Jake Davison's gun licence application not referred to manager, inquest hears

The shotgun licence application for a man who later used his weapon to kill five people was not referred to the manager in charge of the police department, an inquest has heard.

Jake Davison, 22, killed five people in the Keyham area of Plymouth in 2021.

A Devon and Cornwall Police manager in charge of the gun licensing department at the time told the hearing his application was not passed to her.

Michelle Moore said it should have been because it was high-risk.

Ms Moore was head of Devon and Cornwall Police and Dorset Police's firearms and explosives licensing unit at the time.

She told the inquest jury since the shootings she had been "put to one side" and a superintendent had been brought in to head the department.

However, she was the current decision maker for high-risk decisions, she said.

Davison killed his mother Maxine, 51, after a row at their home on the evening of 12 August.

He then shot dead Sophie Martyn, three, her father Lee, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66.

The inquests into their deaths in Exeter has heard Davison applied for a shotgun certificate in July 2017, with one issued by Devon and Cornwall Police in January 2018 that was valid for five years.

The force revoked Davison's licence and seized his shotgun in 2020 but returned them in 2021 - weeks before the killings.

Bridget Dolan, counsel to the inquest, asked what should happen if a firearms enquiry officer (FEO) became aware of an application from a 19-year-old, who had a reported history as a child of having assaulted three other people in school.

Ms Moore said it would from "the outset be a high-risk application", which meant it should have been referred to herself for a decision.

She said she believed that was clear to the FEOs and they "generally" referred such applications to her.

Ms Dolan said: "Generally but not all the time?"

Ms Moore said: "Well, clearly not."

Ms Dolan asked if Ms Moore had read the reports compiled in the wake of the shootings, including by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

She said: "You're still reviewing high-risk decisions ignorant of what the Durham and IOPC reports say?"

Ms Moore said she was.

When questioned further, Ms Moore said she had been provided with a list of recommendations and actions from both reports.

She added she was currently making more than one high-risk decision per day.

Jurors were also told a review of 123 cases where shotgun licences had been seized and reviewed between 1 January 2020 and 8 August 2021, found of the 42 times those licences had been returned, in 20 of them guidance had not been followed.

Dominic Adamson, representing the Martyn, Washington and Shepherd families, said data suggested there was "regular non-compliance with standards" for gun licensing in the force.

Ch Supt Roy Linden, who was giving evidence on the data showing the number of applications dealt with by the department, said: "The qualitative decision-making was below the standard that was expected."

He added the data indicated "the application of those standards within Devon and Cornwall Police was not as rigorous compared to the national picture".

The inquest hearing continues.

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