The Jacksons remember him as being a model-railway enthusiast and "a lovely man who would help you with anything". 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. "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'. The help will come from within the community'. "There was a picture of my dad, dead in a car with a blanket over him. We were good friends," he says. What happened in the woods is the clue to why the shootings happened, Prof Jackson believes. He even persuaded the police to grant him a licence to own more powerful firearms. He expressed sorrow over shooting his mother and his dog, and then said: "Hungerford must be a bit of a mess. There was a terrible burning pain. Michael Ryan murdered 16 people before turning the gun on himself. Mrs Jackson can remember Mrs Ryan telling her about a mysterious "friend" Michael had made. It was one of the worst mass shootings in British history. ", Several of Derek and Mary Whiting's relatives were shot. Seven minutes after saying this, at 18:52, he shot himself in the head. Back at the police station, PC Wainwright was told his mother had been taken to hospital in Swindon. Mrs Godfrey was killed at about 12:30 BST and Mrs Dean was shot at just five minutes later at the petrol station. Meanwhile, a police officer had noticed Godfreys empty car with open doors and had gone to investigate. He left his shotguns in his broken-down car, grabbed a pistol and two automatic rifles and almost immediately shot dead Roland and Sheila Mason, who were in their garden at the back of 6 South View. Witnesses report that at this point, Ryan seemed disgusted with the rifle and threw it onto the ground. Whenever they asked me where it all happened I'd say it was down the A4. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited the village on Thursday, August 20, 1987, the day after the shooting, to pay her condolences. The manager later reported that Ryan spent a lot of time at the club and that he was a very good shot, showing consistent accuracy over large distances. Ryan looked in through the kitchen window and pointed his gun at her. "He was dead after all. "And I hear the arguments of the gun lobby, who want to preserve the right to bear arms, and I think: 'You should come here and see what guns did to Hungerford. While the physical injuries from that fateful day have long since healed, the emotional scars in Hungerford still run deep. He pulled the wheeled stretcher with him and managed to load both Mr and Mrs Jackson and Lisa Mildenhall into the ambulance. Hungerford. Kahn died later of his wounds. 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. It later transpired that he had shot the family dog, a black Labrador. "The station was locked, so I let myself in with a key. The local police station had only two working phone lines that day and the police helicopter was being repaired, delaying its deployment. "It hit at the heart of my professionalism, of everything I'd ever done for the town. Whether Mrs Ryan truly believed her son's imaginings is impossible to tell. Lisa Mildenhall, 14, was shot and wounded by Ryan, who had smiled at her whilst she crouched on the ground at her front door, and then shot her four times in the legs and stomach. Mrs Jackson had known Ryan all of his life. 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. His face, she says, was expressionless. He tried pulling the trigger twice more, but both times the rifle failed to fire. Saturday marks 30 years since Michael Ryan killed 16 people in Hungerford. He was still labouring under the impression that there might have been a shooting accident. "He used to wear camouflage gear, that sort of thing. He took the firearms, packed the pockets of his flak jacket with ammunition and marched off down the road. The Hungerford Report The British Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, travelled to Hungerford on Sunday, 23 August 1987. It started with an assumed attempted sexual assault, but Ryan went on to kill many close acquaintances in his hometown. "Theres no two ways about it. Having failed to kill Dean, Ryan quickly returned to his car and drove off towards Hungerford. Although many neighbours described Mr Ryan as a pleasant man, there were rumours he was especially strict with his son. "There were no big wounds at the back of Lisa's legs. The other three ducked down on the floor but Ryan fired at Lisa. He was shooting at me. As he approached a playground near Bulpit Lane he shot and killed dog walker Francis Butler. 