Dartford shooting: suspect in police stand-off dies days after hostage Hayley Burke shot and killed

A 29-year-old man suspected of shooting dead a 36-year-old woman he was holding hostage in her Kent home has died of gunshot wounds in hospital.

Armed police were called to a terraced house in Priory Road in Dartford on 6 May. Witnesses who lived nearby said a woman was being “held hostage” at the back of the property.

The woman, who Kent Police have now named as Hayley Burke, died from her injuries on Monday evening (8 May), after being taken to a London hospital. Her death is being treated as murder, the force added.

The suspected gunman, Jacob Cloke, who was also taken to hospital with “critical injuries caused by a firearm”, died on Thursday evening, a police spokesman said.

Kent Police said both of them has suffered serious injuries consistent with gunshot wounds during the incident. Officers, along with a trained police negotiator, arrived at the property on Saturday and "attempted to engage with a man inside the address," the statement said.

"Firearms officers also attended and whilst they were at the scene, a 36-year-old woman suffered injuries believed to have been caused by a handgun and she was taken to a London hospital."

The force has made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) due to police being at the scene at the time of the injuries.

An IOPC spokesman said it was assessing the referral from Kent Police to determine whether any further action is needed by the watchdog.

No police weapons were fired during the stand-off. A force spokesman added: “An investigation into both deaths will now be led by the coroner... Officers from the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate will assist the coronial process.”

Witnesses described how police cordoned off the road on Saturday, and ordered people to stay in their homes, before officers broke through the front door. After an hour-long stand-off, “pandemonium” broke out and neighbours heard what they described as sounding like two rounds of gunshots.

One neighbour described the scene as “chilling”. She said: “I was in the house and my husband and two girls were out – they couldn’t get back home. I went out and was told, get back – you must stay indoors."

About an hour after police entered the property, she said she heard gunshots before a person was carried out on a stretcher. “It was pandemonium,” she said. “I heard five gunshots – a pause and then another five.”