Large crowds attended the funerals of Ryan's victims, Trevor Jackson had first heard of the shootings when a colleague asked: "What's happened to your parents?". Dorothy then saw her son with a gun in his hand and called to him, saying, Stop Michael. The dog and its pursuer rounded a bend before disappearing from view. They'll do what we did. He walked up to where she lay in the road and, with the gun only four inches from her, shot her twice in the back, killing her. Saturday marks 30 years since Michael Ryan killed 16 people in Hungerford. Why are you doing this?. Short for his age, Ryan was often teased and bullied but never retaliated and consequently avoided other children. Their pictures were a grim account of the trail of destruction and death that Ryan had left in his wake. 6 - George White A police negotiator managed to engage him in conversation. "My brother and sister-in-law were on the list.". By the time Dean looked back at him, he had assumed a shooting position, with the rifle aimed directly at her. 10 - Douglas Wainwright She thinks he saw Mrs Godfrey and her children having a picnic and enjoying themselves. "He was going to set fire to his mother's house and drive away, leaving the police to believe he'd died in the fire.". Ryan was well-known for driving "like a bat out of hell" - the only time he had been in trouble with the police was for breaking the speed limit. Amongst others also later commended for their bravery were ambulance-women Hazel Haslett and Linda Bright, who had been shot at by Ryan but who had continued working selflessly late into the night to help other victims.It was reported in the tabloid newspapers that following the public announcement of Ryans death, the people of Hungerford reacted with relieved delight. She scrambled into her house, where she collapsed and her mother immediately called an ambulance. I could see her hip bone.". 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. The open-air service outside the town hall was attended by over 60 percent of the population of Hungerford and the principal sermon preached by Right Honourable Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury.Apart from the numerous local and international newspaper articles written about the Hungerford Massacre and Michael Ryan, there were also several books. The event became known as the Hungerford massacre. Hungerford is a big shooting area, farmers and gun clubs and that sort of thing. The Jacksons had loved their home on South View, with its large garden, and were in the process of buying it. Dorothy Ryan tried to reason with her son. Thirty years since the Hungerford tragedy. What happened to the Hatton Garden burglars? It's testament to her own strength of mind that she did. Her training with St John Ambulance had led her to believe she could not have been shot, as bullets typically leave a large exit wound. 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. "I didnt know by doing that, by asking him to come home, I was just leading them both into danger.". "I said he could, and he said: 'When that man shot that man, all of the birds flew out of the trees and shat themselves'. 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. If this was his plan, it fell to pieces when his car would not restart. I've never run so fast. The Hungerford Massacre on August 19, 1987, saw 16 people killed in a rampage by gunman Michael Ryan. She was inordinately lucky not to have been shot by him. Press intrusion is something the Jacksons continue to feel very strongly about. "We cope by taking every day as it comes. But this did actually ring true. Close to tears, she toured the streets, met with the relatives and visited victims in hospital. Mrs Jackson, a bullet lodged in the base of her spine, crawled through the blood and glass on her linoleum and managed to lock Katie and Raffles, a Pekingese and a Tibetan spaniel, into a kitchen cupboard. Many were attended by people who had never known the deceased in life, but wished to show support for their families and the bereaved Hungerford community in general. Prof Craig Jackson, a psychologist who specialises in spree killers, thinks there was also a sexual motive. His wife and children were unhurt. ", PC Roger Brereton's funeral was held near Newbury. A few moths before the massacre, Ryan joined the Tunnel Rifle and Pistol Club, in Wiltshire. "I assumed it had been some sort of accident with glass and that Lisa had been cut," she says. Now, he added a new dimension. She was fully clothed but riddled with bullets. "I didnt know the Masons at No. These include Lonewolf: True Stories of Spree Killers (May 2002) by Pan Pantziarka and The Encyclopedia of Mass Murder by Brian Lane and Wilfred Gregg (1993). Ryan shot at her, making a hole in the side window. Victims were taken to the Princess Margaret Hospital in Swindon. Whilst chatting to a work colleague, the subject of Michael Ryan and the 1987 Hungerford massacre came up. It was the same school he had attended more than a decade before. He adds that an overindulgent mother could also have led to Ryan never taking responsibility for his actions - a personality trait common to many spree killers. They had heard the sounds of the shots being fired and were terrified. Linda was hit in the shoulder and Alison in the right thigh. He chased me all the way. 