PARENTS whose children died in Dunblane have condemned the publication on the 10th anniversary of the killings of a book funded by pro-gun campaigners that challenges the firearms ban introduced in the wake of the tragedy.

The book, Dunblane Unburied, has been written by Sandra Uttley, the former partner of Dr Mick North, an anti-gun campaigner whose five-year-old daughter, Sophie, was killed in the massacre.

It has been funded by the Sportsman’s Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is campaigning for a repeal of the 1997 Firearms (Amendments) Act, which banned ownership of handguns.

The association is part of the British Shooting Sports Council, which has official links with the National Rifle Association in America, whose most famous member is the film legend Charlton Heston.

The book includes allegations of a cover-up involving senior police officers and legal figures about their links with Thomas Hamilton, the gunman who shot dead 16 pupils and a teacher before killing himself on March 13, 1996, at Dunblane primary school.

It claims Lord Cullen, who conducted the inquiry into the massacre, was deliberately denied access to more than the 1,000 witness statements and concludes that the handgun ban was unnecessary.

Uttley, who lived in Dunblane for 20 years, said the aim of her book was to set the record straight about the protection she believes Hamilton received from official sources. “The parents wouldn’t help, so I went to the next biggest aggrieved group — shooters,” she said.

“It has always been my aim to get the truth. The handgun ban was to be the great legacy of this horrendous mass murder and, as a former Dunblane resident, I supported the Snowdrop petition to do away with guns.

“However, the more involved I became in the background surrounding the massacre, the more I realised that the gun ban was beside the point. Hamilton could have been stopped. The legislation in 1996 was strong enough. It was corruption that gave him guns.

“Going to the shooters was difficult, but I have no problems with my conscience.”

Her decision to accept money from a shooting group has provoked anger and outrage among residents in Dunblane. “I am appalled. This is in extreme bad taste,”said Charlie Clydesdale, whose five-year-old daughter, Victoria, was killed.

“I have, in the past, been written to by Ms Uttley and, while I thought her wrong in her contention that there was a cover-up, I accepted it was her legitimately held point of view.

“But to learn that she used money from people who promote guns appals me. And the timing of publication could not be worse. Does she not realise that, at this time, we are all extremely sensitive?” Ann Dickson, a local councillor, said: “I am horrified that she is using such a group to pay for a book about the massacre of children by a gunman. I know she has issues with the public inquiry.

“But, given she was the partner of Mick North and had a first-hand involvement in the tragedy, I am appalled. I cannot believe someone who was so linked to the tragedy should think that banning handguns was “beside the point”.

“I don’t think the parents of the lost children will welcome the sentiment.”

Joe Kelly, chairman of the Sportsman’s Association, said the group provided £1,000 to Uttley for an initial print-run of 200 copies with the promise of more cash in the future. “We believe there was a grave injustice and our primary concern in offering support and financial assistance is to get at the truth,” he said.

“Shooters were victims of lynch law, condemned as nutters. A ban on guns would not have stopped Hamilton. Police raised questions about his guns as far back as 1991 and it was the opinion of some officers he should not have them. We would like to see the restoration of fair and effective laws.

“Armed criminals did not get weapons from gun clubs. Registered gun owners in this country had an exemplary record.”

Central Scotland Police and the Crown Office refused to comment.

Last week Eileen Harrid, a PE teacher at the school who was shot four times by Hamilton, said she still feels guilty for surviving the massacre.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the tragedy, she said: “It was literally a lottery of who lived and who died, an absolute lottery.

“It’s something I have spent a lot of time thinking about. Why did I live and others didn’t?

“Dunblane has moved on but we will never forget those beautiful children and the evil that visited us.”

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