Thursday, March 22, 2012

Ryan Liddell : #Dunblane Survivor Receives Life Sentence For OAP Sex Attack

 



A survivor of the Dunblane massacre was given a life sentence  yesterday for a violent sex attack on a grandmother in her own home.

A judge told Ryan Liddell, 21, that he had ruined the life of his 76-year-old victim – who has been unable to live alone since.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Uist ordered Liddell to serve at least six years before being able to apply for parole – and told him he would only be released when he no longer posed a threat to the public.

Ryan Liddell will then remain under supervision for the rest of his life. His name has also been added to the Sex Offenders Register
Ryan Liddell will remain under supervision for the rest of his life. His name has also been added to the Sex Offenders Register
Liddell, of Stirling, will then remain under supervision for the rest of his life.
His name has also been added to the Sex Offenders Register.
The sentence followed evidence from consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Rahan Darjee, a leading  expert on dealing with sex offenders.
He told the court that the Dunblane shootings in March 1996, which left 16 Primary One school pupils and teacher Gwen Mayor dead at the hands of gunman Thomas Hamilton, had played no part in shaping Liddell’s personality.

Liddell was shot in the arm and chest – one of 12 pupils and two teachers who were wounded but survived.

Ryan Liddell will then remain under supervision for the rest of his life. His name has also been added to the Sex Offenders Register
Ryan Liddell with teacher Gwen Mayor, murdered by Thomas Hamilton in the 1996 attack

At an earlier hearing, defence QC Jamie Gilchrist had said Liddell would not try to use the tragedy as an excuse.

A jury had then found him guilty of assaulting the grandmother  with intent to rape her and putting her life in danger.

Sentencing him yesterday, Lord Uist recalled the details of the horrific attack on the devout church-goer in July 2010.

He said Liddell – aged 19 at the time – had pretended to be her carer, pushed her to the floor and kicked her as she lay helpless.

She suffered an eye injury, bruises and a serious fracture of her shoulder which required surgery.

A police officer stands outside Dunblane Primary School following the shooting in March 1996
A police officer stands outside Dunblane Primary School following the shooting in March 1996
Liddell then lifted his victim, clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her screaming for help, told her he wanted sex and stripped off her clothes.
The judge added: ‘She has been mentally affected by the ordeal to which you subjected her.

‘She has been in hospital or a nursing home since the attack and is no longer able to live independently.

‘In effect, you ruined the rest of her life by what you did to her.

‘It is shocking that a young  man such as you could have  committed such a terrible crime on a vulnerable and elderly lady by subjecting her to such violence in her own home in the middle of the night.’

Lord Uist said it was impossible to forget the condition Liddell’s victim was in when she was interviewed by police in her hospital bed – film shown to the jury  during the trial last June.

Liddell has always insisted that the grandmother’s injuries were accidental and that there was no sexual motive.

But Lord Uist told him the jury had rejected his story and his denials showed a lack of remorse. The crime, he said, together with the evidence from Dr Darjee regarding Liddell’s personality problems, showed he could be a danger to the public and justified a form of life sentence known  as an Order for Lifelong Restriction.

The court heard that Liddell, a former short order cook, was an awkward loner, shy among girls of his own age and given to drinking heavily and wandering around at night.

On a previous occasion, he had broken into the house of an elderly man and climbed into his bed, but simply gone to sleep.

On another occasion, he had taken a girl back to her home when she was also drunk, but had not harmed her.

In the incident for which he was jailed, Liddell took advantage of an open door to sneak into the house of the 76-year-old retired nurse and attack her.
He had earlier been drinking vodka and beer with other youths in woods near Dunblane High School.

The court heard that Liddell was angry because a girl he liked had formed a relationship with one of his friends.

