Witness tells of Dunblane gunman’s ‘paranoia’
One person who had known Hamilton for years told Scottish police after the massacre that Hamilton would regularly vent his grievances in phone calls.
“I would say he did have a thing, almost paranoia, about the Scouts, police and parents in Dunblane,” the witness told police.
“He felt everyone was against him, really the whole thing became repetitive and very boring. I never paid a great deal of attention when he started.”
The witness statement is one of 3,000 documents relating to the Dunblane massacre made public yesterday for the first time.
The documents, from the Cullen Inquiry, were originally placed under a 100-year closure order but Scotland’s senior law officer, Lord Advocate Colin Boyd, reviewed that decision and the papers were made available yesterday at the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh.
The identity of the witness is not disclosed, but he was 28 when he gave his statement to police shortly after the massacre on March 13, 1996 in which Hamilton killed 16 children and their teacher before turning his gun on himself in the gymnasium of Dunblane Primary School.
The witness told police how he had known Hamilton for about 15 years. He had worked in Hamilton’s shop for a year, finishing in 1982. They lost touch for several years but in 1990 Hamilton, who had started a camera equipment business, started phoning him.
Hamilton’s calls became such a nuisance that the witness’s family developed a telephone code so he could distinguish between incoming phone calls from Hamilton and his family.
The witness visited Hamilton at his home several times and noted that on the living room walls were photographs of young boys doing press ups and other exercises.
The night before the massacre, the witness returned home late to find a message on his answering machine from Hamilton, whom he called back, speaking to him for about 45 minutes. The witness said Hamilton told him his camera business was not going too well.
“He then started going on about being lonely and that he did not want to spend his life alone. This was not unusual for him and I told him to start to live a bit more, get out of the house and get a job.
“This was not the worst I had heard him, he certainly seemed down, but not as bad as on other occasions.
“I do remember that when he was going on about the problems he was having about his boys’ clubs, he would specifically mention Dunblane, mainly the parents who he felt were going about talking about him, he felt they were ganging up on him.”
Another witness statement given in April 1996 detailed one man’s run-in with the killer after he found out Hamilton had been taking “dirty” photographs of his partner’s young son.
The man said he was told at the age of 10 by his own father that he would not be going to any boys’ clubs run by Hamilton because of his “tendencies.”
On informing his partner of Hamilton’s reputation, she questioned her son and found out Hamilton “had been taking pictures of him in different positions.”
The witness and his friends went to Hamilton’s home in Stirling to confront him but the police were called. The witness said police indicated to him, prior to the shooting, that Hamilton may have been under investigation.
He said: “After a short period of time, we were released by the police, saying that there wouldn’t be any charges preferred against us.
“However, the police did say that our allegations against Hamilton would be looked into and that he may already be under investigation.”
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