Alistair Bell inquest: Gunman’s taunts to officer who shot him

A police marksman told a jury he feared for his own life when he had a ‘split second’ to shoot gun man Alistair Bell.

Bell was fatally shot by the officer known only as D20 on the morning of December 28, 2010, after a six hour stand-off with police at Cockley Hill Lane in Kirkheaton.

But Bell’s father yesterday asked officer D20 during the inquest at Bradford Crown Court whether he intended to kill his son when he fired three ‘high velocity shots’.

The witness said: “I was intended to stop him. It wasn’t in my mind to kill him. I feared for my own life.”

The court heard officer D20 was called to respond to the incident as part of West Yorkshire Police’s Firearms unit.

Earlier unarmed officers were continuously shot at by Bell which continued even when armed officers arrived.

Officer D20 told how he was positioned behind a Ballistics Protection Vehicle BPV and was one of a number of officers who engaged with Bell.

The court heard on one attempt Bell told D20: “I can see you. I can take you out now. You’ve got a 556. I’ve got a 762SLR. I’ve loads of magazines. I can take you out.”

The witness told the jury within seconds of Bell identifying D20’s position he moved “as quick as he could” as he feared for his life.

He told how Bell’s knowledge of weapons and the fact he had already shot and injured an officer left no doubt that he could kill him.

Bell continued: “This is only going to be a fire fight. I’ve served 17 years in jail and I’m not going to go back there. We are going to fire to the death.”

Officer D20 heard, either by radio or on the ground, that Bell was armed with a pistol on the stairs which were visible through a gap in the glass of the damaged front door, the court was told.

The witness described Bell as “making himself as small as possible” and appeared to be shuffling down stairs on his bottom with his head lowered and his arms out in front forming an arc with the pistol sweeping from side to side.

Officer D20 told on hearing of Bell’s position he moved out from the behind the BPV with his firearm positioned on the doorway.

Mr Horstead, on behalf of the Bell family, asked the marksman where they are trained to aim on suspects.

He replied: “The largest area of body mass ie. the chest.”

The court heard D20 fired three rounds and after the first and second the suspect appeared “utterly unchanged” until the third shot and he appeared to ‘scarper’ upstairs.

Officer D20 said he was unable to ascertain whether the suspect was injured.

But the court heard earlier Bell suffered a fatal shot to the head and life-threatening injuries to the abdomen.

The witness was asked whether it was an option to allow Bell to walk out of that house with a loaded firearm.

He told the court it “wasn’t an option” as Bell had the ability to kill everybody who was surrounding the house.

The inquest continues.