Plymouth shooting: Keyham gunman Jake Davison kept shotgun after admitting assault

Jake Davison Credit: PA Media

Police did not seize Plymouth gunman Jake Davison’s shotgun and licence after he admitted assaulting two youths in a park, it has emerged.

The 22-year-old admitted assaulting two youths in a park in Plymouth last September but his shotgun and licence were only seized three months later.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has revealed the gun and licence were taken away on December 7 after concerns were raised directly with Devon and Cornwall Police at the end of November.

Davison had been taking part in a voluntary intervention programme – an alternative to being charged or cautioned – after admitting the assault.

The IOPC said Devon and Cornwall Police offered the apprentice crane operator a place on its Pathfinder scheme.

Floral tributes left in Keyham following the shootings Credit: Ben Birchall/PA

At the end of November last year, a scheme worker raised concerns with the force’s firearms licensing department about Davison’s possession of a shotgun. The shotgun and certificate were seized by police on December 7.

Following his completion of the Pathfinder scheme in March 2021 and a subsequent review by the firearms licensing department, the shotgun and certificate were returned to Davison on July 9.

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A little over a month later – following a row with his mother at her home in Biddick Drive, Keyham – Davison shot her dead before killing four people he did not know in a 12-minute rampage.

Three-year-old Sophie Martyn and her father Lee, 43, were shot dead in the attack as they walked their pet dog in Biddick Drive.

Davison then shot Stephen Washington, 59, in a nearby park, before shooting Kate Shepherd, 66, on Henderson Place.

He then turned the gun on himself before armed officers reached him.