Summer 1996

Masonic Imbroglio In Dunblane Tragedy

Letter to William Burns from Paul Todd

William Burns
Shore Road
South Queensferry
West Lothian
Scotland

This is something I have been sending to the English media for weeks and which I spoke to Martin Short and others about.  Martin Short wrote a piece about my father in his book but seems motivated mostly by earning a crust.LINK

Great article.LINK Your number is ex-directory.  I would like a chat with you if you have the time.

Thanks
Paul Todd

[Ed. ~ Phone number provided.]

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DUNBLANE

The public cries out for someone it can blame for the massacre at Dunblane.  Perhaps the writer similarly cries out for someone to blame.  The contents merit consideration by someone impartial from those retained to investigate, who may have vested interests.

Hamilton was either a habitual offender interested in young boys or he wasn't.  The Ombudsman exonerated him.  His M.P. suggested that Hamilton publicise the findings of the Ombudsman.  The Scouts knew something but kept quiet.  The police made numerous enquiries.  No action was taken and there was either no evidence or they decided not to take action.

Despite public disquiet into his private life and police investigations, Hamilton was allowed to continue to operate his boys clubs and to obtain a firearms licence, the control of which is much stricter than a shot gun licence and administered by the police.  His final act to slaughter children is the only real public evidence we have of his general state of mind concerning children.

There is a question.  If there was disquiet over his behaviour and if, as seems apparent by his dreadful final moments, he did have some fixation involving children, how is it that the Ombudsman exonerated him and that, despite repeated police investigations, no evidence was found such as to proceed with action, or to even highlight these concerns in their consideration of his application for firearm licences?

Perhaps the answer lies in an interview with a local woman who complained to the police about Hamilton and was then threatened by Hamilton who told her that he was a Freemason and that her complaints would go unanswered as his fellows in the local lodge included the police to whom she had complained.

This was reported in The Sport newspaper (March 15, 1996), the same woman whom The Sunday Times referred to on 17 March 1996, but omitted the Freemasonry reference (unsurprising for those who know of the impartiality of that paper where Freemasons and the establishment are concerned) and the same woman shown photographed in The Mail on 18 March 1996 with the assertion that "the authorities should have acted sooner", but, again, failing to mention the Freemasonic connection, as might be expected from an Associated Newspaper Group publication.

The 25 March 1996 issue of Newsweek highlights some of the inconsistencies:

  • "Hamilton had been investigated repeatedly and was cautioned by the police after he was spotted 'in a compromising position' in a gay red light district in Edinburgh in 1994,"
  • "He was blackballed a month ago when he applied for membership in another gun club based in the neighbouring village of Callander ... says Raymond Reid who was aware of Hamilton's unsavoury reputation and, as club secretary, turned him down."
  • The crucial question in the wake of last week's tragedy was why Hamilton had ever been permitted to own guns at all.  Police had lengthy files on Hamilton and were well aware he was potentially erratic." LINK
  • "Fiona Wilson, a reporter for the Stirling Observer, said Hamilton tried many times to get her paper to run favourable stories about his summer camps for boys, and that she and her editors checked with local police officials to see what they knew about his bona fides.  'Stay away from him,' Wilson said, quoting the police."
  • "A local police officer was even blunter.  'He was a paedophile,' the officer said angrily.  'If he had had a criminal record, he would not have been able to carry a gun.  The court system did not take our evidence on board.'"
  • "Whether or not prosecutors could have used the evidence to win a criminal case against Hamilton, many people wondered how he could have been granted a firearms licence.  Britain's gun laws are widely regarded as amongst the toughest in the world.  Obtaining a licence requires more than a spotless criminal record and a character reference from a respected member of the community.  Final approval comes from the chief constable of the local police force, who has the broad discretion to reject any applicant thought to be 'of intemperate habits or unsound mind, or ... for any reason unfitted to be entrusted with a firearm'.LINK  Applicants who pass that standard can still be denied a permit if the chief constable decides they don't 'need' a gun."
  • "'It's so difficult to get a licence that I find it hard to believe it happened,' says the proprietor of a London gun club.  There must have been a communications breakdown'."

An international media organisation could interview the witness and make further inquiries into the Ancient and Scottish Rights Freemasonic Lodge.  Surely a decent Scottish Freemason in Dunblane will break ranks from the directions of Freemasons' Hall and expose all that is bad in Freemasonry to enhance all that is good.

Was Hamilton a Freemason?  If so, what lodge did he belong to?LINK  Is any police officer who was in any way involved in any investigation into Hamilton, or who authorised his firearms licences also a Freemason?  Is the Ombudsman who investigated Hamilton and exonerated him a Freemason?

Hamilton walked into Dunblane School carrying two Browning 9mm automatics and two .357 magnum revolvers armed with over five hundred rounds of ammunition.LINK  Put into some sort of perspective Clint Eastwood carries one .357 magnum revolver, which can stop a car engine when fired at it; and a full armed soldier going into battle is equipped with only 250 rounds of ammunition.  It is fortunate that Hamilton ceased firing when and where he did, or the toll of human misery could have been far greater.  Who put this sort of firepower and ammunition into Hamilton's hands and why did they do so in the face of all the evidence, which should have called them to question the appropriateness of Hamilton even holding a firearms licence.LINK

Is the judge appointed to investigate [i.e. Lord Cullen ~ ed.], either a Freemason or someone with links to Freemasonry?LINK  Are we to expect a whitewash with Hamilton alone blamed?  It seems apparent that Hamilton, by his final act, proves earlier fears about his unhealthy twisted mind, insofar as children were concerned, were well-founded.  His final dreadful act stands to condemn those who actively promoted his obtaining lawful authority to buy these awesome weapons of death because of their poisoned distorted duty to their warped and twisted brother Mason.

Let us hope, for the sake of the memory of the children and the teachers, that those who put the guns in Hamilton's hand might not now rely on similar condescension to their wrong-doing by another brother Mason, and let us try to ensure that the question of Freemasonic involvement in the Dunblane tragedy receives open public consideration.

Paul Todd

Copyright © 2016 William Burns. All rights reserved.
Dunblane cover-up
Dunblane Whitewash
Dunblane City Sign
Scotland Map

MARTIN SHORT

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