1 - Roland Mason The dust was flying up from the ground around my feet as the bullets hit. There was a police guard on the front door so he had sneaked through the garden and into the house through the back door. The man, Douglas Wainwright, hit twice in the chest and once in the head, died instantly but his wounded wife, Kathleen Wainwright survived. It was following Alfred's death in 1985 that Mrs Ryan began appearing at work with visible bruises, Mrs Jackson says. It is thought he might not have heard the commotion. He then asked the time and was silent for a while. document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) The woman did not believe them at first but agreed to help them find her. By this stage, the press had heard of the killing spree and arrived in the area, taking photographs of the dead and wounded, and unethically gaining access to some of the victims houses, by saying they were crime scene personnel. It was calculated that during the most intense period of Ryans rampage, he had killed an average of one person per minute. Having chased the spaniel away, Ryan returned. He liked to think of himself as a soldier, skilled at surveillance without being seen himself. She had been to check on the building, which was just the other side of the street from her South View home, and was returning to her house for lunch when a springer spaniel ran past. Police during the investigation in August 1987, Killer Michael Robert Ryan murdered several people while they were driving, The remains of Michael Ryan's house in South View, after he set fire to it. The Hungerford massacre occurred in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, on August 19, 1987. AETNUK All Rights Reserved. Just after midday, on 19 August 1987, the 27-year-old unemployed Ryan entered a secluded area of Savernake Forest. His father, Alfred Henry Ryan, a government building inspector, was known for being a perfectionist and was 55 when Ryan was born.His mother, Dorothy Ryan, was over 20 years younger than her husband and was 34 when she had her only son. 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. She was still wearing it, soaked now with Lisa Mildenhall's blood, when she was finally allowed back home. Gunshots were often heard from Hungerford Common, at one end of South View. 11 - Eric Vardy The letter, complete with golden tassel, is still in its recorded delivery envelope and is kept in a basket in the Jacksons' kitchen. In the neighbouring forest he found Godfreys body, about 250 feet from her car. An only child, Michael Robert Ryan was born on 18 May 1960 in the Savernake hospital, Hungerford. The mother-of-four, 38, from Kent . They had heard the sounds of the shots being fired and were terrified. But this did actually ring true. John O'Gaunt School in Hungerford, Berkshire, where Michael Robert Ryan committed suicide following the Hungerford Massacre, 8th September 1987. If this was his plan, it fell to pieces when his car would not restart. Ian Playle, the last victim to be fatally shot, had in fact been warned of the danger in South View by police. At 6.45 pm he said, Its funny, I killed all those people but I havent got the guts to blow my own brains out. Her Majesty the Queens private secretary sent a letter of condolence from Buckingham Palace to Mayor Tarry and enclosed a personal contribution from the Queen. Not able to stand by and idly watch people suffer, he had repeatedly risked his life to help a number of victims, giving first aid where he could and solace to those having lost loved ones. Prof Jackson says it was at this point Ryan changed his plans. "Writing the letter did me good, but I don't think it would have helped the people of Dunblane.". The event became known as the Hungerford massacre. Here he shot her 13 times, dropped the groundsheet and returned to parking area. "In fact, I first thought it was another lad who lived there. At 6.52 pm, Brightwell heard a single muffled shot from the classroom. 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). Shortly after Ms Haslett escaped South View, her colleague Derek Whiting arrived in a second ambulance, completely unaware that a gunman was at large. "Dorothy came past me, and she looked into the car and I remember it as clear as day. Prof Jackson also considers Ryan was heavily influenced by a mass shooting occurring 10 days earlier in Melbourne, Australia, that was reported on television in the UK. Slaughter on a warm summer's day: The Hungerford Massacre. I could see her hip bone.". Michael Ryan was just so, so insignificant. 15 - Ian Playle, Susan Godfrey was shot and killed in Savernake Forest. It was a police vehicle which had its blue lights flashing. I happened to mention that a chap that worked with my wife was injured during the shootings, to which he suggested that it was a good job that the SAS finished him off when they did. Policemen. As Mr Playle rounded a bend in Priory Street, Ryan fired a single shot. Say the name Hungerford and most people will associate the town with the events of Wednesday, 19 August, 1987. The fact was that they were prevented from entering the danger zone, for fear of being shot themselves. His father, Alfred Henry Ryan, a government building inspector, was known for being a perfectionist and was 55 when Ryan was born.His mother, Dorothy Ryan, was over 20 years younger