'Do they know this? They should know this' -- the moment concerns over Davison's shotgun were raised

"That doesn't sound right to me"

A police staff member today told a jury about the moment he realised Jake Davison had a shotgun license.

David Huggett - who worked for the Pathfinder scheme - has been speaking at the inquests into the five people Davison went on to kill in Plymouth.

He was asked to work with Davison after a violent assault in a park.

On reading his file, Mr Huggett immediately wrote to the force licensing department asking why Davison was allowed a shotgun - something the force had missed.

David Huggett, a Plymouth-based keyworker with pathfinder, told the inquest he had training in autism as well as other conditions.

The police-backed Pathfinder scheme aims to reduce harm and reoffending and 'holds offenders to account for their behaviour whilst addressing needs that are directly linked to their offending' and deals with 'low level' offending. It is a voluntary scheme where the offender 'must engage' and agree to work with pathfinder over a 16-week period.

Davison was referred to Pathfinder, with the case looked at on Saturday 28 November, after what the jury heard was a 'brutal and sustained' attack on 15 and 16 year olds in a Plymouth park in September 2020.

Mr Huggett said Davison was a 6-ft tall 'big adult male' with a large build and was 'surprised injuries weren't more serious than they were'. The jury has previously been shown CCTV of Davison hearing some form of verbal abuse while walking. He climbed a bank and repeatedly attacked a teenager - continuing while they were on the ground and laying still - even though he knew it wasn't the person who originally called him a name.

Mr Huggett said he was aware it was a 'nasty attack' when he read the background information and also knew of a suspected assault outside Tesco in 2016.

When he looked into Davison's police files, he said: "Happened to notice there was an FC (firearms certificate) marker, that surprised me so I looked into it a bit further."

He added that with more than 20 years’ experience as a police officer and previous time in the military 'it stood out'.

Mr Huggett said he was aware that Davison had reports of school assaults on his file from when he was 12 and 13 - which included assaulting a teacher - and had a history of 'meltdowns' and had 'lashed out' and 'I thought that was unpredictable behaviour'.

"My thinking was are firearms licensing aware of this," he said.

"Do they know this - they should know this. I took it on myself to email them."

In response the police firearms licensing department replied to say the shotgun would be reviewed- before Mr Huggett was due to meet Davison.

In a Pathfinder meeting with Mr Huggett, Davison spoke about the incident in the park and said he ‘had a bad day' after he and his mother were 'getting on each other’s nerves'.

Davison said he went for a walk to get out the house and calm down and 'just snapped'. He knew the person he assaulted was not the person who'd shouted abuse at him.

In the Pathfinder discussion Davison said that day he "felt he had to make somebody pay" but did express remorse.

In a risk assessment, following his meeting with Davison, Mr Huggett judged Davison as 'low risk' to others as he 'does not appear to hold any grudges against anyone and does not know who the victims were in this case'. At the time there was also Covid restrictions, with people told to remain at home in late 2020 and early 2021 which he said was 'a consideration'.

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