A FORMER Notts police detective has told of the huge strain the force was under at the time of John and Joan Stirland's deaths.

Giving evidence at the inquest into the couple's deaths the officer – referred to only as Officer D – said north Nottingham was plagued by organised crime groups in 2003 and 2004.

He said: "The force was undergoing a significantly difficult period in terms of the demands that were being made upon it.

"In the 03/04 period the force was running 27 separate incident rooms.

"They were not only utilising hundreds of personnel from within Notts, but 198 officers from other forces because of the unprecedented levels of violence."

The inquest has been told the couple were murdered at their home in Trusthorpe, Lincs, in August 2004, as retribution after Mrs Stirland's son Michael O'Brien shot dead Marvyn Bradshaw in August 2003.

Mr Bradshaw was with crime boss Colin Gunn's nephew Jamie when he was killed. Jamie died the following year and his death was believed to be due to witnessing his friend die.

Officer D, who retired in 2004, told how he was the head of an operation called Project Starburst, which was aimed at bringing down organised crime gangs.

The operation had to be carried out in secret, with limited numbers of officers knowing about it, due to concerns of corruption in the force. There were nine operations within Starburst which were working "in isolation".

Officer D said: "At this time we were aware of corruption issues within the Notts force. It meant Starburst in essence did not exist."

The inquest heard that:

The team investigating Colin Gunn under the codename Operation Utah was only known to very senior officers in the force.

Even detectives working on the murder of Mr Bradshaw, known as Operation Ozone, didn't even know the investigation into the Gunn empire existed.

Officers working on Operation Utah knew the Gunns had links to Lincolnshire's coast after a henchman was caught up in a shooting in nearby Sutton-on-Sea.

Because officers attached to the investigation of Mr Bradshaw did not know about Operation Utah, they could not ask whether the Gunns had any links to Trusthorpe.

Earlier, details of the injuries suffered by the couple were given in the inquest at Lincoln Crown Court.

Mr Stirland suffered 16 wounds caused by at least six bullets passing through his body.

Mrs Stirland suffered a number of injuries from four bullets. She was killed by two gun shot wounds to the neck.

Officer D told the inquest he knew about a number of retribution attacks believed to have been carried out by the Gunns and their associates in the wake of Marvyn Bradshaw's killing – including one where shots were fired at the Stirland's ex-home in Carlton in 2003.

But he told the inquest that he was never told exactly who lived there. He said: "I was aware of shots fired at the address. I was aware it was associated with O'Brien or Salmon [Gary Salmon, also found guilty of Marvyn Bradshaw's murder].

"My information did not go into detail as to who was resident at this address."

Three people were convicted of conspiracy to murder the Stirlands.

Colin Gunn, 39, of Revelstoke Way; Michael McNee, 22, of no fixed address; and John Russell, of Northcote Way, were sentenced to a combined 90 years in jail.

sarah.gillett@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk