Copyright ©2006 Billy Burns. All rights reserved.
Lord Burton

[Ed ~ The "News of the World 'Investigates'" article by Marcello Mega was published on 28 December 2003, two months after the "show-hearing" of William Burns' petition before the Scottish Parliament, where the Queen Victoria School involvement was declared and Glenn Harrison's identity was publicly brought into the equation for the first time.LINK  The News of the World article is typed out verbatim below.]

THE inquiry into the Dunblane massacre was a massive cover-up, a top Scots Freemason has sensationally claimed.  Former Grand Master Lord Burton says that Lord Cullen’s official probe suppressed crucial information to protect high-profile legal figures.  He says they may belong to a secretive “Super-Mason” group called The Speculative SocietyLINK.  Some had links to the Queen Victoria School – where gunman Thomas Hamilton was allowed to roam free before the 1996 atrocity.LINK

And Lord Burton revealed that he was bullied and threatened by other peers when he tried to raise his concerns in the House of Lords.  [Ed ~ The main protagonist - as revealed in confidence by Lord Burton in a telephone conversation with Tom Minogue - was Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, a member of the Speculative Society of Edinburgh a Super Mason group, as Lord Burton subtly implied.LINK  Since Lord Burton is now dead and beyond prejudice, the obligation of confidentiality passed on with him.]  Last night the 79 year-old aristocrat said: “There’s no escaping the fact there’s something sinister about the whole affair.”   He was prompted into action after reading in the News of the World last month that police are investigating claims that pupils at QVS were regularly taken away and sexually abused.  The Cullen Inquiry failed to investigate why suspected paedophile Hamilton was allowed to wander around the school whenever he liked, running camps and using the shooting range.

Former housemaster Glenn Harrison told us how he even found Hamilton, 43, creeping around the dormitories at night.LINK  He said Hamilton, who murdered 16 pupils and a teacher at Dunblane Primary School in 1996, had close links to a top cop.LINK  Glenn said he was aghast that he was never called to give evidence at the Cullen Inquiry.  He said: “I was one of the people who was making a fuss about Hamilton long before he killed those children, but no one wanted to listen.”LINK  Now Lord Burton has contacted him at his new home in the Shetland Islands, saying he believes Glenn wasn’t called to give evidence to avoid the embarrassment of top legal names being dragged into it.LINK

The QVS is for schoolchildren of the military services and has long-standing links to high office – its current patron is the Duke of Edinburgh.LINK  Whoever holds the position of Secretary of State for Scotland becomes president and Scotland’s second-most senior judge, the Lord Justice-Clerk, becomes a commissioner.

Lord Burton said: “I was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland at the time and I’m aware that most of the conspiracy theories around Dunblane revolve around allegations of a Masonic conspiracy.  I do have some difficulty with that, but I have learned of an apparent connection between prominent members of the legal establishment involved in the inquiry, and the secretive Speculative Society.  The society was formed in Edinburgh University through Masonic connections so I accept that there might be a link by that route.  But Hamilton was never a Mason.LINK  His grandfather was.”LINK

Current members of the Speculative Society include Lord Cullen and a number of other judges, sheriffs and advocates.LINK  Lord Burton has been trying for years to get to the bottom of the conspiracy theories, using his influence in the House of Lords until the reforms meant he was no longer entitled to sit in Westminster.  Last night he said: “I tried repeatedly to raise concerns about the inquiry during my time in the Lords, and I was bullied and threatened by powerful peers loyal to the Conservative Government of the day, who warned me of dire consequences if I continued to embarrass them.”LINK

But the determined peer pressed on and on and in 1999, asked a question in the Lords which revealed that documents from the inquiry had been locked up for 100 years.  Among them was a police report revealing that Hamilton had been accused of sexually abusing boys and had been considered by some officers unfit to hold a firearms licence.  Lord Burton added: “We still need to know why that was necessary.  Who was the secrecy protecting?”