than her husband and was 34 when she had her only son. "My daughter arranged it. Shortly after midday, Michael Ryan had approached Susan Godfrey, who was picnicking in nearby Savernake Forest. She seemed more concerned about her trousers than her wounds. "After what happened, lots of people split up," says Ivor Jackson. "It hasn't got any easier. By now, the name of the gunman was circulating. Alfred Ryan, Michael's father, had become a parent in his mid-50s and was about 20 years older than Dorothy. Alan Lepetit, Mrs Whiting's brother, was a neighbour of Ryan's, living in South View. He had what appeared to be a normal upbringing, although he was perhaps overindulged by his mother. It was during this time that he lost his caretaker job. Ryan spotted another shocked neighbour, Marjorie Jackson, peering through the window at the dead bodies and shot her as well. As the brothers were cleaning up, a reporter burst in. Further delays were caused by the firearms squad being in training about 40 miles away. He uses it against the people he has grown up with and against the unarmed police that are called. Someone had shot at the cashier, Kakoub Dean. Storms survived the shooting. Similarly the Whitings, for years, simply drew their curtains and refused to answer the door. The teenager was still standing up when Mrs Pascoe arrived to help her. Dorothy Ryan tried to reason with her son. On 19 August 1987, gunman Michael Ryan went on the rampage in the small town of Hungerford. The gunman was reloading his weapon and Mrs Wainwright thought he would shoot at her again. Armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and at least one. Their inability to defend themselves against their bullies means that shame, guilt, anger, hate and the need for revenge builds inside them. The town had long been a tourist destination. Brightwell immediately informed his superior and Hungerford was declared safe for the waiting ambulances and fire engines to move in to the former danger zone. Two days later, Mr Playle died from his injuries. He then shot her in the back with a Beretta pistol. Flowers began arriving at the town hall, where the flag flew at half-mast. But we've stuck by each other.". 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. Whilst chatting to a work colleague, the subject of Michael Ryan and the 1987 Hungerford massacre came up. Both died instantly. Its occupants, Linda Chapman and her daughter, Alison Chapman, whilst wounded, both survived. George Noon, 67, was standing in the garden of his sons house, 109 Priory Road, when Ryan shot him in the shoulder and the eye, but he survived. Police in action during a Gun siege in Hungerford, Berkshire. They lived a few doors from each other and their families were friends. Adding to the sound of gunfire in the area was the fact that the Thames Valley firearms squad were in training, about 40 miles away. The result was police were often up to 40 minutes behind his movements. Michael Ryan : The Hungerford Massacre. What she found was houses on fire, people lying dead in their gardens and smashed cars lining the street. With blood running down his face, he could only watch through half-closed eyes as Dorothy Ryan, Michaels mother, arrived home from the Wednesday market. Ryan broke into the Gibbs' house on Priory Road. "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. He's dead. Still shooting, Ryan then walked to the end of the road, went along a footpath and made his way across some playing fields. It was Jane, PC Wainwright's then-wife. 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. Dorothy then saw her son with a gun in his hand and called to him, saying, Stop Michael. Then the nurse came back. Ryan had holed himself up in a second-floor classroom and was shooting through the window at both police and press helicopters. As smoke filled the air from Ryans burning house, more people were hiding inside their homes. Their younger son Trevor, who had been 18 in 1987, is being treated for PTSD while his older brother Peter, who was in the same year as Ryan at school, refuses to talk about that day. His victims included his own mother and police officer Roger Brereton - who was later posthumously awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct. The incident prompted the government to change gun laws, banning semi-automatic and pump-action rifles. The Victims - 19 August 1987: Susan Godfrey, 35 shot and died, Kakoub Dean shot at (missed, then firearm malfunctioned), Police Constable Roger Brereton shot and died, Hazel Haslett windscreen shot, injured by glass and survived, Kathleen Wainwright, 62 shot and survived, Man from 62 Priory Road shot and survived, Woman from 71 Priory Road shot and survived. The Hungerford Massacre on August 19, 1987, saw 16 people killed in a rampage by gunman Michael Ryan. 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. 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