Events in the life of Thomas Hamilton

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4.64   In this part of the Chapter I will consider evidence relating to allegations that Thomas Hamilton used firearms in what was, or may have been, an improper manner prior to 13 March 1996.

4.65   In Chapter 6 I will set out a history of the firearms which Thomas Hamilton was authorised to, and did, acquire and use. For present purposes it suffices to say by way of background that he had a long-standing interest in firearms. There was evidence that he had possessed an air rifle with which he practised at the rear of his shop in Cowane Street, Stirling. On 14 February 1977 he was granted a firearm certificate. At the outset he acquired small-bore firearms. In December 1979 he moved on to full-bore.

4.66   While he was running the Dunblane Rovers Group he took a number of boys on Friday evenings to the range of the Dunblane Rifle and Pistol Club for tuition in the use of air rifles and air pistols. There is no reason to doubt the reliability of the evidence that he saw that strict discipline was observed. At that stage he was a member of that club. After it was disbanded he became a member of the Stirling Rifle and Pistol Club in 1986 or 1987. It also appears likely that he was for a few years a member of the Callander Rifle and Pistol Club (which was mentioned in his original application for a firearm certificate) and of the Clyde Valley Pistol Club.

4.67   He was not a very frequent attender at the meetings of the Stirling Rifle and Pistol Club. There was evidence that he was a "loner" who would stand to one side rather than join in the conversation between members. One observer said: "Nobody in the club knew very much about him". He was described as being "not competition-orientated". It was found that when he was taking part in the discipline known as police pistol, he did not follow the course of fire. When the command at twenty metres distance was to fire six rounds in a given time, he would "blast off" twelve. He was not endangering the others, but was disturbing them by his rate of fire. It was not in the spirit of a competition, and he was not prepared to listen to advice. Since he observed safety procedures, there was no occasion for him to be reported to the police.

4.68   There was evidence that on a number of occasions he brought firearms to homes of other people in order to show them off. This happened in the case of a parent of a boy who was attending the Dunblane Boys Club in the middle 1980s. Thomas Hamilton brought a .357 revolver and a semi-automatic pistol to his home on one occasion after he had asked the son if he would be interested in seeing them. However, the parent was impressed with Thomas Hamilton's approach to safety.

4.69   One of these occasions was reported to the police. Towards the end of 1988 Thomas Hamilton took two handguns and a semi-automatic machine gun to the home of a family in Linlithgow. The boys in the family attended Linlithgow Boys Club and one of them had attended his camp on Inchmoan Island that year. Thomas Hamilton had been in the habit of visiting the house and had mentioned his interest in guns. When the boys showed an interest in them he offered to bring them to the house. On this occasion he told the family how the firearms were held and used. He did not have any ammunition with him. The father took photographs of his wife and the boys holding the firearms. This incident was reported to the police at Stirling on 20 May 1989. Sergeant McGrane of the Lothian and Borders Police stationed at Bathgate was instructed to take statements as to what had happened. He attended their home on the evening of that day for that purpose. He ascertained from them that they had not been distressed by what had happened and had not complained to the police about it. However, he had the impression that they had not been at ease with someone bringing guns into their house. He did not pass on this impression with the statements. In evidence he said that he did not consider that Thomas Hamilton's behaviour was normal. He did not think that a firearm certificate holder should act in that way. He sent the statements and photographs which he had obtained to Inspector Nimmo of the Stirling Police who had instructed him. She felt that it was not very wise for Thomas Hamilton to take the firearms and show them to the children. She passed the papers on to Chief Supt Gunn on 30 June 1989. He in turn wrote a memorandum to the DCC McMurdo, stating:- "It may be quite a harmless display of weapons, but nevertheless an action which leaves a lot to be desired". This is a matter which was taken up in due course with Mr McMurdo when he was giving evidence (para.6.40).