Although the official reason is to protect the families of possible abuse victims, it’s unusual for documents to be locked up unless for matters of national security.  In July, Dunblane ambulance worker Sandra Uttley told the News of the World how she and friend Doreen HaggerLINK had drawn up a 50-point, 5,000-word dossier calling for secrecy surrounding the tragedy to be lifted.LINK They claimed that dozens of questions have gone unanswered and crucial lines of enquiry were ignored.  Former ambulance worker Sandra said: “There may be other individuals who should face prosecution.”

Glenn Harrison had kept dozens of files from pupils alleging bullying and abuse while he was at the QVS and wrote to parents warning of the dangers in 1991.  It led to him being ousted from the school and just days before he left, police raided his home and confiscated the files.  When Glenn read Sandra’s story, he went back to the police - and this time they agreed to investigate.  Last night he said he in turn had been glad to receive the call from Lord Burton.  He added: “I’ve been making noises for years and I sometimes despair and think it’s time to just accept we’ll never get to the truth.  “But I think we owe it to all the people who were so affected by the killings to continue to demand questions that were never asked.”

Glenn told us that Hamilton had been a friend of Ben Philip, the senior housemaster at QVS.  Mr Philip died in December 1993, aged 46, when he fell from a ladder while hanging decorations.LINK  Glenn said: “They were friends so Hamilton was a regular visitor to the school and I was introduced to him.  “Ben Philip was a decent guy who was very trusting.  I think he thought he and Hamilton shared interests in things like the outdoors, and he couldn’t see that Hamilton had another motive for wanting to be around the school.LINK

“Hamilton ran camps in the school grounds and he used the shooting range freely.  He came and went as he pleased, almost as if he owned the place, and no one has ever tried to explain why he had such freedom.  I am still haunted by the memory of picking up my newspaper on March 14 1996 and reading about what had occurred at Dunblane Primary School the day before.  I just knew the killer had to be Thomas Hamilton.  He should have been stopped.”

Demands have already been made to the Scottish Executive to investigate the influence of the Speculative Society.  It was formed in 1764 as an off-shoot of the Masons and has counted Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and Hugh McDiarmid among its most celebrated members.LINK

The Spec, as it is known, is described by its members as a debating club.  They meet in candlelit vaults below Edinburgh University’s Old College in the winter.  Prospective members are normally approached while still studying at the university.  Its membership – which was secret until a year ago – reads like a Who’s Who of the rich and powerful in Scotland.

Campaigners were determined to reveal the membership amid concerns, many expressed by senior lawyers who are not members, of the disproportionate influence the Spec is said to wield.  One legal figure who has long been suspicious of the Spec said: “Members laugh off the suspicions and say it’s just a debating club.  But, given that the members are picked as undergrads and almost without exception go on to reach the pinnacle of their careers, you have to think either that those making the selection are very astute at spotting potential, or that membership gives you a big leg up in life.  I know which option I favour.”

Justice Be Done Though The World Perish
Dunblane Whitewash
Dunblane City Sign
Scotland Map

LORD BURTON

Dunblane Public Inquiry
Dunblane Massacre
Read the full list in the Dunblane Whitewash catalogue. LINK
Dunblane Angels
St Blane's Church Dunblane
The stained glass window in St Blane's Church, Dunblane, which commemorates the victims of the 1996 massacre.
List of the victims of the Dunblane massacre
Victoria Clydesdale
Mhairi MacBeath
Charlotte Dunn
Melissa Currie
Emma Crozier
Kevin Hassell
Ross Irvine
David Kerr
Gwen Hodson/Mayor - schoolteacher
John Petrie
Hanna Scott
Joanna Ross
Sophie North
Emily Morton
Maegan Turner
Brett McKinnon
Abigail McLennan
We know who killed the above victims, but, although we may not care, we do not know for sure who killed Thomas Hamilton, and why that person was carrying a revolver at the time!
Why did Lord Cullen try to bury William Burns' letters to him for 100 years? LINK