Photo: © 2010 AP via AAP/SCOTT HEPPELL

Police say taxi driver Derrick Bird began his rampage in the town of Whitehaven, where he shot dead his twin brother and the family lawyer.

He then drove off down the Lakes District coast, stopping for red lights and to randomly kill people going about their daily life.

He pulled over beside a young farmer pruning a hedge and shot him at point blank range.

It's a pattern he repeated with a lady delivering leaflets and an elderly woman walking home with her shopping.

He also killed three fellow taxi drivers and other drivers he came across on the road.

Another 25 people were shot and injured, while others, like cyclist Barrie Moss, were threatened.

"He turned around and stared at me and he had this absolutely huge sniper rifle," Moss told the BBC.

"It was almost touching the floor, massive scope and everything."

Bird then drove off.

His final destination was a forest he knew from hunting, where he crashed his car.

With armed police closing in, his final victim was himself.

Bird was known as a popular, nice, quiet and gentle man, and had recently become a grandfather.

It is believed he snapped after an argument about the will of his mother, who was recently diagnosed with cancer.