The drunken youth began prowling the streets and ended up at his victim’s door.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2118387/Dunblane-survivor-given-life-sentence-OAP-sex-attack-Victim-76-assaulted-home.html#ixzz1ppyRumge

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Dunblane Shootings And Gunlaw

On the 13th. March 1996, Thomas Hamilton (43) walked into Dunblane Primary School armed with 4 legally held weapons. In the space of 3 minutes he shot 3 staff and 28 pupils. Of these 1 staff member died and 16 children were killed.

For parents, police, Government ministers and the gun lobby the question is whether the private ownership of handguns should be banned. A variety of views are held.

THE PARENTS VIEW :
Michael North, whose daughter Sophie was killed at Dunblane, wrote the following comments in the Sunday Times [13.10.96]

"It is time to turn the tide against gun culture. Hand-guns were designed for one purpose only -to kill. They weren't banned after Hungerford because of the pressure of the gun lobby. Public safety was sacrificed to preserve a privilege for a minority who have had a disproportionate influence on our law-makers. Campaigning for a total ban on hand-guns will ensure that this country becomes a safer place."
THE POLICE VIEW :
Tough action on guns is urged by the Association of Chief Police Officers, which supports banning people from owning hand-guns other than .22 single-shot weapons.


THE GOVERNMENT VIEW :
John Major was deeply affected by his visit to the scene of the ~Dunblane shootings.
Michael Forsyth, the Scottish Secretary (whose constituency includes Dunblane), argues for a ban on privately owned hand-guns except .22 single-shot sporting pistols.
Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, noted the difficulties of imposing restrictions ( compare this with the similar problem of combat knives).
THE GUN LOBBY :
The powerful gun lobby have argued that the Dunblane and Hungerford incidents are isolated incidents; that a ban would not stop a psychopath from acquiring a weapon. Equally, a ban would deprives 100's of thousands of the pleasure of shooting. The gun lobby argue that there is a lack of evidence to show that licensed weapons are used in violent crimes.


FIGURES :
1994 - 1996 = 196 MURDERS AND MANSLAUGHTERS IN BRITAIN.
Nearly 50 % of domestic killings were with legally held weapons.
Nearly 20 % of homicidal killings were with legally held weapons.



http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/dunblane.html

Dunblane : The Cullen Report Disregards...


* off-duty police officer Grant McCutcheon, who unwittingly appeared at the crime scene while taking his children to the school, he was the only police officer to see Thomas Hamilton dying. In his statement (not submitted to the Inquiry) he says he saw two pistols beside Thomas Hamilton (the official report says there were two pistols plus two revolvers and that Thomas Hamilton shot himself with a revolver).

* Jamie Cook, the pupil whom Hamilton repeatedly asked about directions to the Assembly Hall and to confirm that assembly begins at 9.30 (which on this day it didn't - the pupils went to the gym instead);

* David Scott, the student teacher who supposedly witnessed Thomas Hamilton's act of suicide but, despite his enormous significance, did not appear before the Inquiry and bizarrely is not even named in the official report (every other significant staff member at the scene is named; this one however is only identified anonymously as "a student teacher");

* the unidentified man who drove off after talking to Thomas Hamilton outside his house between 8.00 and 8.40 a.m.; or the neighbour Cathleen Boswell Kerr who witnessed this;

* Acting Detective Constable Graham Capes, who supposedly saw Thomas Hamilton's van setting off half an hour earlier than the official version and taking a road which leads to Bannockburn, not Dunblane.

* Ambulancewoman Alison Irvine, who arrived at 9.57 to see no uniformed police officers or marked cars at the school (moreover, the official report states the exact time of almost every event except the arrival of the police).

* DCS John Ogg, who states emphatically that headmaster Ron Taylor called the police on their non-emergency Stirling number at 9.41 (the report states he made an emergency call to the police at 9.41; Ron Taylor himself states emphatically that he dialled 999);

* Neighbours Grace and Jim Ogilvie, who saw regular visitors at Thomas Hamilton's house right up to his last days (while no witness at the Inquiry admitted visiting him during the last months of his life);

 

Dunblane Secret Documents Contain Letters by Tory and Labour Ministers


Neil Mackay - The Sunday Herald, News, 2 March 2003

LETTERS between Labour and Tory ministers and correspondence relating to Thomas Hamilton's alleged involvement with Freemasonry are part of a batch of more than 100 documents about the Dunblane mass murder which have been sealed from public sight for 100 years.

