27th October: 1978 Four people were killed and four others seriously wounded after gunman Barry Williams went on a shooting spree on the Bustleholm estate, Wednesbury and later at a service station in Nuneaton. Four people were killed and four others seriously wounded after a gunman opened fire at two separate locations in the Midlands. On the Bustleholm estate, Wednesbury, the gunman killed George Birkett and his son, Phillip, on their driveway and Mrs Birkett inside the house in Andrew Road. Their daughter, Gillian, was seriously wounded. He then rang the bell of the house next door. As Judith Chambers answered she was shot dead, followed by her husband Joe as he went to her aid. Williams sped off in a Ford Capri shooting indiscriminately at houses, narrowly missing several people. Barry Williams stopped at a petrol station in Nuneaton and shot dead the attendant and seriously injured her husband. He was arrested the following day in Buxton, Derbyshire and in 1979, sentenced to indefinite detention at Broadmoor. After fifteen years he was sent to live in a Birmingham hostel six miles from Andrew Road. It is believed that Williams has since changed his name and started a family of his own.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 11:22:12 +0000