On 12 August 2021, Davison murdered his mother before roaming the streets with a pump-action shotgun and killing a three-year-old girl, her father and two other passers-by. An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct said the 22-year-old had "posted prolifically" about incel culture on social media website Reddit.
"It is possible that Davison may have started planning the shooting during his final days, as he searched online for information about anti-terror policing in the UK, incel serial killers, and instructions on reloading firearms," a report published on Monday said. "However, despite engaging in a fairly heated argument on Reddit days beforehand, he did not mention any plans or issue any direct threats online." The report, published after an inquest jury delivered their verdicts on his victims' deaths, said Davison "appeared to identify with incel spree killers" in a video recorded in April 2021.
But the watchdog said the footage was not uploaded to his YouTube channel and that in public postings, he did not express an explicit desire to harm anyone and "often supported people who wished to distance themselves from the incel community".
This story is from the February 21, 2023 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the February 21, 2023 edition of The Independent.
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