The entire world seemed to send its support to the families of Dunblane during the last few weeks of March and thousands of individuals, companies, churches and even countries have shown their support as tangibly as possible by signing our memorial page and laying a rose for those tragically murdered. We want to tell you some of what has happened since.
As we know, at 9.30am on the 13th March, Thomas Hamilton walked into the gym of Dunblane Primary School and murdered a group of 5 year old school children and their teacher with several automatic firearms. He showed no compassion, no mercy and they had no chance. Within minutes of the tragedy the community knew who had visited the school.
Much of what has been learned since that day concerns Thomas Hamilton. We now know that he was well known to the people of Dunblane as a peculiar and strange man who seemed to have a fixation for young boys. It seems in fact that Thomas Hamiltons life centered around some clubs he ran for various groups of boys in which he encouraged them to participate in physical pursuits including outdoor activities like camping and hill-walking. He called the youngsters at the clubs "his boys" and they called him "Tommy".
Numerous allegations have now come to light suggesting that "Tommy" may have had a sexual interest in "his boys" which as the years passed became ever more apparent to parents and authorities alike. Several times the police were called in to investigate Hamiltons activities. It was discovered that Hamilton regularly gave the boys money after he had done something or other inappropriate to one of the boys in order to buy their silence. Despite knowledge of Hamiltons decidedly suspect activities no formal charges were ever made against Hamilton. There was, they say, no proof!
Hamilton began to realise that the parents of the boys were taking action themselves. Parents stopped allowing their children to attend Hamiltons clubs and this it seems signalled the beginning of the end for Hamiltons sanity. He set about a programme to gather public support for his clubs blaming the authorities for destroying his reputation and character. Clearly hamilton was becoming unstable and began to show signs of having a persecution complex manifest in his continual flow of letters condemning everyone and everything but himself to various individuals, including the Queen. His life was collapsing, he owed £11,000, had no family, no friends and no support for his clubs.
Hamilton began to show the youngsters his collection of guns and stockpile of ammunition in an attempt to impress them and maintain their interest in his clubs. He started to gather information on the polices ability to respond to an armed attack, he started to gather information on Dunblane Primary School asking the boys when the children met in the gym for the schools religious assembly. He started to practice rapid firing at the shooting club he was a member of. It seems that Hamilton began to plan an event outwith the imagination of every right thinking individual.
Hamilton intended to arrive at the school just as all of the children and teachers had collected in the gym. He had been told, wrongly, that the assembly started at 9.30am. In fact the assembly started at 9.00am and as he walked through the doors of the gym he found primary one starting their gym class not the entire population of the school as he had planned. There was, for Hamilton, no turning back. He started shooting the children and teachers at point blank range.
Hamilton had taken with him several guns and over 700 rounds of ammunition intending it seems to murder most, if not all, of the school. While the children screamed and ran about in terror Hamilton fired away. The teachers were amongst the first to be hit followed by the children. When all had been shot at least once Hamilton left the gym and went outside where he started firing at the other classrooms, attempting to kill others. Eventually he returned to the gym and slowly walked around, firing again, making sure all were dead. The little children who died had been shot between one and seven times with exploding bullets in the horrific attack.
Six months later life is a little more bearable for the people of Dunblane. The massive support they have received has helped. The parents and surviving teachers meet every Thursday evening to talk and lend each other support. They are articulate and intelligent people who are trying to have the firearm laws in Britain changed so that never again can a disturbed individual like Hamilton murder the helpless in such a cold and efficient manner.
The parents have collected literally thousands of signatures for their Snowdrop Petition which has been presented to the government. They know, more than most, that Hamilton should never have been allowed to keep guns. They have our support but not unfortunately the support of the government for the Home Office Affairs Committee have rejected the publics calls to amend the gun laws until the findings of the public inquiry (Cullen Report) are brought forward.
Life goes on and for the people of Dunblane coming to terms with what has happened will not be easy. One parent describes how her daughters life was, to her, like a precious story. She had started the story and watched it unfold each day as her little girl grew up. She loved her very much, of course, and now finds it unbearable that she will never get to the end of the story. She cannot watch her little girl grow up, become a teenager, become an adult and have a family of her own.
While the children of Dunblane return to their school amidst their nightmares and without their little friends they have our thoughts and support. They should never forget the story of their friends and how they were killed.
We won't.
There is a memorial service for all of those killed in Dunblane on October 9th 1996.
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