Hungerford massacre

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Michael Robert Ryan
Michael Robert Ryan

The Hungerford massacre occurred in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, on August 19, 1987. A 27-year-old unemployed local labourer, Michael Robert Ryan, armed with several weapons including an AK-47 rifle and a Beretta pistol, shot and killed sixteen people including his mother, and wounded fifteen others, then fatally shot himself. A report on this incident was commissioned by the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, from the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Colin Smith. It remains, along with the Dunblane massacre, one of the worst criminal atrocities involving firearms in British history.

The massacre led to the Firearms (Amendment) Act, 1988[1], which banned the ownership of semi-automatic centre-fire rifles and restricted the use of shotguns with a magazine capacity of more than two rounds. The Hungerford Report had demonstrated that Ryan's collection of weapons was legally licensed.

Contents

[edit] Shootings

The first shooting occurred seven miles (11.2 km) to the west of Hungerford in Savernake Forest in Wiltshire, at 12:30 in the afternoon of August 19. Susan Godfrey, 33, from Reading, Berkshire was picnicking with her two young children when she was abducted by Ryan at gun-point, and shot thirteen times in the back.

Ryan then drove in his car, a Vauxhall Astra, from the forest along the A4 towards Hungerford and stopped at a petrol station three miles (5 km) away from the town. After filling a petrol can he shot at the cashier, Mrs Kakaub Dean, and missed. Ryan again tried to shoot her at close range, but the magazine holding the bullets fell out of the gun, probably because he inadvertantly hit the release mechanism. He left the petrol station and continued towards Hungerford. Mrs Dean placed an emergency call to the police.

At around 12:45 he was seen at his home in South View, Hungerford. He shot the family dog or dogs (reports differ, one or two) before turning the gun on his mother, Dorothy Ryan, who had tried in vain to reason with him[citation needed]. He set fire to the house with the petrol he bought earlier in the day, the fire damaging three surrounding properties. He then removed the three shotguns from his car, possibly because it would not start. He shot and killed husband and wife Roland and Sheila Mason, who were in their back garden at their house in South View.

On foot, Ryan proceeded towards the common, injuring two more people: Marjorie Jackson and Lisa Mildenhall (aged 14, shot in both legs[1]). Mrs. Jackson contacted George White, a colleague of her husband, who contacted her husband Ivor Jackson, who were both later shot, leaving White dead and Jackson injured. On the footpath towards the common he also killed Kenneth Clements who was walking with his family.

Returning to Southview he shot 23 rounds at PC Roger Brereton, a police officer who had just arrived at the scene, killing him as he remained sitting in his duty car[2]. Linda Chapman and her daughter Alison Chapman were next shot and injured, having just driven into Southview in a car. Ryan fired 11 bullets from his semi-automatic into their Volvo; Linda was hit in the shoulder, Alison in the right thigh - the bullet travelling into her lower back and severing some of the nerves leaving her permanently disabled[3]. Linda was able to drive out without further injury to the hospital.

Ryan moved along Fairview Road, killing Abdur Khan, who was in his back garden, and injuring Alan Lepetit who was walking along the road. An ambulance which had just arrived in the road was next shot at, injuring Hazel Haslett before it drove off.

By, or before, 14:30 Ryan had ensconced himself at the John O'Gaunt Secondary School (closed and empty at that time of year for summer holidays), where he had previously been a pupil. Police surrounded the building. Negotiators made contact with him; at one point he waved what appeared to be an unpinned grenade at them through the window[4]. At 19:00, still in the school, he shot himself[5]. One of the statements Ryan made towards the end was widely reported: "I wish I had stayed in bed"[6].

Ryan had killed sixteen people, and wounded fifteen others.

[edit] Michael Ryan

The British tabloid press was filled with stories about Michael Ryan's life in the days following the massacre. The tabloid press can be an unreliable source and under English law one cannot libel the dead. In addition Ryan had killed his mother who would, perhaps, have been able to shine most light on his private life. Press biographies all stated that he had a fondness for, and possibly even an obsession with, guns. The majority claimed that Ryan possessed magazines about survival skills and firearms, Soldier of Fortune[7] being frequently named. He was also said to be a fan of the Rambo film First Blood in which - the press erroneously claimed events similar to the Hungerford massacre take place.

