War veteran David Bradley is thought to have executed four members of his family after storing an arsenal of weapons in his bedroom.

It is believed the 40-year-old ex-soldier used a handgun with a silencer to shoot his aunt and uncle Josephine and Peter Purcell and their sons Keith and Glen at point blank range without neighbours hearing.

Josephine and Peter were shot in the living room of the family home at Benwell Grove in Newcastle's West End after Bradley lost his temper.

Keith and Glen were shot in the kitchen.

Bradley is thought to have stayed with the bodies through the night after shooting them at different times through Saturday.

He later walked from the house to the West Road police station where he started re-assembling a firearm. He had with him a dismantled pump-action shotgun, the handgun and silencer and a makeshift thunderflash nail bomb in a holdall.

There he was overpowered and arrested by a female police officer who had casually asked him: "Can I help you?"

The woman police constable had spotted the man in the station foyer as he walked in at around 6.15am on Sunday.

As front desk staff were busy, she asked the man if she could help. He handed over keys to the house and told police they would find four bodies there.

He then began rummaging in his holdall and started re-assembling a firearm.

Supt Graham Davis, deputy Newcastle divisional commander said today: "The female officer spotted the danger and retreated but saw what was in the holdall. She and another male officer then acted instinctively to detain the man. Their actions were excellent under the circumstances."

CCTV footage from the police station entrance captures the moments the man walked calmly in to the reception area.

Bomb squad officers called in by the police then carried out a small controlled explosion on the bag in the foyer, after officers were evacuated from the building.

Northumbria police Det Supt Steve Wade is heading the multiple-murder inquiry today.

Officers are making inquiries into Bradley's military background and what led him to take deadly revenge on members of his close family.

Bradley had been staying with his aunt and uncle, in the 70s, at their end terraced home.

He hadn't been arrested by police before. His collection of weapons and ammunition were understood to have been stored in his bedroom.

With a background of psychiatric illness, Bradley may have flipped, believing no-one was there to help him.

The tragedy has shocked neighbours and friends of the family.

Peter and Josephine Purcell, had four children, Keith, 44, and Glen 42, along with Jacqueline and Michael. Another daughter, Lorraine Brett, died two years ago, aged 41, from breast cancer.

The Purcells had lived in the area for more than 20 years. Retired builder Peter, a dad of six, drank in the Plaza Tavern at the end of his street and holidayed with his wife in Spain twice a year. Glen was a glazier and Keith a builder.

Neighbours described Bradley as a loner who rarely went out. Family friend David Horsfall, 50, said: "He stayed in his room for hours on end."

Bradley's uncle, project engineer Joseph Statter, 51, of Solihull, spoke of his shock after learning his sister, brother-in-law and two nephews had been slaughtered. He said: "This is just awful, it's such a shock. My sister and her husband were the perfect parents. Josephine would do anything for anybody and that's why David was living with her."

Assistant Chief Constable Kevin Mathieson told how the horror was discovered early yesterday.

ACC Mathieson said: "The man walked into the police station carrying a sport holdall and claimed that a number of people were dead at a house in Benwell Grove.

"The bag brought into the police station contained what appeared to be a handgun with a silencer, a pump action shot-gun and a quantity of ammunition.

"He also claimed the bag contained an improvised explosive device.

"This was a thunderflash with nails packed around it. The device is designed to explode when thrown and would have caused considerable damage if used.

"The man was arrested and the police station was evacuated. Bomb disposal officers attended and carried out a controlled explosion at the police station.

"A firearms team attended the property, where they found the bodies of

four white adults, three men and a woman, in two downstairs rooms of the

house. They had all suffered fatal gunshot wounds fired at close range which means there was very little blood at the scene and there was no apparent sign of any struggle. No-one else is being sought in connection with this incident."

ACC Mathieson added "I would seek to reassure people that incidents such as this are extremely rare. At this stage it is not possible to say how the firearms came to be in the possession of the man now in custody though this is obviously a major line of inquiry.

"He is not an authorized firearms holder."


Just how the horror unfolded

6.15am - David Bradley walks into Westgate Road Police Station carrying a sports bag containing a makeshift nail bomb, a pump-action shotgun, a handgun with silencer and ammunition. He hands over keys to a house in Benwell Grove telling police they would find four bodies. Bradley then starts to reassemble a firearm before being overpowered and arrested by a female officer.

6.30am - Families are told to leave their homes on Benwell Grove and Ladykirk Road as the streets are cordoned off.

8am - Police confirm West Road has been sealed off between the junction with Brighton Grove and Grainger Park Road, close to Newcastle General Hospital.

10.15am - An Army bomb disposal squad arrives at the police station.

11.30am - X-rays confirm the homemade bomb is dangerous and the bomb disposal team carry out a controlled explosion in the station's foyer.

2pm - At a Press conference, Assistant Chief Constable Kevin Mathieson says a 40-year-old ex-military man with a history of mental illness has been arrested. He is a close relative of the dead family, retired couple Peter and Josephine Purcell and their sons Glen, 42, and Keith, 44.

2.30pm - West Road remains closed between Wingrove Road and Hampstead Road while bomb disposal experts check out the house on Benwell Grove.

6pm - Cordons are lifted and families are allowed to return home.