The Hungerford Massacre on August 19, 1987, saw 16 people killed in a. "I effectively put myself on duty and thought because of my local knowledge I could show the armed response team the back routes around the town. Alfred Ryan, Michael's father, had become a parent in his mid-50s and was about 20 years older than Dorothy. "We were all told to lie down and not move. It was on August 19 1987 that loner and gun fanatic Michael Ryan went on a shooting rampage in Hungerford, a market town in Berkshire. Bernard was the tenth fatality on that bloody Wednesday. Then he tore his heartfelt letter up. He ordered her to put her children in the car, which she did immediately, strapping them in and telling them to wait there for her, that she would be back soon. Although many neighbours described Mr Ryan as a pleasant man, there were rumours he was especially strict with his son. "I thought: 'How the hell can I go and see her if they're all blaming me? He even persuaded the police to grant him a licence to own more powerful firearms. I couldnt move my legs. Pathologists determined she was killed by the first three bullets. 33 years ago today, a sleepy Berkshire town was rocked by one of the most shocking mass shootings ever seen in the UK. Wouldn't hurt a fly.". Shotguns had to be registered and were required to be kept in secure storage. About half an hour later, Mrs Roland-Clarke called him to the telephone. "Ill never forget what I saw that day, what happened to him, but I can't tell you. But what he did not realise was he was personally affected by the shootings. During the next 90 minutes, Brightwell and Ryan held a long and detailed conversation, during which Ryan seemed quite lucid, calm and easy to talk to. The description of the shootings as a "tragedy" doesnt sit well with Mrs Jackson. He later died of shock and haemorrhage from the bullet wound to his neck. That was possibly even worse than hearing it the first time.". Some more minor details of that fateful day in 1987 vary in the different accounts but all agree that it will remain in memory as one of the worst gun crimes in British history.Sir Charles Pollard, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police from 1991 2001, commented, The realisation that this could happen in fun-loving England, where we dont have guns and the police arent armed it changed policing and it changed society forever.. Mrs Pascoe stemmed the bleeding and stayed with the girl until an ambulance arrived. "They couldnt cope. The sense of disbelief and shock still reverberate across the nation, 25 years later, Looking back at the two most shocking gun massacres in British history. Hazel Haslett escaped with minor injuries. Thirty years since the Hungerford tragedy. Mrs Wainwright had the presence of mind to get out of the car and cower behind it. 6 were already dead.". South View became a popular haunt for tourists. He had lost lots of blood, had bullets in his head and chest, his lung had been shot through and his arm was barely attached to his body. If this was his plan, it fell to pieces when his car would not restart. But, although the house was cleaned and modernised and made available for them, they could not bear to return. "He was as good as gold. Someone had shot at the cashier, Kakoub Dean. Michael Ryan was a quiet loner when he was a kid, so he began pretending to be a military trained survivalist as an adult. A Thames Valley Police report to the Home Office found that - given the limitations imposed by the remote location and the difficulties in radio and telephone communication - the force's response "went well". Betty Tolladay, 71, had heard loud bangs, and thinking it was children playing with firecrackers, had come out into her back garden to shout at them to keep the noise down. "It hasn't got any easier. I still get dreadful pain in my back. Write by: . "It's funny, I've killed all those people but I don't have the guts to blow my own brains out.". 14 - Myrtle Gibbs "I put two and two together and assumed that the armed robbers from Froxfield had been cornered in Hungerford," he said. Sharp, acrid and smoky.". By the time Dean looked back at him, he had assumed a shooting position, with the rifle aimed directly at her. He got me in my lower back. As his wife, Mary, says: "So many of our family were shot that day. Also, he had never before bought so much petrol at one time, making Dean suspicious, so she kept an eye on him.Whilst Dean served another customer, Ian George, Ryan went to the boot of his car and brought out a semi-automatic rifle. Policemen. Marjorie Jackson recuperating in hospital in 1987, "I just thought to myself, I'm a mother. "I assumed it had been some sort of accident with glass and that Lisa had been cut," she says. "I turned to move away and he shot me. People came to buy goods, eat in the restaurants and stay at the inns. In 1987, Michael Ryan committed a killing spree that left sixteen dead and sixteen injured. Instead she found Ryan, who shot her once. We were good friends," he says. After the murders, though, visitors were less satisfied by remaining in the attractive main street. Mrs Jackson can remember Mrs Ryan telling her about a mysterious "friend" Michael had made. Read about our