Ryan was an only child, reportedly sullen and bullied at school. His father was in his fifties when he was born and had died around two years prior to the shootings. Ryan lived alone with his mother, who was a dinner lady at the local primary school; there was extensive press comment on this suggesting the relationship was 'unhealthy' and that Ryan was 'spoiled'. A Guardian headline described Ryan as a 'mummy's boy'.

[edit] Police response

A number of factors hampered the police response[8]:

  • The telephone exchange could not handle the number of 999 calls made by witnesses.
  • The Thames Valley firearms squad were training 40 miles away.
  • The police helicopter was in for repair, though was eventually deployed.
  • Only two phone lines were in operation at the local police station which was undergoing renovation.

[edit] Media effects theory and moral panic

It was alleged, particularly by tabloid newspapers, that Ryan was inspired by the film First Blood, with some claiming he wore armed-forces style clothing. It was cited as an example of the hypodermic needle model of negative media effects, particularly relevant in the wake of the controversy over video nasties. It later transpired that Ryan had never seen the film (Buckingham, 2001: 76), but the allegations provided sensationalist headlines and imagery (see Webster, 1989). It was true however that Ryan owned violent films[9].

[edit] Cultural references

J G Ballard's novel Running Wild centres around the fictitious Richard Greville, a Deputy Psychiatric Advisor with the Metropolitan Police who authored "an unpopular minority report on the Hungerford killings" and is sent to investigate mass murder in a gated community[10]. Ballard has professed an interest in the Hungerford massacre and other "pointless crimes" such as that in Dunblane and the murder of Jill Dando.

Sulk, the penultimate track on Radiohead's album The Bends, was written as a response to the massacre.[11]

Chris Bowsher, founder member of the band Radical Dance Faction, was a witness to the events and wrote Hungerford Poem which appears on the band's early album Hot On The Wire.

Spoof Welsh rap group Goldie Lookin' Chain mentioned the killer in their song Guns Don't Kill People, Rappers Do, a satire on the supposed links between gangsta rap and gun crime as reported in the press: 'Like Michael Ryan, about to snap, guns don't kill people, it's just rap'

[edit] Quotations

"The realisation that this could happen in fun-loving England, where we don't have guns and the police aren't armed... it changed policing and it changed society for ever.[12]" - Then Thames Valley Police Chief Constable, Charles Pollard.

[edit] References

  1. ^ - Parry, Gareth. "Gunman in combat gear kills himself after 14 die in shooting spree", The Guardian, 20 Aug 1987.
  2. ^ - Grice, Elizabeth. "Ryan shot at me, then at my mother", The Telegraph, 7 Dec 2004.
  3. ^ - Ibid.
  4. ^ - Parry, Gareth et al.
  5. ^ - Parry, Gareth et al.
  6. ^ - Courtroom Television Network (2005). Michael Ryan - The Hungerford UK Mass Murderer. Retrieved October 28, 2005.
  7. ^ - Errol Mason (1993). "Critical Factors In Firearms Control". Australian Institute of Criminology, 209.
  8. ^ - Grice, Elizabeth.
  9. ^ - David Clarke (Jan 1, 2001). Pro-Social and Anti-Social Behaviour, p176. Google Print. ISBN 0-415-22760-7 (accessed October 28, 2005). Also available in print from Routledge (UK).
  10. ^ - Cultural Studies, edited by Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson, Paula Treichler (1991), p220. Google Print. ISBN 0-415-90345-9 (accessed October 28, 2005). Also available in print from Routledge (UK).
  11. ^ - Mac Randall (Sep 1, 2004). Exit Music: The Radiohead Story, 119. Google Print. ISBN 1-84449-183-8 (accessed October 28, 2005). Also available in print from Omnibus Press.
  12. ^ - Grice, Elizabeth.

[edit] External links

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