4.70   One curious feature of this episode is that the report to the police which set off their enquiries was an incident log which showed that the report had been made by Mrs Doreen Hagger and contained a correct note of her then address and telephone number, as well as the address of the family to whom the firearms had been shown. However, in her evidence, Mrs Hagger said that she did not report the matter to the police. She could not do so because she did not have the family's address, but merely their telephone number. The mother had phoned her and told her that Thomas Hamilton had come to her house in Linlithgow with two or three guns. She did not know what kind of guns they were. The last she heard of this matter was when the mother had spoken to her on the telephone. She had no recollection of saying to a police officer that, as stated in the incident log, Thomas Hamilton could become violent and use weapons against her as she was involved in reporting him for complaints involving children. I do not understand how particulars relating to Mrs Hagger as the informant could realistically have been entered on the log unless she did make a report to the police. Whatever may be the explanation for the evidence which she gave, I do not accept her denial as reliable.

4.71   Another episode concerning Thomas Hamilton was spoken to by Inspector Ralph. He gave evidence that some 7-10 years before his death, Thomas Hamilton made an informal complaint to him about the behaviour of two police officers who had come across him with an air weapon in Stirling and told him that he could be charged with recklessly discharging it. He was particularly indignant because the police officers had taken hold of the weapon and waved it about. Since Thomas Hamilton had made no formal complaint the Inspector took no further action. Enquiries made after 13 March 1996 revealed no record by the police of any such incident as was alleged by Thomas Hamilton.

4.72   In the course of her evidence Mrs Doreen Hagger gave an account of an occasion on which Thomas Hamilton pointed a gun at her. This account was the subject of considerable publicity after she was interviewed by members of the press on 14 March 1996. The incident she alleged, had occurred at Bridgend, Linlithgow some time after she had been interviewed by Inspector Keenan in January 1989 in connection with his report on Thomas Hamilton's complaint. She said that she and Mrs Janet Reilly, had been coming back from the shops and had picked up her daughter Vicky after she had been dropped off the school bus in the main street. They were just getting to her gate when a light coloured transit van driven by Thomas Hamilton "slammed up at the pavement". She then said:-

"He rolled the window down and he said 'I hear you have been making statements about me to Keenan'. I said 'That's right'. I said 'I just told him about the state of the camp, how you treated the kids, and my own personal opinion of you'. And at that he leaned forward, his face was all puffy. When he used to get in a rage his face would go puffy, would blow up and really bulge.... He leant forward and I thought he was going to start the engine up, after the mouthful I gave him, and the next thing I heard a click of metal hitting glass, and I looked down and there was a bit of metal there. It didn't register with me right away, and I just looked at him and he said 'My friends don't like it'..... I looked again and that is when I realised that it was a barrel, and I said 'Dinnae point that f'ng thing at me. I will ram it down your throat'. He just got really bulging and never said a word, off he went."

Mrs Hagger said that she used to pick up Vicky from the bus at about 2.45 - 2.50 pm. She was quite clear that the date of this encounter was before the incident at Linlithgow Academy on 16 May when she and Mrs Reilly assaulted Thomas Hamilton. Vicky was then seven years of age. Later in her evidence she described the barrel of the gun as having "a bit sticking up at the end of it". After Thomas Hamilton had driven off, she went into the house with Mrs Reilly. After they had talked together they agreed that the police station should be telephoned about what had happened. Later a couple of officers in uniform came round and she told them what had happened. They returned in one or two days and told her that Thomas Hamilton had been going to a gun club and had not meant to scare them. As far as she was concerned Thomas Hamilton had not threatened to shoot her, but she was meant to be a bit worried about him. She said: "I thought the man was a complete idiot. He didn't bother me".