approach to external linking. There he announced that he had commissioned a report on the massacre from the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Colin Smith. Terrified, crying and huddled against the wall, she begged him not to kill her. It was the same school he had attended more than a decade before. Residents of the area were becoming increasingly worried as they continued to call for emergency help and none arrived. Ryan then shot at an ambulance, shattering its windscreen, as it was trying to reach some of the victims in a narrow lane. Ryan then abandoned his M1 carbine in the Memorial Gardens. At around 12:45pm, Ryan arrived at his next destination, 4 South View, a dead-end street in Hungerford, where he lived with his widowed mother. The primary school where Marjorie Jackson was a caretaker had broken up for the summer holidays. She was still wearing it, soaked now with Lisa Mildenhall's blood, when she was finally allowed back home. "I don't think he fully intended to commit a killing spree that day. Marcus Barnard, a local taxi driver, had been a father for just five weeks when he was shot dead. Classmates remember he was quiet, seemed shy, "kept himself to himself" and was keen on the military. Mrs Jackson had known Ryan all of his life. He had what appeared to be a normal upbringing, although he was perhaps overindulged by his mother. Its occupants, Linda Chapman and her daughter, Alison Chapman, whilst wounded, both survived. "I knew Id been hit. "You know, it's funny. On that day, 27-year-old Michael Ryan shot dead sixteen people, including an unarmed police officer and his own mother. At one point, he claimed to have an Israeli fragmentation type hand grenade, which seriously worried the police. While Ryan roamed Hungerford, murdering and maiming people he'd known for years, a woman lay dead in Savernake Forest. As they drove down Priory Road, Ryan shot at their car and Playle died from a single bullet wound to the neck from the Beretta. He sprayed their car with 11 bullets, Ivor Jackson was shot three times in the chest and once in the head and White was shot too, dying as their car smashed into the police car Ryan had shot at earlier. Abdul Rahman Khan, was shot in his garden; George White, was shot in South View while driving Ivor Jackson home from work. Saturday marks 30 years since Michael Ryan killed 16 people in Hungerford. A few days after the murders, Mr Wainwright - who had carried out the routine checks for Ryan's firearms licence - was astonished to see the Today newspapers front page splash. An investigation after the shootings found both Dorothy and Michael Ryan had been overdrawn on their bank accounts - in Dorothy's case largely because she bought her only child a new car every two years. He would become extremely angry if people did not believe him and his mother would often confirm these lies to people, in a desperate effort to help her son feel better. It was his gun cupboard. When he was 13 his mother bought him an air rifle. Mark Howe murdered his mother Katrina Wardle in a brutal knife attack. LONDON (AP) _ Michael Ryan, the gun-loving loner who became Britain's worst mass murderer, won't be buried with the doting mother he killed and ''almost certainly'' won't be buried in the town he devastated, his family said Saturday. It's difficult. Here he shot her 13 times, dropped the groundsheet and returned to parking area. Dorothy then saw her son with a gun in his hand and called to him, saying, Stop Michael. If only my car had started. document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) One of the Tactical Firearms Unit climbed onto the school roof and with a mirror on a long pole, managed to see into the classroom at last. There was also a made-up girlfriend - a delusion which went far enough for Mrs Ryan to invite people to the wedding. Yet another vehicle drove into the area and once again, Ryan shot at it, hitting the driver, shattering his jaw, bursting his tongue and missing his spinal cord by two millimetres. Mayor Tarry claimed it to be the day on which life in the town could begin once more. Lepetit had heard about shooting in his neighbourhood and was hurrying home to check on his family. It's not known whether Ryan spent a long time watching Sue Godfrey, a 35-year-old nurse who had stopped with her two young children for a picnic lunch. She shouted at him, saying, Is that you making that noise? Dean reported later that when she looked Ryan in the face, it seemed as if he was not even aware of her and was looking right through her. At 6.52 pm, Brightwell heard a single muffled shot from the classroom. The man, Douglas Wainwright, hit twice in the chest and once in the head, died instantly but his wounded wife, Kathleen Wainwright survived. He headed straight there and was greeted by a nurse who said Kathleen was fine and Douglas was in the operating theatre. Ambulance driver Hazel Haslett arrived minutes later. It also transpired that there were several unfortunate incidents encumbering the response by the police and other emergency services to the events on 19 August 1987. That summer afternoon Ryan, a 27-year-old unemployed labourer, killed 16 people . The bullet had passed through his skull and shattered his brain. It was being chased up the road by Michael Ryan. 