Cambridgeshire shootings: Homicide review planned

Gary and Josh Dunmore died of gunshot wounds at their homes which were six miles apart in Cambridgeshire

A safety review has been commissioned following the murders of a father and son who were shot dead.

Stephen Alderton, 67, killed Gary Dunmore, 57, and Josh Dunmore, 32 at separate properties in two Cambridgeshire villages in March.

Cambridge Crown Court heard during the trial the murders came two days after a family court hearing.

Huntingdonshire Community Safety Partnership will conduct a domestic homicide review (DHR).

Josh Dunmore, the former partner of Alderton's daughter, died of gunshot wounds at his home in Bluntisham on 29 March.

His father Gary was also found dead at his home six miles away in Sutton on the same day.

A representative from East Cambridgeshire Community Safety Partnership will be invited to the DHR panel because Gary Dunmore was from that district.

DHRs look at the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over seems to have resulted from violence, abuse, or neglect by someone they were related to, lived with, or were in an intimate relationship with.

The trial heard Stephen Alderton had a shotgun licence and lawfully held a Beretta shotgun, which was used in both killings

Alderton was arrested by armed police in his motorhome on the M5 near Worcester hours after the shootings, and his trial heard he told them "sometimes you have to do what you have to do even if it's wrong in the eyes of the law".

Soon after the first shooting was reported in Bluntisham, the body of Gary Dunmore, 57, was found in The Row, Sutton

Alderton, of no fixed address, was jailed for life for a minimum of 25 years on Monday for the two murders.

Judge Mark Bishop said Alderton murdered the men over his "distorted beliefs" about family court proceedings "following what was an interim and not final hearing on 27 March".

The judge told the defendant: "You took the decision to take the law into your own hands and end the lives of two innocent men."

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: "As is a statutory requirement in these sad circumstances, a Domestic Homicide Review has been commissioned on behalf of the relevant Community Safety Partnerships.

"This type of review looks at what public bodies can do to learn from what has taken place and how these organisations provide support to those affected by domestic violence."