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FACTFILE
Monday 10th July 2006, David Bradley of Benwell Grove, Newcastle, was remanded in custody and was charged with four counts of murder.
Peter Purcell and his wife, Josie, both 70, and two of their sons, Keith 44, and Glen, 41, were all shot dead in their family home.
Bradley, a former soldier, having Severed in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and kosovo, and more recently
in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers during the Gulf war, shot his victims with a silenced pistol then calmly walked into a nearby police station carrying a rucksack containing a handgun and silencer, pump-action shotgun and ammunition and told police officers about the bodies in Benwell grove.
Northumberland Police commented that Bradley's rucksack also contained a home-made nail bomb, thus forcing the evacuation of the police station while bomb disposal officers from Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire were called in to carry out a controlled explosion.
The bodies of an elderly married couple and two of their sons were then found by police who raced to the end-terrace house in Benwell Grove, Newcastle. Police officers found two bodies in the living room and two in the kitchen of the house. All four were fully clothed and had suffered gunshot wounds fired at close range, but there were no reports of any gunshots having been heard, police also confirmed there were no obvious signs of a struggle having taken place.
Monday 10th July 2006 Bradley was remanded in custody to appear before Newcastle Crown Court on 18 July. Bradley spoke only to confirm his name, age and address during the 10-minute hearing at Newcastle Magistrates' Court. No application for bail was made.
Friday 15th September 2006. Bradley
pleaded not guilty at Newcastle Crown Court A
trial date was set for January 2007.
Monday, 29 January 2007, Bradley
admitted the manslaughter charges on the grounds of
diminished responsibility after two psychiatrists agreed
he was mentally ill at the time of the killings.
Wednesday 9th April 2008. This site
is not sure why this has taken so long, but today Bradley
was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the 4 murders.
He will initially be held at Rampton secure
unit for psychiatric assessment, then later transferred to
prison.
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