The trigger: a brother's quiet envy

They were twins but little about their appearances, lifestyles or personalities suggested the Bird brothers were alike.

Their teachers had observed the differences between them as children; as adults they lived lives apart.

In any other family the distance between them would have been unremarkable but for these men it was to have tragic consequences.

It emerged yesterday that David Bird was the first victim of the Cumbria massacre. In the early hours of Wednesday morning his brother Derrick entered his luxury home and shot him in a brutal act of fratricide that was a prelude to the rampage that ended with mass murder and suicide.

Read more of the splash of today's edition of The Times, currently the most read story at timesonline. I have a joint by-line on the
most commented story and a joint by-line on Thursday's splash.