'It's a show that I'm passionate about': Will Mellor on 'Cops Who Kill'. Michael Ryan was just so, so insignificant. All I could think of was the dogs. Pic: Daily Mail / Hungerford Massacre 1987. The help will come from within the community'. Back at the police station, PC Wainwright was told his mother had been taken to hospital in Swindon. She ducked below her counter just as a bullet pierced the safety glass above it and ricocheted through the small shop behind her. "She'd just say she'd fallen over or something. When, in March 1996 Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 schoolchildren and their teacher in the Stirling town of Dunblane, Trevor Wainwright decided to write to the Scottish police. And strictly speaking, it was not his responsibility; Froxfield, though just outside Hungerford, was in Wiltshire rather than Berkshire and beyond the jurisdiction of Thames Valley Police. The young policeman wondered whether he should see if he could do anything to help. 4 - PC Roger Brereton hungerford massacre photos. He claimed he had been taken under the wing of a retired colonel who was going to buy him a house and a Ferrari. This documentary examines Ryan's childhood, his acquisition of guns, and the killings. Former mummy blogger Clemmie Hooper is facing a midwifery misconduct hearing - three years after she confessed to trolling other influencers on a gossip forum. "If it had happened today, there would probably be some sort of trail on a computer as perpetrators tend to do a lot of research.". People were sheltering in doorways and I pulled up and asked what was going on. They had heard the sounds of the shots being fired and were terrified. As he drove the three-and-a-half miles a news report came on the radio about a suspected armed robbery at a petrol station in Froxfield. Ryans school friend remembers his mother would buy the boy whatever he wanted, but his father "couldnt be played" and "wore the trousers" in the house. Sandra Hill, was shot while driving; Jack and Myrtle Gibbs, were shot in their home in Priory Road; and Ian Playle was shot while driving into Hungerford on a shopping trip with his wife and two children. Ryan then walked into Priory Road, where he found Sandra Hill, 22, driving her red Renault 5, with the window down and the music blaring. Both died instantly. The mother-of-four, 38, from Kent . 6 - George White Flowers began arriving at the town hall, where the flag flew at half-mast. Further delays were caused by the firearms squad being in training about 40 miles away. If there is a shooting elsewhere in the world, he braces himself for his phone to ring. I knew I had to help.". Prof Craig Jackson, a psychologist who specialises in spree killers, thinks there was also a sexual motive. Close to tears, she toured the streets, met with the relatives and visited victims in hospital. John O'Gaunt School in Hungerford, Berkshire, where Michael Robert Ryan committed suicide following the Hungerford Massacre, 8th September 1987. Slaughter on a warm summer's day: The Hungerford massacre, 47 minutes of horror: The Columbine massacre, Rampage killers : shooters without remorse, America's 8 deadliest mass shootings since Columbine, Crime + Investigation Play - What to watch in March 2023. In a further twist of fate, the local police helicopter was in for repair but police mechanics eventually made it ready for flight and it was deployed at around the time Ryan shot his mother. Ryan intimated he might be prepared to give himself up. But, he reasoned, it was his day off. Every single time.". The police officers at the scene did not apprehend him at this point, as they were unarmed. "'Some blokes gone mad with a gun', they said. The boy enjoyed pointing his weapon at cows, birds and even other children, says Dr Yardley. He subscribed to magazines on survival skills and guns, including Soldiers of Fortune, and was a fan of violent films such as Rambo: First Blood (1982). Press intrusion is something the Jacksons continue to feel very strongly about. However, Prof Jackson said it was likely Ryan had intended to do so. People were said to have run into the streets chanting, The bastards dead, the bastards dead, whilst children cycled around on their bikes, yelling Good riddance, and people in pubs toasted his death. S02:E05 - Thomas Watt Hamilton: Dunblane Massacre. They flew the police helicopter past the window, but could not see in to the classroom. After killing his mother, Ryan walked across the school playing field, firing randomly. Mildenhall survived the shooting.Kenneth Clements was walking along the footpath with his family, towards South View, when Ryan appeared and shot him once, killing him instantly. "As soon as there's been a shooting, some journalist will call. He tried starting his car but to no avail. People were frantic to get to their families to see if they were safe and unharmed. Ryans next victim was Francis Butler, a 26-year-old accounts clerk, out walking his dog in the Hungerford Memorial Gardens. Cash and cheques poured in from well-wishers, some even from children, and a Tragedy Fund was established, in collaboration with Lloyds TSB, Barclays and NatWest, the