Davison legally owned shotguns.

A still from a video released by Devon and Cornwall Police showing Jake Davison moments before he killed himself after killing five people in Plymouth, England, on Aug. 12, 2021. (Devon and Cornwall Police)

Davison was granted a firearms licence in January 2018—which was valid for five years—but it was suspended and his gun seized in 2020 after he assaulted two teenagers in a park.

Davison’s shotgun and gun licence were returned by Devon and Cornwall Police a few weeks before the murders.

Gun Rampage Followed 999 Call by Victim’s Sister

On Wednesday the jury heard a 999 call which Maxine Davison’s sister Marlene Hill made on the night of the shooting in which she could be heard saying, “He’s locked her in the bedroom and he’s threatening, not letting her out.”

But the inquest heard that Davison had already been killed by the time of the 999 call.

The inquest was then shown a CCTV montage, alongside a map, which explained Davison’s route on that fateful night.

After killing his mother he left his home in Biddick Drive and immediately shot dead Martyn and his daughter, who had just returned from walking their dog in nearby Linear Park on what was a warm summer’s evening.

Davison then walked through Linear Park, and shot dead Washington. Another passerby spotted him in the distance and immediately ran off.

The killer then crossed Royal Navy Avenue and shot dead Shepherd, who was returning home from a grocery shopping trip at the local Lidl supermarket.

The montage ended moments before Davison killed himself behind the Blush hair salon, yards from where police and paramedics were trying to save Shepherd’s life.

A map showing the places where Jake Davison committed five murders before taking his own life in Keyham, Plymouth, England, on Aug. 12, 2021. (PA)

Rebecca Martyn told the inquest her daughter was pushing a “scruffy” purple buggy with a teddy bear in it when she was killed.

Martyn said, “From knowledge of previous walks, she would push the buggy for a short while before giving up and one of us would have to carry it home.”

Since the incident it has emerged Davison was obsessed with the incel (involuntary celibate) culture and was also fixated on guns and the United States in general.

Plymouth MP Rails Against Incel Content Online

Luke Pollard, the Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, told Parliament on Tuesday night that more needed to be done to tackle incel platforms on the internet.

Pollard said the Online Safety Bill did not go far enough and he added: “I really want to rid the internet of the disgusting, festering incel culture that is capturing so many of our young people and young men in particular.”

“In particular I want minimum standards to apply to make sure that on big and small platforms where there’s a risk, that minimum standard includes recognition of incel content,” he added.

Pollard said: “Because at the moment incel content is festering in the darkest corners of the internet where young men are taught to channel their frustrations into an insidious hatred of women. And taught to think of themselves as brothers in arms in a war against women.”

“This bill doesn’t remove incel content online, and therefore doesn’t prevent potentially future tragedies,” Pollard added.

The inquest began on Tuesday when the gunman’s brother, Josh Davison, said, “We are grappling to understand and manage our own health, emotions, and bereavement following the incident.”

“Even deeper than that, we think we share the feelings of despair, hurt, and loss of the Martyn, Washington, and Shepherd families knowing that it was a member of our family who was responsible for their loss.”

They added, “Our involvement in this inquest is to help prevent this from happening in future; an event like this cannot and should not ever happen again.”

In September 2021 Tim Jacques, the deputy senior national coordinator for UK counter-terrorism policing, said Davison’s attack was not motivated by incel culture.

Jacques said: “Incel in and of itself is not a terrorist ideology. You become a terrorist when you cross a threshold in terms of your actions and it’s about what you do or intend to do to further that cause. The attack in Plymouth wasn’t driven by an ideology, albeit that individual was engaged in some kind of incel thinking. But that doesn’t make him a terrorist.”

The inquest, which is taking place at Exeter Racecourse, is expected to last for five weeks.

Handguns were banned in Britain under legislation introduced following the Dunblane massacre in 1996 when Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 primary school children and their teacher in the Scottish town before committing suicide.

But shotguns and sporting rifles can be legally owned as long as the person has a firearms licence issued by the local police force.