Call for answers into horrific Horden shootings

Jan 8 2012 by Michael Brown, Sunday Sun

FRESH questions have been raised over how Greenside Avenue gunman Michael Atherton was allowed the weapons he used to kill three and then himself in County Durham.

As investigations continue in the aftermath of the New Year’s Day slayings and the debate rages over whether the 42-year-old should have been granted a gun licence, the Sunday Sun has learned of claims:

:: Police had been aware of the quiet cabbie for more than a decade after he was involved in incidents, including a fight outside a club in the area.

:: Atherton pushed his partner down the stairs in one of four domestic incidents police were called to between 2002 and 2004 - but she later retracted her claim and said she simply fell.

:: A family member had to grab the keys off the taxi driver to prevent him unlocking his gun cupboard and harming himself during one episode.

:: Police repeatedly warned Atherton that his membership of a local gun club – and therefore one of the reasons for him to have a gun licence - had lapsed.

A spokesman for the IPCC last night said they could not comment on the details of the investigation but earlier this week the body’s commissioner Nicholas Long said he would be “fully examining the issues around the granting of Mr Atherton’s firearms licence and subsequent renewals.”

A spokesman for Durham Police refused to comment about the latest claims.

Meanwhile, Easington MP Grahame Morris said he had also been denied answers over Atherton’s access to firearms.

“I rang the assistant chief constable Michael Banks but he wouldn’t answer any of my questions,” he said.