three banks in Hungerford. He survived the attack. I mean, there's no legitimate reason anyone would need to have a Kalashnikov - but it was legal. It was market day in Hungerford, a balmy Wednesday, 19 August 1987. He also knew the day would end in the loss of his own life, so in effect he was choosing when to die.". She scrambled into her house, where she collapsed and her mother immediately called an ambulance. The damage to Michael Ryan's house after he set fire to it. It was absolute panic stations. Having murdered Mrs Godfrey, Ryan headed back to Hungerford in his Vauxhall Astra GTE, stopping at Froxfield filling station. Seven minutes after saying this, at 18:52, he shot himself in the head. However, the jovial atmosphere was soon to be shattered and peoples lives changed forever.Savernake Forest, a popular recreational area seven miles from Hungerford, was a favourite haunt of Ryans, where he would spend great deals of time pretending to be on army manoeuvres. George sped off on his motorcycle. Armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and at least one. It seemed that whilst he was in the midst of a murderous rampage, he still felt the need to protect children. Lance Corporal Carl Harries, 21, a young off-duty soldier and veteran of the Falklands War, was on his way into town, to pick up a radiator hose, when he walked into the midst of the massacre. 13 - Victor Gibbs That's not him. I saw Robert Clements hed been walking the dog with his dad, Ken, and just witnessed him shot dead in South View. Besotted with the military, Ryan bought army jackets, survival gear and masks. Dr Yardley says Ryan would have learned how to treat women from how his father treated his mother. "I told her he had tattoos, was about 6ft 1in and had grey hair. After some time, young Hannah unbuckled their seatbelts, so they could go in search of their mother. Along the way, Ryan shot and wounded a man, who was pulled to safety as Ryan moved closer in order to shoot him again. He took no heed of her pleas and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. Whenever they asked me where it all happened I'd say it was down the A4. Michael Ryan went on the rampage through the Berkshire town of Hungerford in 1987 shooting 16 people dead and wounding 14 others. Near her body were two groups of German-made 9mm spent cartridges. The Hungerford massacre was a spree shooting in Hungerford, England, United Kingdom, on 19 August 1987, when 27-year-old Michael Ryan shot dead sixteen people, including an unarmed police officer and his own mother, before shooting himself. His face, she says, was expressionless. "There were no big wounds at the back of Lisa's legs. Brightwell answered that he did not know at the time but was attempting to find out, and continued to persuade him to drop his weapons and come outside. With her window open and radio on in her Renault 5, she became Ryans 13th murder victim, dying from a single shot. "If he did have a sexual crime in mind, then that would have been about control too.". It started with an assumed attempted sexual assault, but Ryan went on to kill many close acquaintances in his hometown. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visits Hungerford the day after the attack, Mrs Thatcher meets police and people affected by the incident, This aerial shot shows people fleeing the attack, A Floral tribute outside Hungerford Town Hall, A shocked policeman cradling a young girl after her father was brutally murdered, Graham Brunsden was one of many who risked their lives trying to help the victims, Vicar in church with people praying in Hungerford, Janet Mason whose parents, pensioners Roland and Sheila Mason, were among those killed, along with her husband, two children and brother Chris, Marlyne Vardy at the funeral of husband Eric, Police attend a press conference the day after the incident, Dorothy and Alfred Ryan, parents of murderer Michael Ryan. He put some petrol in his car and some in a canister. There he announced that he had commissioned a report on the massacre from the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Colin Smith. In contrast, Dorothy Ryans funeral service, held at St Marys Church in Calne, Wiltshire, was only attended by 40 mourners. Plot summary Add synopsis Genres Documentary Other victims included Susan Godfrey, of Reading, who was killed while picnicking with her children; Roland and Sheila Mason, who were killed in their home; Kenneth Clements, who was shot while walking to Hungerford Common. 20th August 1987. "I just started to run. Later that day, his parents were driving up from their home in Kent to visit him. An elderly neighbour, Dorothy Smith, 77 years old and deaf in one ear, had come out into the street to see what all the noise was about. "We got a letter from the Queen," Mr Jackson adds. S02:E04 - Peter Sutcliffe - the Yorkshire Ripper. But it appears she never contradicted him in public. She remembers Michael as quiet and polite. Ryan then went to Froxtield petrol station, where he was watched by Mrs Kakoub Dean, wife of the owner, as he filled up his metallic silver Vauxhall Astra GTE, as well as a five-litre can. Critics said the .
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