Moment Plymouth gunman Jake Davison beats kids as family of shooting victims slam cops for allowing him to keep gun

THIS is the terrifying moment Plymouth gunman Jake Davison attacks a group of children at a skate park.

In shocking CCTV footage, Davison, 22, is seen going berserk and raining down punches on an innocent teenager.

The terrifying assault happened less than a year before he went on to shoot five people dead in a bloodbath.

Davison exploded into a fit of violence after he was called a "fat c***" as he walked past the skate park, an inquest heard.

Footage played showed Davison approaching the boy, who was sitting on a wall, and then pulling him off to begin his attack.

Having had no chance to defend himself, the boy was so badly beaten he needed hospital treatment for a split eyebrow, nose and lip.

Davison punched the boy at least five times.

As the teenager went limp Davison continued his frenzied attack before picking the boy up and throwing him to the ground.

Davison then swung a punch at another boy and missed.

He then appeared to either stumble over the teenager or kick him as he was on the floor.

When a 15-year-old girl goes to her friend’s aid she was then slapped by Davison before he left the scene.

Davison was not charged with the September 2020 assaults and instead a detective sergeant referred him to a deferred charging scheme as an alternative to prosecution.

His legally held pump-action shotgun and certificate were seized by Devon and Cornwall Police following the incident - but later returned.

Less than 12 months later, Davison shot dead five people, including his mother Maxine, in August 2021 with a firearm he legally held.

The details of the incident emerged at the end of the inquest into Davison’s five victims, as those who assessed his suitability to hold a shotgun licence were giving evidence.

Bridget Dolan KC, counsel to the inquest, said: “The CCTV shows more than five punches to the young man, maybe between seven and nine.

“The CCTV appears to show him (the boy) on the floor having lost consciousness – or at least not moving or resisting – and the punches continued at that stage.

“CCTV showed the young woman approaching them and Davison putting his arm out to her.

“The boy was hit so hard there was a two-inch cut above his eyebrow, and bleeding to his nose, eyebrow and lip.”

The boy required superficial stitches to his eyebrow but the girl was left with no visible injuries.

'LICENCE TO KILL'

Davison later handed himself in to the police after a public appeal was made featuring CCTV images of a suspect.

The parents of the boy wanted Davison charged but he was instead enrolled on the Pathfinder scheme.

After being alerted by staff from the scheme, Davison’s certificate and weapon were seized by firearms enquiry officer David Rees but were later returned.

The inquest previously heard Davison was so angry following the incident he wanted to kill the teenagers and went home to get his shotgun.

Darren Wood, the partner Davison's mum, said her son was “raging angry” and had begun loading the weapon until his mother calmed him down.

“He came back and ran upstairs. Maxine went upstairs and I could hear him saying, ‘I’m going down there and kill them’,” he said.

“He said he was going to go back to the park and he went to his room to get his gun out the cupboard. I could hear something being loaded.”

The inquest at Exeter Racecourse heard Davison was obsessed with the women hating Incel culture and researched mass shootings and serial killers.

He was said to have made hundreds of deeply disturbing online posts.

They included describing himself as The Terminator and referred to “violence, misogynistic views, viewing women with contempt, and sympathy with Incel culture”, the inquest heard.

It culminated in his rampage with a shotgun in Plymouth in August 2021.

His victims included his mother Maxine Davison, 51, and three year-old Sophie Martyn and her dad Lee, 43.

He also blasted dog walker Stephen Washington, 59, twice from a distance and then again from less than three metres in the chest as he walked in a nearby park.

Davison shot his last victim Kate Shepherd, 66, in the stomach outside a hairdressers from which she died later in hospital.

He then shot himself as police approached. 

The five victims were unlawfully killed, an inquest jury has concluded.

Patrick Maguire represents Rebecca Martyn, Mother of Sophie and Wife of Lee, the Washington family and the Shepherd family.

In a statement on their behalf it read: "On 12th August 2021 our lives were changed forever. Our hearts are still incredibly heavy with grief, and we are still struggling to come to terms with our loss.

"We will never be able to understand or comprehend why Davison did what he did.

"It was an act of pure evil.

"It is beyond us how Davison, a man with a known history of violence, mental health issues, and with no real need to own a firearm, was granted a licence to possess a gun in the first place.

"Despite being charged with violently assaulting two innocent children, unbelievably, he was given his licence and gun back. Davison was considered a low risk by Devon and Cornwall Police."