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. Michael Ryan was a quiet loner when he was a kid, so he began pretending to be a military trained survivalist as an adult. Say the name Hungerford and most people will associate the town with the events of Wednesday, 19 August, 1987. 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. "She'd just say she'd fallen over or something. The woman did not believe them at first but agreed to help them find her. At 1.30 pm specially trained officers from the Tactical Firearms Unit were brought in and local police officers assembled closer to town. 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. Ryan stormed into the shop and again aimed his rifle at Dean. Whilst she waited for help to arrive, she watched Ryan jog up and down the road, shooting at anything that moved. Julian Knight killed seven people in Melbourne. He looked at her. He pulled the wheeled stretcher with him and managed to load both Mr and Mrs Jackson and Lisa Mildenhall into the ambulance. That summer afternoon Ryan, a 27-year-old unemployed labourer, killed 16 people . Ambulances lined the main street. Ryan then shot at an ambulance, shattering its windscreen, as it was trying to reach some of the victims in a narrow lane. 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. Storms survived the shooting. He is still haunted, he says, by the photograph of his father dead in his car. Just after midday, on 19 August 1987, the 27-year-old unemployed Ryan entered a secluded area of Savernake Forest. Find Hungerford Michael Ryan stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. The mother-of-four, 38, from Kent . Then the nurse came back. There was a police guard on the front door so he had sneaked through the garden and into the house through the back door. What happened in the woods is the clue to why the shootings happened, Prof Jackson believes. A former school friend remembers a teenage Ryan boasting of spying on and stalking people there. He tried pulling the trigger twice more, but both times the rifle failed to fire. Read about our approach to external linking. He cannot even pass the end of the road. They keep meaning to frame it and put it up on the wall. Sixteen people were killed and 15 more were seriously injured in what was the UK's worst mass. Sharp, acrid and smoky.". Although many neighbours described Mr Ryan as a pleasant man, there were rumours he was especially strict with his son. The man, Douglas Wainwright, hit twice in the chest and once in the head, died instantly but his wounded wife, Kathleen Wainwright survived. Michael Ryan went on the rampage through the Berkshire town of Hungerford in 1987 shooting 16 people dead and wounding 14 others. Four houses, including Ryan's home at the far right, were later demolished. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited the village on Thursday, August 20, 1987, the day after the shooting, to pay her condolences. In less than an hour, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had killed 12 of their classmates and 1 teacher, injuring 24. Ryan's mother Dorothy was shot not far from her home in South View as she pleaded with her son to stop the shooting. When Ryan was old enough, he purchased a shotgun and began to collect other weapons, which he proudly displayed in a glass cabinet in his bedroom. "It was just routine. Whether Mrs Ryan truly believed her son's imaginings is impossible to tell. Michael used to play at Mrs Jackson's home with one of her sons. Crossing the street, shooting as he went, Ryan strode towards 60 Priory Road, the home of Victor and Myrtle Gibbs and blasted open the front door with his semi-automatic rifle. Ryan had killed 16 people, including his mother, and wounded 15 others. I believe Ryan had probably been fantasising about it on a low level, but the events that day - and his personality type - led to it. One of the boys she was with went to fetch his mother, Sylvia Pascoe, a qualified first-aider who lived at No 14. Plot summary Add synopsis Genres Documentary They were unable to refuse him as he had no record of mental instability and no criminal record. I still get dreadful pain in my back. Thomas Hamilton murdered 17 people in Dunblane in 1996. About half an hour later, Mrs Roland-Clarke called him to