A Skipton father has spoken of his relief after learning his daughter – caught up in last week’s Cumbrian shootings – was safe.

Stephen Sowerbutts and his family spent the weekend before last visiting friends in Seascale – where last week gunman Derrick Bird killed three people and injured a fourth.

Mr Sowerbutts, his wife Caroline and son left the village on the Monday, leaving 11-year-old daughter Lois with their friends, Mick and Helen Dunne, for the rest of the half-term holidays.

On Wednesday, Lois was inside the house in Drigg Road when Bird drove through.

The 53-year-old taxi driver had already shot nine people and was to kill another three in Seascale before shooting himself.

The first of his Seascale victims, Jamie Clark, was shot dead on the outskirts of the quiet village. He shot and wounded another man, pub landlord Harry Berger, after crashing his car into him.

His last two victims were cyclist Michael Pike, who he shot in Drigg Road, and Jane Robinson, who was shot just yards from the house where Lois and her friends were playing.

Jane, 66, lived with her twin sister, Barrie, in Drigg Road and was delivering leaflets when she was shot.

Inside the house in Drigg Road, Lois and her friends, Ellie and Kate, heard the gunshot, although they were not sure what it was.

Back in Skipton, Mr Sowerbutts, a painter and decorator, heard about the shootings half way through Wednesday morning.

“I switched the television on about 11.30am and saw what was happening in Whitehaven. I just kept listening and then tried to ring Mick. I couldn’t get hold of him because he works in Sellafield,” he said. Sellafield Nuclear Power Station had reacted to reports of an incident by closing its doors, making communication impossible.

“I couldn’t speak to Helen because she was on the phone all the time, I didn’t know what was happening. I just knew they were always going across Drigg Road.”

Mr Sowerbutts eventually got through to Helen about midday.

“I spoke to them both and was certainly very relieved. Helen kept them inside for the rest of the day because they didn’t move the body from outside the house for about six hours.”

He said Helen had known something was happening because a relative in Gosforth had called earlier.

“They saw the car go past and then heard a shot. Lois and Helen’s two daughters were upstairs at the time and heard the shot, but didn’t really realise what was happening,” he said.

Mr Sowerbutts said their friends knew two of Bird’s Seascale victims.

“They knew Jane Robinson, everyone knew her, and the guy on the bike. They’ve been very quiet about it all and have been watching the news quite a bit, but they seem fine,” he said.

Lois returned home to Cross Hills on Friday and was back at Boyle and Petyt School, Beamsley, on Monday.

“What was really good was that she was able to tell all her friends on Facebook that there was no need to worry,” he said. “They all knew she was in Seascale because she’d put on Facebook that was where she was.”

Mr Sowerbutts, who has been visiting Seascale for years, said the family would be returning to the village.

“It’s a very quiet village, there’s no crime and no one locks their doors, but I think it will be a bit different when we go next time.”