I Wonder What These Beautiful Kids Would Look Like Now

I policed the streets in the aftermath of the Dunblane massacre

As nice as Dunblane is, we still remember it for the massacre of 16 school children and their teacher in the deadliest mass shooting in British history.

On 13th March 1996, Thomas Hamilton, a former shopkeeper, armed with four handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, walked into Dunblane Primary School and shot at a class of five- and six-year-olds.

I was a police officer with Central Scotland Police. I lived eight miles away. I was off duty when I heard the news. The shock and depth of misery were instant. Things like that don’t happen in Scotland.

We had had the Lockerbie Disaster in 1988, the horror of which had numbed me to the core. This murderous act was life-changing for me. It was more horrific and appalling because it was so close to where I lived and worked.

On my return to duty, they drafted me to patrol the streets surrounding Dunblane Primary School.

The pavements were soon carpeted with flowers, cards, and teddy bears. It was a sobering time. I read the notes attached to the bouquets of flowers. The heartfelt sorrow echoed in every word, and I stood there in full uniform and cried.

The thought of parents walking into a mortuary to identify their dead child. How could you? How could you? Why would you?

People crumbled. My colleagues, the press, and even our most senior officers were numb. For a long time.

What had that monster done? Why?

Dunblane went into shock, only just surviving 17 funerals.

The tears came from broken hearts. A mother gathered up her child’s possessions, her school bag, her plate, her mug, and her lunch money, and stored it all in a suitcase. A bright inquisitive 5-year-old, her beautiful life is gone and replaced by an…

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