It's been reported the remains of Derrick Bird, the gunman who shot twelve people dead in Cumbria last June, have been placed in a lead urn just off the Point of Ayre.

It's understood Bird, a keen scuba diver, had made it known to friends that the wreck of the Fire King, which lies in around 30 metres of water about a mile off the northern coast of the Isle of Man, was his 'favourite place in the world' and his ashes were placed there by diving friends in July.

It seems local divers and the Manx authorities were unaware of the move and local diver Steve Cowley, who runs 'Discover Diving' in Port St Mary, says the news won't go down well in the local diving fraternity (play audio file):

As the inquest into the deaths of Bird's twelve victims continues in Workington, it's also been revealed he had been planning a trip to the Island shortly before he carried out the killings. One of his diving friends, Peter McLean, told the inquest that around five weeks before the murders Bird boasted 'Whitehaven will be as famous as Dunblane'.

Seconds earlier Bird had asked Mr McLean how much fuel he would need to take a boat on a diving trip to the Isle of Man.