The documents include a letter connected to Hamilton, which was sent by George Robertson, currently head of Nato, to Michael Forsyth, who was then Secretary of State for Scotland.

Until now it was thought that a 100-year public secrecy order had only been placed on one police report into Hamilton which allegedly named high-profile politicians and legal figures. However, a Sunday Herald investigation has uncovered that 106 documents, which were submitted to the Dunblane inquiry in 1996, were also placed under the 100-year rule.The Scottish Executive has claimed the 100-year secrecy order was placed on the Central Police report, which was drafted in 1991 five years before the murders, to protect the identities of children named in the report. Hamilton had allegedly abused a number of children prior to his 1996 gun attack on Dunblane primary school in which 16 primary one children and a teacher died before Hamilton turned his gun on himself.

However, only a handful of the documents, which the Sunday Herald has discovered to be also subject to the 100-year rule, relate to children or name alleged abuse victims.

The most intriguing document is listed as: 'Copy of letter from Thomas Hamilton to Dunblane parents regarding boys' club, and flyer advertising Dunblane Boys' Sports Club. Both sent to Rt Hon Michael Forsyth, MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, by George Robertson MP.' Also closed under the 100-year rule is a 'submission to Lord James Douglas Hamilton, MP, Minister of State at the Scottish Office, concerning government evidence to the Inquiry'.

Another document relates to correspondence between the clerk of the Dunblane inquiry, which was presided over by Lord Cullen, and a member of the public regarding 'possible affiliations of Thomas Hamilton with Freemasonry ... and copy letters from Thomas Hamilton'.

SNP deputy justice minister, Michael Matheson, said: 'The explanation to date about the 100 -year rule was that it was put in place to protect the interests of children named in the Central Police report. How can that explanation stand when children aren't named? The 100-year rule needs to be re-examined with respect to all documents.'

Matheson has written to the Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, asking why the 100-year rule applies and how it can be revoked. He has so far had no response. He also asked First Minister Jack McConnell to explain the reasons for the 100-year order but received 'no substantial answer'. Matheson is to write to Colin Boyd a second time, in the light of the discovery that more than 100 other documents are also sealed, asking him to account for the decision.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Office said: 'In consultation with the Crown Office and the Scottish Office, Lord Cullen agreed that in line with the age of some of the individuals involved and named in the inquiry, the closure period would be 100 years. The Lord Advocate is considering issuing a redacted copy of the productions, which would blank out identifying details of children and their families. A decision on this has yet to be made.'


 Other sealed key reports on Dunblane include: 

· A 'comparative analysis of Thomas Hamilton' by Central Scotland Police
· Information about Hamilton's 'use and possession of firearms'
· Pathology reports, Hamilton's autopsy report, and analysis by Glasgow University's forensic science lab on blood, urine and liver samples from Hamilton's body
· Details on firearms licensing policies
· A review by Alfred Vannet, regional procurator fiscal of Grampian, Highland and Islands, of 'reports and information in respect of Thomas Hamilton submitted to the procurator fiscals of Dumbarton and Stirling by Strathclyde Police and Central Police'
· A psychological report on Hamilton
· Guidance from the British Medical Association on granting firearms licences
· 'Transcript of and correspondence relating to answering-machine tape which accidentally recorded conversation between police officers at the scene of the Dunblane incident'
· Correspondence and witness statements 'relating to allegations of sexual abuse made against Hamilton'

See Blair's Protection of Elite Paedophile Rings Spells the End For His Career 


 

http://www.whale.to/b/dun3.html

Dunblane : A Documentary - Remembering The Children

Dunblane :THE CASE FOR A NEW PUBLIC INQUIRY