Investigations into what made a taxi driver shoot 12 people dead in Cumbria may centre on a family row, reports suggest.

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Derrick Bird, 52, embarked on a rampage that began near Whitehaven and ended when he turned a gun on himself.

It has been reported he may have been involved in a dispute over a will, and police have confirmed solicitor Kevin Commons is among the dead.

Eleven people were injured as he drove around shooting indiscriminately.

Eight of those are being treated at Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital and the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle. All are in a stable or comfortable condition, said the NHS.

The remaining three have been allowed to leave hospital.

Police said Bird had firearms licences, which he is understood to have held for 20 years.

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Cumbria Police's Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde said: "He had a shotgun certificate and a firearms licence for weapons but we do not know at this stage whether the weapons that we recovered are those he was licensed for.

"A detailed ballistic examination is being undertaken to confirm this."
Rifle and shotgun

Two weapons have been seized by police and are being examined by forensic experts. These are a shotgun and a .22 rifle fitted with a telescopic sight.

The Cumbria force are now involved in what is likely to be their biggest ever investigation, which includes 30 crime scenes.

Detectives said they do not expect to find any more bodies, but are following up more than 1,400 calls from people including witnesses and concerned friends and relatives. One of the key questions is what might have caused Bird to act in the way he did.

A possible theory is that he had been involved in a dispute with his family over a will, other reports suggest he had fallen out with fellow taxi drivers after he believed they had taken work from him.

A friend reported a brief conversation he had with the taxi driver the night before Wednesday's massacre, which ended with Bird warning: "You won't see me again."

The following day Bird is believed to have left his home in the village of Rowrah and begun the carnage by shooting dead his twin brother David, at his home at High Trees Farm, Lamplugh.

He then travelled to Frizington, where the family's solicitor was killed on his driveway in Frizington Road.

Mr Commons, aged 60, worked at KJ Commons solicitors which has offices across the region.

Next, Bird drove seven miles to Whitehaven where he shot dead taxi driver colleague Darren Rewcastle before heading through villages and countryside in west Cumbria, apparently choosing his targets at random.

Retired Sellafield worker Kenneth Fishburn, who was in his 60s, was shot dead in Egremont, while a woman of about the same age was killed while carrying her shopping in the town.

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The gunman then moved on to the village of Wilton and murdered two more people, believed to be a husband and wife.

A part-time mole catcher, aged in his 60s, was the next to be targeted - he was shot and killed at the edge of a field in Carleton.

Then in Gosforth, Bird shot dead rugby league player Garry Purdham at point blank range as he worked in a field.

Mr Purdham played semi-professionally for Workington and Whitehaven, and was the older brother of Harlequins skipper Rob Purdham.

Dr Barrie Walker, a local GP who was called to the scene of the Seascale shootings, said two young girls had witnessed Mr Pike's killing and he looked straight at them and these kids They couldn't speak for the next two hours."

There were further shootings in Seascale, where cyclist Michael Pike, 64, and Jane Robinson, who was in her 70s and delivering Betaware catalogues, were both killed.

Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde confirmed solicitor Kevin Commons died.