Inquest: Plymouth gunman was referred to anti-terror scheme

A man who shot five people dead had been reported to the Government's counter-terrorism programme by his own mother, an inquest heard.

Jake Davison killed his mother and four others including a three-year-old girl in Plymouth in August.

Mrs Davison had contacted the Prevent scheme, which aims to stop people becoming terrorists, in November 2016.

Details of the referral were not disclosed during a pre-inquest hearing at Plymouth Coroner's Court on Tuesday.

Ian Arrow, senior coroner for Plymouth and South Devon, held the hearing into the deaths of three-year-old Sophie Martyn; her father, Lee, 43; Stephen Washington, 59; and Kate Shepherd, 66 on the evening of August 12.

Mrs Davison's referral will be a key area of examination in the inquest which will begin in January 2023.

The apprentice crane operator carried out the 12-minute attack before turning the pump-action shotgun on himself before armed officers reached him.

The court heard how firearms licensing procedures at Devon and Cornwall Police are being improved in response to issues identified after the incident.

A lawyer representing the force told the pre-inquest review that officers were being given more training and a new IT system will automatically alert them when someone with a licence is arrested.

The killings happened just weeks after Davison's shotgun and licence had been returned to him by Devon and Cornwall Police. They had been seized earlier in 2021 after Davison assaulted two teenagers in a park.

Davison applied for a shotgun certificate in July 2017 and after the application was processed by the force a certificate was issued to him in January 2018 that was valid for five years.

As part of the investigation, two members of staff in the firearms licensing department involved in the granting of the shotgun certificate have been served with gross misconduct notices, while an officer has been served with a misconduct notice.

Jason Beer QC, representing Devon and Cornwall Police, told the hearing the force was still actively investigating the events of last summer, including Davison's use of chatrooms on the social media site Reddit.

"A review of Jake Davison's computer tower and mobile telephone showed he was an active member of Reddit forums," Mr Beer said.

He said some of them were incel related - an online subculture for young men describing themselves as "involuntarily celibate".

Mr Beer said police had secured some posts and they had asked Reddit for further data.

"It did so against a backdrop of Reddit almost immediately deleting Mr Davison's account once the shootings and his links to Reddit were known about publicly," he said.

He told the court Reddit had declined to assist in any dialogue for the provision of that material without a "treaty of mutual legal assistance".

Mr Arrow said the inquest was likely to be held under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which widens the scope of the hearing.

Referring to the Prevent scheme when setting out the scope of the inquest, Mr Arrow said: "To deal with the matters of November 2016 being the disclosure re: the Prevent scheme made by Mrs Davison."

He added that those running the scheme could be invited to be "interested persons" meaning they could be legally represented and have the right to ask questions of witnesses.

Mr Arrow said the inquest would also consider how Davison's application for a shotgun was processed by the police, how the allegations of assault against him were dealt with and his referral to the pathfinder scheme.

The inquest would consider the seizure of his shotgun and licence and return a few weeks before the shootings.

Davison's contact with mental health services in May 2021 would also be examined and a later occupational health assessment.

Following the hearing, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) issued a statement saying it had completed its investigation into how the force approved Davison's shotgun certificate application and then later gave him back the certificate and shotgun.

It added the findings had been handed to the coroner and Devon and Cornwall Police.

The IOPC said the publication of the report would depend on further discussion with the coroner.

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