the telephone. Routine admissions were cancelled, the X-ray department and the blood bank were put on alert, extra doctors and support staff was made available and the victims started pouring in. "And I kept thinking, if it was true that I'd signed my dad's death warrant, it meant I'd also signed all those other people's too. The damage to Michael Ryan's house after he set fire to it. It just seemed to happen quite a lot.". He claimed he had been taken under the wing of a retired colonel who was going to buy him a house and a Ferrari. Meanwhile, a police officer had noticed Godfreys empty car with open doors and had gone to investigate. Emerging from the house, dressed in a headband and sleeveless flak jacket, Ryan carried a bag filled with food and other supplies. "At the hospital, where my mum was, everyone who'd been shot had been put into the same ward. 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. He explained who he was and his experience, and offered sympathy. "'Some blokes gone mad with a gun', they said. "I was desperate to get into the house. He used his semi-automatic rifle to strafe the front door and open it. Whenever they asked me where it all happened I'd say it was down the A4. He then carries on killing with his legally purchased and licensed Kalashnikov capable of killing at 300 yards. ', "She told me to get my arse straight down there. When that didn't bring him the respect he was looking for, he grabbed his guns and set out to kill as many people as he could. "It hasn't got any easier. Their car smashed into the back of another car. "Breaking in or shooting into a house and killing the inhabitants and then holding the position for a while before moving on, would have appealed to his military ideals and fantasies," says Prof Jackson. Ryan fired at them and Victor died instantly, whilst Myrtle died later in hospital. At one point, he claimed to have an Israeli fragmentation type hand grenade, which seriously worried the police. The Housing Department of Newbury District Council made accommodation available for those residents of South View who found themselves homeless after the fires Ryan had started. All over Berkshire, the funerals that followed the massacre were deeply poignant. As smoke filled the air from Ryans burning house, more people were hiding inside their homes. Gunman Michael Ryan shocked the country with his rampage around the quiet Berkshire town. South View became a popular haunt for tourists. Ryan had murdered 16 people and seriously injured 15 more, but his whereabouts were unknown. A car drove towards Ryan and he shot both occupants. "I just broke down in tears," Mr Wainwright says. A fellow park visitor, Myra Rose, found the children wandering around and they told her their mother had been shot. Mrs Jackson had known Ryan all of his life. After the murders, the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 was passed following a report commissioned by then-Home Secretary Douglas Hurd. "I think she either refused to [have sex] or resisted," he said. He was shooting at me. Over 20 mass shootings have occurred in the US since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Ryan has also been documented on internet sites devoted to mass murder. ", Several of Derek and Mary Whiting's relatives were shot. He then went back into the house, used the five-litre can of petrol to soak everything he could, and set the house on fire.Into his car, Ryan had packed military clothing, a large amount of ammunition and a first aid kit. Eric Vardy, a carpenter and van driver for Norland Nursery College, was on his way with passenger, Steven Ball, to a builders supplier. Back at the police station, PC Wainwright was told his mother had been taken to hospital in Swindon. He would insist on lying down on the back seat of the car if we ever went out, so he couldn't be seen. He liked to think of himself as a soldier, skilled at surveillance without being seen himself. Michael Ryan : The Hungerford Massacre. "After what happened, lots of people split up," says Ivor Jackson. The names of the 16 people who were killed are listed on a stone set into the wall of the town's war memorial garden, with no mention of how they died. The Hungerford police were already undertaking a manhunt for the killer and a police helicopter spotted Ryan. 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. She managed to drag herself into her house and survived. "My daughter arranged it. The town had long been a tourist destination. Mr Gibbs tried to protect his wife, who was a wheelchair user. Leaving school he embarked on a series of casual labouring jobs and was often unemployed. He noticed the blue flashing light on the police car and decided to stroll up to ask the officer what was going on. 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