THREE shots were fired at gunman Alistair Bell by a police marksman, an inquest has revealed.
The Kirkheaton man, 42, was shot dead hours after he shot an unarmed police officer with a handgun at his home on Cockley Hill Lane on December 28.
Three bullets were fired by the West Yorkshire Police marksman in the direction of Mr Bell, but it has not yet been revealed how many hit him.
An inquest was opened and adjourned yesterday so his body could be returned to his grieving family to lay him to rest more than three months after the tragedy.
Mr Bell’s funeral will take place at Kirkheaton Parish Church next Wednesday at 11am.
The inquest at Huddersfield Coroner’s Court was told that Mr Bell’s body was identified by matching finger prints stored on the West Yorkshire Police database.
Two postmortems have been conducted and coroner Roger Whittaker read out details which revealed that “foreign aids” were recovered from Mr Bell’s body. They were said to be particles of the bullets fired at him.
A metal substance was found within his brain, but it has not been revealed if that was a bullet or, as his family asked during the inquest, linked to a recent MRI scan.
John Brennan, an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigator, gave a history of the circumstances which unfolded during the seven hour siege.
He said: “Alistair Bell refused to co-operate with officers as they attended to arrest him.
“He discharged a firearm and he fired a number of rounds in the direction of the officers and one of the officers was struck.
“Armed police responded and West Yorkshire Police negotiators made attempts to speak to Alistair Bell who remained inside the house.
“At various times Alistair Bell discharged further rounds from his home, firing out into the surrounding streets.
“At around 5.30am an armed firearms officer discharged three rounds in the direction of Alistair Bell.”
He was shot and declared dead at 6.43am and the IPCC were called to investigate at 7.55am.
The IPCC say witness statements have been obtained and will be considered within the next month with further investigation to be carried out.
Family members asked during the inquest whether an MRI scan Mr Bell had undergone “two to three weeks before” could account for evidence of metal found in his brain.
They also questioned why police “left his house in a state”, saying they had “one or two anomalies” with the police.
The coroner said that full details would be revealed once the IPCC investigation is complete.
The inquest was adjourned with a date for a full hearing yet to be fixed.