4.73   There are a number of considerable problems about this account which were explored both in evidence and in parties' closing submissions. The Dean of Faculty on behalf of Lothian and Borders Police invited me to treat her evidence as lacking both reliability and credibility. In the first place the account given by Mrs Hagger was not supported by that given by Mrs Reilly where one would have expected it to be if Mrs Hagger's account was correct. According to Mrs Hagger, Mrs Reilly was beside her at the gate when Thomas Hamilton drew up outside her house. The gun was protruding and both Mrs Reilly and Vicky would have been in a position to see the window if they had been looking. However, Mrs Reilly's evidence was that Thomas Hamilton was just ready to drive away by the time that she reached Mrs Hagger's gate. She did not see anything protruding out of the van. Thomas Hamilton had something covered up on the passenger seat. I should add that Vicky Hagger did not give evidence at the inquiry. On Day 13 Mr Bonomy drew my attention to a report in the press that she was missing from home. He said that having considered the position very carefully he had formed the view that the inquiry would be put at no disadvantage by not hearing her evidence. He stated that from what he could tell of the police investigation, it appeared to him that all the evidence that the inquiry needed was covered by other evidence already before it. In these circumstances he proposed that her attendance should not be required. None of the parties made any representation against that proposal. I was entirely satisfied with Mr Bonomy's assessment. I had the opportunity of reading Vicky Hagger's statement to the police which had been taken from her in connection with the Inquiry. I also noted that when Mrs Hagger was being interviewed by members of the press on 14 March 1996 Vicky Hagger was present in the same house as her mother but did not give any information about seeing a gun. In these circumstances, intimation was made to Mrs Hagger that the attendance of Vicky Hagger was not required. In making his closing submissions Mr Bonomy confirmed that he knew of no further evidence which could assist me in arriving at a conclusion about whether the incident occurred and whether it was reported to the police. Secondly, leaving aside for the moment Mrs Hagger's evidence that she reported the incident to the police, I find it quite extraordinary that she made no reference to it, either when she was interviewed further by Inspector Keenan, or when she was enlisting the attendance of a reporter to witness the incident on 16 May 1989 at Linlithgow Academy. If she was intent on making his misbehaviour a matter of public knowledge it is remarkable that she made no mention of it to the reporter. On her own evidence she made no reference to it until she was being interviewed by members of the press on 14 March. Even then, according to her, it would not have been brought up if it had not been for Vicky saying: "Do you remember, he pointed a gun at you?" Thirdly, considerable efforts were made in order to ascertain whether there is any record of the reporting of this alleged incident. The Inquiry heard of the examination of log-books and notebooks and the questioning of all the police officers who might have been involved in dealing with such a report, with negative results. Evidence was also given by the sergeants who might have been expected to have been aware of such a complaint, having regard to its seriousness, but none of them had any recollection of it. I am quite unable to accept the suggestion that police officers would have regarded the pointing of a gun as not meriting recording, even if Mrs Hagger's attitude to Thomas Hamilton's behaviour was at that time the same as it was when she was giving evidence. Fourthly, there are more general reasons for questioning the reliability of Mrs Hagger's evidence. According to her when she was at the camp on Inchmoan Island she did not get on well with Thomas Hamilton. She left the island when "he threatened me once too often". His threat was "I hope your tent doesn't catch fire tonight". However, when she was interviewed by DS McBain in August 1988 in regard to the report of what happened on the island, she made no mention of Thomas Hamilton threatening to burn her tent, but stated that another adult who had been assisting with the camp at that stage had threatened Mrs Reilly. According to Mrs Reilly Mrs Hagger left the island because Thomas Hamilton had threatened Mrs Hagger with a gun, but the basis for this was that she had seen that Mrs Hagger was frightened. She told her that Thomas Hamilton had had a gun in his hand. The adult referred to by Mrs Hagger had threatened to kill Mrs Hagger with an axe and set fire to the tent. She appeared to accept that when she was interviewed by the police in April 1996 she made no mention of a gun. In his closing submission, Mr C M Campbell submitted that for Thomas Hamilton to have referred to his guns as his "friends" had a ring of truth about it. It may well be true that on some occasion Thomas Hamilton told Mrs Hagger that his guns were his "friends": and indeed Mrs Hagger gave evidence that he said this at the camp. However, this does not appear to me to lend any significant support to what she said happened at Bridgend.

4.74   For all these reasons I have come to the conclusion that the account given by Mrs Hagger is lacking in both reliability and credibility. I do not accept her evidence that Thomas Hamilton pointed a gun at her or that she reported such an incident to the police. It follows that there is no question of such an incident coming to the knowledge of the police.