Plymouth shooting: Detective did not understand firearms warning

Jake Davison killed five people and injured two others, during a mass shooting in Plymouth, in August 2021

The police officer who investigated an assault by a man who went on to kill five people did not know he had a legally held shotgun, an inquest heard.

Jake Davison attacked a 16-year-old boy less than 12 months before the mass shooting in Plymouth in August 2021.

Investigating officer Det Con Pablo Beckhurst said he was "unfamiliar" with the warning on the police national computer indicating shotgun ownership.

Davison did not face any criminal prosecution for the assault.

The confusion meant staff in Devon and Cornwall Police's firearms licensing unit were not told of the September 2020 assault until the following November.

His shotgun was then seized but was returned to him in July 2021.

Davison killed his 51-year-old mother, Maxine Davison, three-year-old Sophie Martyn, her father, Lee, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66, on 12 August 2021 using a legally-owned shotgun, which he then turned on himself.

Det Con Beckhurst told the inquest at Exeter Racecourse he had seen Davison had an "FC" marker on the police national computer, but did not know that it meant he held a firearms certificate.

He said he was unaware of his "obligation in the policy to take action on it".

Dominic Adamson, representing the Martyn, Washington and Shepherd families, asked if he accepted the marker was there and that "should have resulted in action being taken immediately to have that weapon seized".

The officer said: "Had I been aware of the policy, yes."

The inquest heard Davison punched a boy unprovoked seven to nine times in the skate park assault on 16 September 2020.

It found Davison only turned himself in a month after the assault as a CCTV image of him was released to the media.

Jurors were taken through CCTV footage of Davison, 22, walking along a path near the skate park in Central Park, Plymouth.

The court were told one of the witnesses heard someone shout "fat", but did not hear who it was aimed at.

Davison later handed himself into the police after a public appeal was made using CCTV images of a suspect wanted for the September 2020 assaults

Det Con Beckhurst said: "I saw him pause and stop as though something had taken his attention.

"I watched him climb the bank then I saw an unpleasant attack of a young person who was struck multiple times."

The CCTV showed him appear to remonstrate with another boy before slapping a 15-year-old girl and then leaving the scene, the inquest heard.

Counsel to the inquest, Bridget Dolan KC said: "That assault on a child appears to be ferocious and intense doesn't it?"

The officer said he would not use those terms to describe it but said it was "unpleasant".

The inquest heard witnesses said Davison had punched the boy even after it appeared he was unconscious.

The boy himself later told police he had no memory of the attack and believed he "may have lost consciousness" and his mother reported they spent 10 hours in A&E.

She said her son suffered a concussion and a cut above his eye, which required stitches.

Davison killed Maxine Davison, 51, Sophie Martyn, three, her father Lee, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66 in August 2021

After Davison handed himself in to police, he told Det Con Beckhurst he knew the boy he attacked was not the one who had called him fat but said he was "guilty by association".

The inquest heard the assault was initially looked at as being an actual bodily harm (ABH) assault, before being reclassified to the more serious charge of wounding.

However, Det Con Beckhurst said it was later decided a file should be prepared for court on the basis of the assault being battery or assault by beating, which were less serious than ABH.

The inquest heard Davison went on a Pathfinder restorative justice scheme as a result of the skate park attack rather than facing criminal prosecution.

Det Con Beckhurst said there was no medical evidence as to whether or not the boy had lost consciousness, and he did not seek any medical evidence.

Ms Dolan asked if it was still the case that an assault on a child by an adult male involving seven to nine punches, leaving the child limp on the ground, requiring stitches would still be considered a battery rather than ABH.

Det Con Beckhurst said he would "certainly be looking at ABH after requesting medical evidence" as he was now "more aware" of potential unconsciousness having an impact on seriousness.

The inquest continues.