This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Dunblane police reports released
18/03/2003
Police reports relating to Thomas Hamilton and the shooting
of 16 children and their teacher at Dunblane Primary School on
March 13, 1996, are to be made public.
Lord Advocate Colin Boyd QC announced that every report
submitted to the Procurator Fiscal would be made available in a
form which removes personal references so that no child or
witness could be identfied.
The redacted copies of the reports will be available from
the
National Archives of
Scotland from today but there are no online versions.
Other key points include:
- Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes' internal memo
about Thomas Hamilton's firearms certificate was read out
in full to the Dunblane Inquiry and can be found in full in
the transcript of the Inquiry.
- none of the reports contains allegations against
politicians or other prominent figures
- disclosure of reports of this nature is not to be
interpreted as undermining the presumption, supported by
the Scottish courts, that police reports are
confidential
In response to a Parliamentary Question, the Lord Advocate
said:
"In light of recent public concern expressed about the 100
year closure period all police reports submitted to the
Procurator Fiscal in relation to Thomas Hamilton have been
reviewed. I have considered whether or not it would be
appropriate at this stage to make such reports available for
public inspection.
"Given the sensitive nature of much of the material which
might cause anguish to those involved, my prime concern in
considering this request has been to ensure that the privacy of
those children referred to in the report should be
maintained.
"In the exceptional circumstances of this case I have
decided that the public interest would be best served by making
arrangements to have the reports dated August 30, 1988,
September 1991, July 3, 1992, and June 9, 1993, and associated
witness statements, made available in a form which removes
personal data and ensures that there is no prospect of any of
the children or witnesses being identified.
"Accordingly photocopies with such information redacted will
be placed in the released record, while the originals remain
closed to be reviewed and released at a later date.
Arrangements will be made to lodge these at the National
Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, where members of the public
can gain access to them in the normal manner".
Parliamentary question
Tom McCabe (Hamilton South Lab):
To ask the Lord Advocate what decision has been taken in
relation to the release of DS Paul Hughes report to the
Procurator Fiscal at Stirling in 1991 about Thomas
Hamilton.
Lord Advocate:
Following the shooting of 16 schoolchildren and their
teacher, and the suicide of Thomas Hamilton, on 13 March 1996
at Dunblane Primary School, the then Secretary of State for
Scotland established an Inquiry under the Tribunals of Inquiry
(Evidence) Act 1921.
The Inquiry was chaired by Lord Cullen and the remit was to
inquire into the circumstances leading up to and surrounding
the events at Dunblane Primary School on Wednesday 13 March
1996, and to consider the issues arising therefrom. The Inquiry
sat for 26 days, between 29 May and 10 July 1996 and the whole
proceedings were held in public and recorded by shorthand
writers. The
report of the inquiry and the
transcript of the evidence is available on the
Internet.
In the course of the Inquiry a large number of documents
were lodged with the Clerk to the Inquiry and copies of all
productions were given to those represented at the Inquiry,
including those representing the parents of the dead and
injured. All of these productions were available for reference
in the course of the Inquiry and any issue arising from those
documents could have been raised during the proceedings.
In January 1997 there was a meeting between the Clerk to the
Inquiry, and representatives of the Scottish Record Office and
the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Following that
meeting it was agreed that copies of all the productions in the
Inquiry should be lodged with the Scottish Record Office (now
the National Archives of Scotland). It was also agreed that
there should be a closure period of 100 years, because many of
the productions referred to people who were children at the
time. It was further agreed that these productions could be
accessed with the consent of the Crown by those showing a
legitimate interest. Lord Cullen was consulted and indicated
that he was content with what had been agreed.
There is no statutory basis for the closure of records
created by Scottish public bodies. The Public Records
(Scotland) Act 1937 (the 1937 Act) makes provision for the
preservation, care and custody of the public records of
Scotland. The terms of the legislation are permissive.
By contrast, in England and Wales the Public Records Act
1958 (as amended by the Public Records Act 1967) sets a
statutory "closure period" of 30 years after which records
must, with limited exceptions, be made available to the public.
The 1937 Act does not impose similar obligations on Executive
departments, but in practice those procedures are followed in
Scotland.
The criteria for closures longer than 30 years were defined
in the 1993 White Paper on Open Government (CMD2290), in
accordance with which it is for the department responsible for
depositing the material to decide on the closure period. In
Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland cannot vary this
closure period and cannot produce "closed records" to the
public without the permission of the depositing department.
The White Paper sets out a clear statement of principle as
to what information should be made available and what ought
properly to be kept confidential in the public interest.
Documents containing information about individuals, whose
disclosure would cause either substantial distress, or
endangerment from a third party to persons affected by
disclosure or their descendants can be subject to a variable
closure period of between 40 and 100 years.
When the productions for the Inquiry were lodged with the
Scottish Record Office no effort was made to distinguish
between productions making references to children and other
productions because of the sheer volume of the material.
In light of recent public concern expressed about the 100
year closure period all police reports submitted to the
Procurator Fiscal in relation to Thomas Hamilton have been
reviewed. I have considered whether or not it would be
appropriate at this stage to make such reports available for
public inspection. Given the sensitive nature of much of the
material, which might cause anguish to those involved, my prime
concern in considering this request has been to ensure that the
privacy of those children referred to in the report should be
maintained. I am also conscious of the need to abide by the
terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.
In the exceptional circumstances of this case I have decided
that the public interest would be best served by making
arrangements to have the reports dated 30 August 1988,
September 1991, 3 July 1992 and 9 June 1993, and associated
witness statements, made available in a form which removes
personal data and ensures that there is no prospect of any of
the children or witnesses being identified.
Accordingly photocopies with such information redacted will
be placed in the released record, while the originals remain
closed to be reviewed and released at a later date.
Arrangements will be made to lodge these at the National
Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh where members of the public can
gain access to them in the normal manner.
The internal memo dated 11 November 1991 from DS Hughes to
his superior officers requesting that consideration be given to
withdrawing Thomas Hamilton's firearms certificate as a
precautionary measure was read out by then Superintendent
Joseph Holden of Central Scotland Police on day 7 of the
inquiry and can be found at pages 862 and 863 of the
transcript. Superintendent Holden also read out the comments
noted on the memo by superior officers.
None of these reports contains allegations against
politicians or other prominent figures.
Disclosure of reports of this nature is not to be
interpreted as undermining the presumption, supported by the
Scottish courts, that police reports are confidential. That
presumption is necessary to ensure that witnesses or those
under investigation are not inhibited or deterred from
co-operating in criminal investigations by the possibility that
information provided might be disclosed and their identities
revealed to the public outwith the protection of the court.
At this time uunrestricted access to the productions cannot
be allowed because of the sheer volume of the material and the
fact that much of it refers to children. I have decided in the
light of recent interest that the material should be catalogued
by staff at the National Archives of Scotland in a way which
does not lead to the identification of children. When a full
catalogue is available, I will consider further the extended
closure of the papers and whether other material which does not
identify children or whose release would not be contrary to the
data protection legislation can be made available, or whether
it would be appropriate to vary, in any particular case, the
closure period.