THE killing of jeweller Marian Bates halted an inquiry into a shooting at murdered couple John and Joan Stirland's former home, a detective has said.

Mrs Bates was shot dead in a bungled raid on her Arnold shop in September, 2003 – days after an attack on the Stirlands' house in Carlton.

A homicide detective yesterday told the inquest into the couple's deaths that the officer leading the Stirland inquiry, referred to as Officer F, was shifted to investigate Mrs Bates' murder.

The detective, referred to as Officer G, said: "The investigation was in a state of inertia because Officer F had gone. I was trying to get it going again."

The inquest heard that evidence recovered from the Carlton shooting, including bullet fragments, was not submitted for examination until February 2004, five months after the attack.

Officer G said it was difficult for him to get the Stirlands investigation going again because he was busy dealing with organised crime in Nottingham's Jamaican community.

He said: "I was made aware that it was at the home of the mother of Michael O'Brien (Mrs Stirland).

"I declined to accept primacy for that investigation.

"My position was that we were already working to and beyond capacity."

The inquest heard that between July 2003 and August 2004, Operation Stealth, which had been set up to deal with crime within the city's Jamaican community, dealt with 38 injury shootings, 86 firearm discharges and 376 other firearm incidents.

They made 486 arrests, deported 25 people, recovered £7.9m worth of drugs, made 2,383 separate drugs seizures, recovered 152 firearms and 2,709 rounds of ammunition, seized £270,000 of assets and logged a total of 1,908 items of intelligence.

The Stirlands were later gunned down at home, after moving to Trusthorpe in Lincolnshire, in August 2004.

The inquest heard they ignored police warnings and attended a wedding in Nottingham around a month before they were murdered.

They also returned to see friends in Nottingham on a number of occasions and entertained old friends at their new home.

The inquest earlier heard there was an 80-minute delay in police visiting the couple on the morning of their murders while an officer went on an "airport run".

An officer, known as Officer J, told the inquest that police did not think reports of a prowler at the Stirlands' home the night before their deaths were serious.

He said: "It is still my basis now that, given the information at the time, there was no direct threat.

"There could have been a whole variety of reasons why that person was there."

The Stirlands' killings were revenge attacks plotted by Colin Gunn after Mrs Stirland's son, Michael O'Brien, killed Marvyn Bradshaw – a friend of Gunn's nephew Jamie.

Jamie became ill after the murder and died the following year.