CUMBRIA’S police force was today named as having put the public at increased risk of harm with failings over gun licensing. 

Inspectors said it may have allowed “unsuitable” people to carry on legally owning guns after officials did not carry out a review of licence holders. 

Potential firearms risks have failed to be flagged up to the force’s own officers and formal monitoring of decisions on gun licenses were not in place, a watchdog said. 

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), speaking about the national picture, also said lessons had not been learned in the wake of tragedies such as the west Cumbria shootings. 

Taxi driver Derrick Bird left 12 dead and 11 injured during a killing spree in 2010, which ended when he turned a gun on himself. 

Cumbria’s force was one of a number to have failings pointed out - and the watchdog said: “If change is not effected, there will be another tragedy.”

The findings were revealed following checks of the effectiveness of firearms licensing across England and Wales.

The report said Cumbria was one of three out of 11 inspected that failed to put in place safeguards based around assessments of its licensing department.

“Without these basic governance and oversight arrangements in place, chief constables cannot be confident their force is identifying any service failure,” said the report.

“As a result they put the public at increased risk of harm.”

The report added in March last year that the national police expert on firearms licensing wrote to all forces.

This, it said, was to “prompt retrospective reviews of current certificate holders’ suitability” following changed guidance.

In May this year inspectors asked forces whether they had undertaken these reviews.

Cumbria was one of seven that had not.

The report stated: “Certificates issued prior to the change to the guidance may not be subject to renewal until as late as October 2018.

“Without a retrospective review of the suitability of these holders, there is a continuing risk that a small but significant proportion are not suitable to continue to have access to a firearm.”

Seven forces inspected introduced processes that meant every incident linked to a licence holder or their house was automatically flagged.

But the other four forces inspected, including Cumbria, had a “less effective” system and “it was not being applied” every time.

In Cumbria inspectors reviewed five domestic abuse incidents and found relevant checks had only been completed in two of them.

On the flipside, Cumbria Police, during licence renewals, contacted reference providers and automatically undertook home visits.

Officers also went to country shows where they had the chance to “interact” with certificate holders.

Stephen Otter, an inspector with HMIC, said: “Firearms licensing is not an area which police forces can afford to get wrong. 

“Lessons from past tragedies have not always been learnt and this fails the victims of these events. 

“Unless things change, we run the risk of further tragedies occurring.”

A map of the route Bird took during his shooting spree