Town struggles to recall shooting

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Most people have heard of Hungerford and Dunblane, two unremarkable towns forever linked to the gunmen who massacred their fellow townsfolk.

But who remembers the Monkseaton shootings?

It was just before midday on 30 April 1989, a bank holiday Sunday.

In a quiet suburb of Whitley Bay on North Tyneside, churchgoers were heading home, Sunday dinners were being prepared, lawns were being cut. And a crazed man was about to unleash mayhem.

Robert Sartin, a 22-year-old social security clerk, took his father's double-barrelled shotgun from its locked cabinet went into the street and started firing.

He shot at people in gardens, houses and passing cars.

First victims

During just 20 minutes he killed one man and wounded 14 other people.

Robert Wilson was one of Sartins' first victims.

"All I remember is that he was all dressed in a black with some bullets across his chest," Mr Wilson said.

"And he had a gun. That's all I remember. I didn't hang around for a second look."

Mr Wilson was hit with more than 60 shotgun pellets and for years afterwards he would set off airport metal detectors because of all the shrapnel in his body.

He used to carry newspaper cuttings about the Monkseaton shootings to explain why.

I think he's still locked up... he's where he should be Robert Wilson

He was one of the lucky ones - he lived to tell the tale.

Ken Mackintosh did not. He was shot as he delivered church leaflets.

As he stood over him, Sartin reputedly uttered the words, "Today is your day to die", as he shot Mr Mackintosh.

Mr Wilson found Ken Mackintosh's body as he desperately searched for his girlfriend who was walking the dog along the streets Sartin was stalking.

Twenty years on, Mr Wilson can look back with a grim sense of humour.

He said: "It was a very strange day.

"The nurses at the hospital had never seen shotgun wounds before and they all came to look.

"And my dog got to ride in an ambulance - that had never happened before."

Unarmed police car

Sartin's shooting spree lasted for barely 20 minutes but he left behind people, like Mr Mackintosh's family, who are still suffering 20 years later.

When Sartin climbed into his car he drove towards the Whitley Bay seafront, unaware he was being followed by an unmarked police car.

When he climbed out of his car he was arrested by an unarmed police constable, Danny Herdman.

Survivor Bob Wilson saw the gunman walk up to him

Unlike the killers in Hungerford and Dunblane, Sartin did not shoot himself when cornered by the police.

It was May 1996 - another seven years - before he came to court because of the prolonged legal argument over his fitness to stand trial.

When he appeared at Durham Crown Court, he pleaded not guilty due to insanity.

The judge accepted the plea and sent him to a secure mental unit to be detained without limit of time.

As Mr Wilson observed, if Sartin had been tried and found guilty, most likely he would have been released from prison by now.

"I think he's still locked up. He never stood trial and if he had, he'd be out by now. He's where he should be."

Twenty years on, Monkseaton did not mark the anniversary of its most infamous day.

Mr Wilson said: "Monkseaton won't mark the day. Twenty years is a long time. What's gone is gone."

But there is one lasting reminder. A tree planted at Monkseaton Methodist Church with a simple plaque that reads: 'In memory of Ken Mackintosh, 1989'.