Police let M5 gunman drive on for 50 miles

A GUNMAN shot dead by police near the M5 had been allowed to keep terrorising motorists for an hour before he was stopped by officers, it emerged yesterday.

Shocked drivers first alerted police that a driver was waving a handgun out of his window at 8.30am on Wednesday.

At the time he was travelling down the M5 near junction 8 in Worcestershire.

West Mercia Police passed the information to the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG), which attempted to track the Suzuki Swift driver.

But the gunman was allowed to continue driving for an hour – covering another 50 miles – before being stopped by armed officers

‘Investigating the circumstances’

at 9.30am. During the journey he continued to threaten motorists, according to witnesses.

Police vehicles boxed in the car after it left the M5 and tried to speed towards Portishead, Somerset, near junction 19. Armed officers unleashed a hail of bullets, five of which are said to have hit the driver. A post-mortem was due to take place yesterday.

Questions have been raised about the police response to the incident. West Mercia Police confirmed they had received a call at 8.30am and had passed on the information to the CMPG and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

IPCC commissioner Cindy Butts said: ‘At this stage we are currently investigating the circumstances of the incident and no individual police officer is under investigation.’

The identity of the motorist was still unclear last night.