Why did they let 'suicidal' gunman keep six weapons? Questions for police after taxi driver kills THREE women

By CHRIS BROOKE and JAMES TOZER

Escape: Laura McGoldrick, pictured at her 18th birthday party, was shot during the incident but managed to escape by climbing through a window

A taxi driver shot dead three women on New Year’s Day after being allowed to keep six guns – even though he had previously threatened to kill himself.
Michael Atherton, 42, was licensed to own the small arsenal despite being investigated three years earlier when officers were tipped off about his mood swings.
On Sunday night, he opened fire at will, killing partner Susan McGoldrick and two of her female relatives before turning the gun on himself.

Desperate: Drenched in blood and hysterical, Laura, pictured, pounded on the door of a neighbour's house in a desperate attempt to get help

Atherton, who is believed to have been recently suffering from depression, also wounded stepdaughter Laura McGoldrick, 19, in the late-night rampage inside the family home.
She witnessed the bloodbath and survived only by escaping through a first-floor window and jumping to safety.
The bloodsoaked teenager then raised the alarm. Relatives were yesterday devastated by the ‘senseless’ murders and questions were being asked about why Atherton was still a lawful holder of the guns.

Investigation: Police guard the home where three women were killed by Michael Atherton who then killed himself with a shotgun. Pictured is the rear of the property

An independent investigation will examine the 2008 decision by Durham Police to clear Atherton and will spark further debate about Britain’s gun laws, which were tightened after the Dunblane massacre in 1996.
Atherton and his long-term partner Miss McGoldrick, 47, had gone out separately to local pubs on New Year’s Day evening.
Although he was said to have been depressed following a heart operation last summer, the couple were not known to have argued over the holiday period and Atherton was said not to have been drunk.

Cordon: Police forensic investigators enter the house on Greenside Avenue, Horden, Co Durham, where three women and a man were found shot dead

Police were called to the semi-detached house in Greenside Avenue, Peterlee, Durham, at 11.45pm, moments after the shootings.
Witnesses told of chaotic scenes moments after gun shots were heard to ring out.
A neighbour recalled seeing a man coming out of the house covered in blood and ‘screaming’ at police arriving at the scene.
He said: ‘He was saying “he has shot my lass. She is dead, she is dead. He has shot her in the head.”’
The group of seven family and friends had gathered at the house after returning from the pub when Atherton took a shotgun and started firing.

Investigation: A forensic team member is pictured carrying an evidence bag with a white investigation tent in the background

source: dailymail