Thomas Hamilton

An avid gun collector and disgraced scoutmaster, Hamilton was known as "Mr. Creepy" by the boys in Dunblane, Scotland, a village 40 miles from Edinburgh.

Disliked by all his neighbours, Tom enjoyed taking pictures of young boys with their shirts off. His fixation with young boys eventually got him dropped by the Boys Scouts. In the 1980s he sponsored boys' athletic clubs but it just wasn't the same. Sadly, Hamilton never got over being dropped as a scoutmaster. After nearly twenty years, he was still seething with anger. A week before his deadly rampage Thomas wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth complaining about a campaign to ruin his reputation.

13th March 1996, Hamilton walked to the Dunblane Primary School with payback in mind. Armed with four guns, he burst into the gymnasium where 29 children were attending class. The vengeful ex-scoutmaster systematically slaughtered 16 children their teacher and then shot himself. Another teacher and a dozen other students were wounded during the rampage. The children, ages 5 and 6, were sitting in circles on the floor playing when Hamilton started firing. 13 children died instantly. Three more died later in the hospital. Surrounded by bodies of the dead and dying, 43-year-old Hamilton turned the gun on himself and put a bullet through his brain. Scottish police described the crime scene as a medieval vision of hell with "little bodies in piles." Prime Minister John Major said the massacre was a "sick and evil act." Days later he visited Dunblane along with the Queen to express their grief over the senseless tragedy.

Dunblane, with a population of 7,300, is a small market town in the Scottish Highlands north of Stirling. It is a popular commuting base for people who work in Stirling and Edinburgh.
Nearly a month after the massacre work crews began demolishing the gymnasium where all the children died. In its place there will be a play area and a flower garden. To avoid having someone try to claim a piece of the building as a trophy, officers placed a 24-hour police presence around the demolition site at the time.

The victims:-

1. Victoria Clydesdale (5)
2. Emma Crozier (5)
3. Melissa Currie (5)
4. Charlotte Louise Dunn (5)
5. Kevin Hasell (5)
6. Ross  Irvine (5
7. David Kerr (5)
8. Mhairi MacBeath (5)
9. Brett McKinnon (6)
10. Abigail McLennan (5)
11. Gwen Mayor (45) - Teacher
12. Emily Morton (5)
13. Sophie Jane Lockwood North (5)
14. John Petrie (5)
15. Joanna Ross (5)
16. Hannah Scott (5)
17. Megan Turner (5)
 
Thomas Hamilton (43)

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