Mass killer living with new identity detained indefinitely after guns and bombs discovery

A woman whose family were shot dead by a neighbour hopes the killer never leaves jail.

Jill Burkitt was a teenager when Barry Williams - who has a new identity and is now known as Harry Street - killed five people in the 1970s.

In October last year he was found with guns, bullets and explosives at his house in Hall Green.

Yesterday a judge said he should never be released, after having another row with neighbours.

A serious case review has been commissioned to establish why there was no record of a convicted killer's previous convictions on police computer systems.

Harry Street, from Hall Green in Birmingham, was today detained indefinitely after an "arsenal" of guns, bullets and explosives was found at his home. The discovery was made when police investigated claims of harassment by neighbours.

It later emerged that Street had changed his name from Barry Williams and had served 16 years for shooting dead five people in 1978.

Detective Chief Superintendent Kenny Bell, the head of West Midlands Police' force CID, said: "There was no trace of Harry Street on any police systems but it is thanks to the tenacity of a local police officer who, when the harassment escalated, made extensive checks which led her to Street's GP and his true identity.

"Immediate steps have already been taken to ensure that all relevant information is shared and is accessible.

"A serious case review has been commissioned and I am determined that lessons will be learned."

Mass killer Harry Street, who shot dead five people in 1978, has been ordered to be detained indefinitely at Birmingham Crown Court after an "arsenal" of guns, bullets and explosives was found at his home last October.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that police had frequent contact with Street, who had become delusional, from 2007 but his background history as a mass killer only emerged after his arrest last October.

Originally called Barry Williams, Street was detained under mental health laws in 1979 for the manslaughter of three neighbours in West Bromwich and a couple who ran a filling station in Warwickshire on October 26, 1978.

Street was due to go on trial today accused of plotting a horrifying re-run of his previous crimes, but prosecutors decided not to proceed with charges alleging that he intended to endanger life after he admitted making explosives.

Ordering the father-of-one to be detained under the Mental Health Act, Mr Justice Blair said of the latest offences: "From perhaps as early as 2007 the defendant began to become obsessed with his next-door neighbours, believing that they were pursuing a campaign of harassment against him.

"This was similar behaviour to that which had preceded the terrible events of 26th October 1978.

"However, the material before the court is to the effect that paranoid or delusional thinking on the defendant's part was not detected at that time."

The judge ordered his sentencing remarks to be provided to health professionals involved in making future assessments of Street's condition.

The judge added: "I do so to record the narrow margin by which the risk of a further tragedy was averted.

"The effect of these orders is that the defendant may never be released."

The details of a killing spree carried out by a man in West Bromwich have been revealed after he pleaded guilty to harassing his neighbour while living under a new identity.

Barry Williams, who had been living under the name Harry Street, was found with guns and homemade bombs at his house in Hall Green.

36 years ago he shot dead five people and wounded two others after becoming obsessed with noise coming from his neighbour's home.

Barry Williams shot and killed his neighbours in 1978. 47-year-old George Burkitt was the first to die, followed by his son Phillip, aged 20, who tried to escape but was blasted 5 times. His mother Iris was shot through the heart.

He then continued his rampage in Nuneaton where he killed married petrol station owners Mike and Liza Di Maria.

• October 26, 1978- 7.10pm - Barry Williams walks up his neighbours path in Andrew Road, West Bromwich, and without warning he guns down the Burkitt family, killing Iris, her husband George, their son, Phillip. Daughter Jill wounded but survived.
• 7.13pm - Jumps over the fence and shoots at neighbours Jean and Joe Chambers and injures their daughter Judy, who survives.
• 7.15pm - Williams leaps into his green Ford Capri and races away from the scene.
• 7.16pm - Shoots at an 11-year-old and 10-year-old boy who were playing football in nearby Stanhurst Way and misses. Also shoots at woman in the same street, but misses her.
• 7.17pm - Shoots through the window of a Wednesbury barber and at two homes, leaving a nine-year-old injured with flying glass.
• 7.30pm - Gunman heads towards Nuneaton.
• 8.10pm - Pulls up to service station in Arbury Road, Nuneaton. Williams walks up to the kiosk and shoots Mike Di Maria and his wife Liza.
• Overnight on October 26 police hunt gunman.
• October 27, 1978- Police car chase through the streets of Buxton, Derbyshire. Williams pulls a gun on officers, who retreat, but he does not fire. He was finally overpowered and arrested by unarmed officers in Main Street as children queued to watch Grease at the cinema.
• March 26, 1979 - Sent to Broadmoor for killing five people after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
• October 1994 - Released from Broadmoor and found to be living just six miles away from the scene of the massacre. Killer moves to Wales, marries and has a daughter before returning to Birmingham with a new name, Harry Street.
• October 6, 2014 - Harry Street appears at Birmingham Crown Court and admits three charges of possessing a firearm, one charge of harassment and one of making an explosive device