Hundreds gather to pay their respects to father and daughter killed in Plymouth shooting
It was one of the UK’s worst mass shootings
Last updated 23rd Nov 2021
Hundreds of people have attended the funeral of a three-year-old girl and her father, who were killed in one of the UK’s worst mass shootings.
Sophie Martyn was walking with her father Lee, 43, when they were approached by Jake Davison, 22, and shot dead last month, in a crime that shocked the country.
Family and friends of Mr Martyn and Sophie gathered inside the Minster Church of St Andrew, in Royal Parade, Plymouth to pay their respects.
About 300 people filled the church, many dressed in black. Others waited outside during the hour-long service.
A single white coffin was taken into and out of the church by pallbearers.
The tragic events in the Keyham area of the city on August 12 began shortly after 6pm, when Davison killed his 51-year-old mother Maxine at a house in Biddick Drive, during an argument.
After shooting Mrs Davison, the apprentice crane driver went into the street and in front of horrified onlookers killed the Martyns as they walked their pet dog.
During the 12-minute attack, he also killed Stephen Washington, 59, in a nearby park, before shooting Kate Shepherd, 66, on Henderson Place.
Davison then turned the gun on himself before armed officers reached him.
Inquests into the deaths of Davison and his five victims have been opened and adjourned by a coroner. They all died from shotgun wounds.
Davison’s social media usage suggested an obsession with “incel” culture, meaning “involuntary celibate”, as well as an interest in guns and the US.
He had received mental health support from a local service and reports have suggested his mother had been struggling to get help for her son.
Since the shootings three separate inquiries, by the Plymouth coroner, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), are under way.
The Government is also planning new statutory guidance, including asking doctors to undertake medical checks on anyone applying for a licence, and inquiries into social media usage.
Just five weeks before the tragedy, Devon and Cornwall Police had given Davison his shotgun and licence back after it had been seized the previous December.
He had accepted a place on the police’s Pathfinder scheme, a voluntary alternative to being cautioned or prosecuted, after admitting assaulting two youths in a park.
The shotgun was only seized after a scheme worker raised concerns directly with the police, the IOPC said.
After completing the scheme and undergoing a review by the firearms licensing department, the shotgun and certificate were returned to Davison on July 9.
Davison had applied for a shotgun certificate in July 2017 and a certificate was issued in January 2018, valid for five years.
He legally purchased a shotgun in March 2018, which he used for clay pigeon shooting.