"I assumed it had been some sort of accident with glass and that Lisa had been cut," she says. It later transpired that he had shot the family dog, a black Labrador. I couldnt move my legs. "It hasn't got any easier. There was a police guard on the front door so he had sneaked through the garden and into the house through the back door. "He used to wear camouflage gear, that sort of thing. "I just broke down in tears," Mr Wainwright says. Pathologists determined she was killed by the first three bullets. I saw Robert Clements hed been walking the dog with his dad, Ken, and just witnessed him shot dead in South View. It was his gun cupboard. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited the village on Thursday, August 20, 1987, the day after the shooting, to pay her condolences. Their pictures were a grim account of the trail of destruction and death that Ryan had left in his wake. People were frantic to get to their families to see if they were safe and unharmed. Michael Ryan : The Hungerford Massacre. On that day, 27-year-old Michael Ryan shot dead sixteen people, including an unarmed police officer and his own mother. Ms Haslett reversed rapidly and she and her partner escaped with only minor injuries. He is still haunted, he says, by the photograph of his father dead in his car. Despite the police helicopter hovering above him and telling him to lay down his weapons, Ryan merely walked away. At 17:25, Ryan threw a semi-automatic rifle from the classroom window. It was a police vehicle which had its blue lights flashing. '", Chief Inspector Laurie Fray and PC Colin Lilley hold Ryan's murder weapons. "At the hospital, where my mum was, everyone who'd been shot had been put into the same ward. Ambulance-woman Hazel Haslett was injured in the arm and the leg by broken glass. Ryan, who was heavily armed, forced 33-year-old Susan Godfrey, who was on a picnic with her children, to put them in her car and 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. Similarly the Whitings, for years, simply drew their curtains and refused to answer the door. She said: 'Oh no Ivor, not you.'". The wheelchair-bound Myrtle was totally vulnerable and Victor threw himself across her to protect her from the crazed gunman. He explained who he was and his experience, and offered sympathy. The Hungerford Family Help Unit was hastily established in makeshift offices, co-ordinated by John Smith, to help a community suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 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. Having murdered Mrs Godfrey, Ryan headed back to Hungerford in his Vauxhall Astra GTE, stopping at Froxfield filling station. "My brother and sister-in-law were on the list.". Mark Howe murdered his mother Katrina Wardle in a brutal knife attack. "I turned to move away and he shot me. Whilst chatting to a work colleague, the subject of Michael Ryan and the 1987 Hungerford massacre came up. "They couldnt cope. After some time, young Hannah unbuckled their seatbelts, so they could go in search of their mother. Dorothy then saw her son with a gun in his hand and called to him, saying, Stop Michael. Harries later received the Queens Commendation for Brave Conduct. They'll do what we did. Bernard was the tenth fatality on that bloody Wednesday. Press intrusion is something the Jacksons continue to feel very strongly about. Lance Corporal Carl Harries, 21, a young off-duty soldier and veteran of the Falklands War, was on his way into town, to pick up a radiator hose, when he walked into the midst of the massacre. "She was dead on the ground, on her front just by the drive of our house. The result was police were often up to 40 minutes behind his movements. People came to buy goods, eat in the restaurants and stay at the inns. In contrast, Dorothy Ryans funeral service, held at St Marys Church in Calne, Wiltshire, was only attended by 40 mourners. In his right hand, tied to his wrist with a bootlace, was his Beretta pistol. John O'Gaunt School in Hungerford, Berkshire, where Michael Robert Ryan committed suicide following the Hungerford Massacre, 8th September 1987. News crews at John O'Gaunt School in Hungerford, Berkshire, where Michael Robert Ryan committed suicide following the Hungerford Massacre. The Round Table helped by providing funds for taxis, rents, television rentals and other services. "If he did have a sexual crime in mind, then that would have been about control too.". However, the jovial atmosphere was soon to be shattered and peoples lives changed forever.Savernake Forest, a popular recreational area seven miles from Hungerford, was a favourite haunt of Ryans, where he would spend great deals of time pretending to be on army manoeuvres. He used his semi-automatic rifle to strafe the front door and open it. Either way, he turned away. 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An elderly neighbour, Dorothy Smith, 77 years old and deaf in one ear, had come out into the street to see what all the noise was about. He pulled the wheeled stretcher with him and managed to load both Mr and Mrs Jackson and Lisa Mildenhall into the ambulance. He tried pulling the trigger twice more, but both times the rifle failed to fire. Witnesses report that at this point, Ryan seemed disgusted with the rifle and threw it onto the ground. 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. 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. Armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and at least one. Meanwhile, police were busy getting some people to safety and preventing others from going where they thought Ryan might move to next. Prof Jackson's colleague at Birmingham City University, Dr Elizabeth Yardley, has a different theory. Then Ryan had shot and killed Abdul Khan, a hard-of-hearing 84-year-old who was gardening. She was a respected and popular member of the community and used to work as a dinner lady at the Hungerford Primary School before becoming a part-time waitress at the Elcot Park Hotel, where she worked for 12 years, until her death.Ryan grew up in South View, Hungerford and relatives remembered him as a quiet, mostly sullen and quite self-centred boy. 1 - Roland Mason Mr Whiting did not understand. Ryan walked past a young boy, Dean Lavisher, without seeming to notice him, but fired at another boy riding past on his bicycle, Dean Cadle, thankfully missing him. Angrily, Ryan climbed out of the car and shot five bullets into the boot. At about 02:00 she looked out of the window and saw the bodies from South View being collected and driven away. I couldn't walk. He chased me all the way. ", Trevor Wainwright still lives in Hungerford. ", Kathleen Wainwright later moved to Hungerford to be near her son. Stop it, you stupid bugger!. "They were looking for bullet holes and spent shell cases to collect. Read more: Amazing archive photos show the changing face of Reading in the 1960s, Read more: Caversham Park Village from the air 50 years ago. George White and PC Roger Brereton were in their cars when they were shot. The dust was flying up from the ground around my feet as the bullets hit. 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. Armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and at least one. Flowers began arriving at the town hall, where the flag flew at half-mast. It was confirmed that Michael Robert Ryan had fatally shot himself at 6.52 pm on Wednesday, 19 August 1987, with a single gunshot to the head. 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