Robert Sartin was being held in Moss Side Special Hospital, Liverpool, when Newcastle Crown Court was convened on Monday 30th April 1990. After hearing evidence from a Home Office psychiatrist of 22-year-old Sartin's schizophrenia the jury decided that he was unfit to plead.

In a matter of minutes on a quiet Sunday morning in Monkseaton, Tyne and Wear, one person was killed and fourteen others lay injured. It was just before noon on Sunday 30th April 1989.

Father-of-two, Kenneth Mackintosh had been delivering church leaflets to the homes in Windsor Road when a young man clad in black and carrying a shotgun approached him. The young man had pointed the gun at Mr Mackintosh and fired both barrels. As the wounded man lay on the ground pleading for mercy the dark stranger had calmly reloaded and told the wounded man, "No, it is your day to die." He had then fired both barrels into the chest of the victim from point-blank range.

Mrs Judith Rhodes was driving along nearby Pykerley Road. As she drove along she noticed a figure dressed entirely in black. She then noticed the double-barrelled shotgun that the man was pointing at her. The first shot shattered the windscreen while the second shot struck her hand. The man walked calmly away.

Mrs Lorraine Noble and William Roberts were chatting over the garden gate when the gunman approached. William Roberts recognised the shotgun being raised and threw himself on the ground. The gun went off and Mrs Noble fell seriously injured.

Seconds later Robert Wilson, looking out of his front door after hearing the sound of gunfire, was met by a hail of pellets that struck him in the left side of his body and head.

Brian Thomas was cycling along Pykerley Road when the discharge from both barrels blew him from his bicycle. He managed to drag himself to safety.

Robert Burgon, along with his wife Jean and daughter Nicola, had to steer the car around Brian Thomas's abandoned bicycle. As they did so, Sartin opened fire on them, seriously injuring Robert and Jean. Another car following, driven by Ernest Carter, was hit and drove out of control into a wall. At the same time Jean Miller, who was tending her garden, was hit in the stomach by another volley of fire.

Vera Burrows had heard the commotion and came to find out the cause. She asked Sartin, "What the hell is going on?" "It's me," Sartin replied, "I'm killing people. I'm going to kill you." He aimed at the elderly woman and then, lowering the gun, said "Oh, you are too old." and walked away.

Sartin, who worked at the Department of Social Security in Blythe, was arrested as he sat quietly in his car in a car park.

Murder-UK.com

How the day of tragedy unfold

By Rob Pattinson - Sunday Sun

CARRYING a double-barrelled shotgun and dressed in black with dark glasses, Robert Sartin climbed into a car outside his parents’ home at around 11.40am on April 30, 1989.

He drove to Pykerly Road, where he opened fire on 43-year-old Judith Rhodes. She scrambled to safety, but a second shot struck her hand. Next Sartin targeted Lorraine Noble, badly injuring her.

Three more victims were shot at before the crazed gunman turned his attentions to Kenneth Mackintosh. Shooting him from 20 yards along Windsor Road Mr Mackintosh fell and cried out.

He reached up to Sartin pleading for help, but was told: “No. it is your day to die.” He then fired a further two shots into the helpless Mackintosh.

Next Robert Wilson was shot before cyclist Brian Thoms shouted: “Don’t be so bloody stupid.” Sartin responded by blasting him out of the saddle.

William Reynolds was next, shot in the back and neck. Then Peter and Jean Burgon were injured when he shot at their car.

Kathleen Myley, aged 64, was then shot and Ernest Carter received wounds in the back of the legs. Roy Brown was injured as Sartin fired through his windscreen. Jean Miller was in her garden when Sartin shot her in the stomach.

He then knocked on the door of pensioner Vera Burrows and said: “It’s me. I am killing people. I am going to kill you.”

He then pointed the gun at her, but said: “Oh, you are old, I won’t kill you.” and walked away.

PC Danny Herman arrested the killer at the seafront.

Robert Sartin's rampage recalled 20 years on

By Rob Pattinson - Evening Chronicle

April 30, 2009

TWENTY years ago today fear stalked the streets of Monkseaton as a teenager went on a shotgun rampage.

What triggered Robert Sartin’s spree is still an unanswered question in the Whitley Bay community.

But at 11.40am, Sartin took a gun from his parents’ home, and calmly wandered the streets killing one and gunning-down 16 more.

Children and the elderly were among Sartin’s victims.

Families in cars, on their way to collect the Sunday papers, and neighbours enjoying a chat in the street were all targeted.

Church-going dad Kenneth Mackintosh was making his way home to his family when he was gunned down by civil servant Sartin.

Those who lived in the village at the time of the attack all know well the corner of Windsor Road where he begged for his life, only to be told: “No. It is your day to die.”

The crowds at his funeral were testament to his popularity and generosity.

His widow Pam has only spoken publicly about the killing once, in opposition to laws which allow guns to be kept in homes.

“I’m a private person, but I want people to know what horrors guns can cause,” the grandmother said to the Chronicle previously.

“There have been times when I’ve thought if Sartin came to me now I’d be capable of killing him with my own two hands, but I know I'm not that type of person. He’s living the life of Riley in prison and he’s never faced trial. My husband only saw one of his grandchildren. It’s guns that have taken that away from him. How can I forgive that?"

Peter and Jean Burgon and their daughter Nicola were all fired at as they drove to collect the Sunday papers.

Peter, 61, of Westfield Avenue, Monkseaton, still runs his own company. He said: “You never forget what happened. No-one from round here ever will.

“It was horrible, terrible. Afterwards I felt bitter and angry, it was just something that happened to me. I hadn’t put myself in danger.

“But time is a great healer. But when something evil like that happens you realise there are more good people in the world than bad.

“The support we got was amazing. My son left his job to take over my company. Evil like that really makes you see the good there is in the world.

“Now when people see the scars on my arm, sometimes they ask. I don’t mind telling them, explaining what happened. There was a time when I did. But we have got on with our lives.”

Despite being hit in his left arm Peter managed to pull the car to safety, uncertain whether they were turning back into the path of the killer.

Steering into another road the family fled their Ford Granada. Strangers rushed them into their house, where Peter collapsed from blood-loss.

He spent three weeks in hospital and years being treated for his wounds. His Wife Jean was also scarred by Sartin’s gun.

The 64-year-old, retired, grandmother-of-two, said: “Straight after it happened you didn’t want to leave the house. It affected your confidence, you didn’t want to go out. I would feel uneasy sitting on the Metro.

“But gradually it got better. We had children, we had to get on with our lives.

“When the first shots were fired you didn’t know what to think, you just panicked, adrenalin took over. Our daughter was only 14, we had to make sure she was OK. But we made it.

“There was a stunned atmosphere in the whole community afterwards.

“I don’t think anyone will ever forget and it does come up from time to time, it’s history. If there’s any shootings anywhere else you remember. But this is a good place to live. It’s a wonderful community and we’ve got through it.”

Sartin has never faced justice. His parents and brother, also devastated by the events, have long since left the region. They are also understood to have changed their names.

Robert Jamees Sartin