Changing his mind, he retrieved it and carried on walking, away from town. Another witness reported that Ryan warned several children to get off the street and go inside. As smoke filled the air from Ryans burning house, more people were hiding inside their homes. 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. The event became known as the Hungerford massacre. Mildenhall survived the shooting.Kenneth Clements was walking along the footpath with his family, towards South View, when Ryan appeared and shot him once, killing him instantly. The Killing Spree That Changed UK Gun Laws: Hungerford Massacre (Crime Documentary) | Real Stories Real Stories 5.92M subscribers Subscribe 3.4K 462K views 3 years ago Explores the case of. Later that day, his parents were driving up from their home in Kent to visit him. He expressed sorrow over shooting his mother and his dog, and then said: "Hungerford must be a bit of a mess. Mrs Jackson can remember Mrs Ryan telling her about a mysterious "friend" Michael had made. If it comes up, he leaves the room or goes to sit in the greenhouse. Michael Ryan was just so, so insignificant. Plot summary Add synopsis Genres Documentary Ryan picked up the picnic groundsheet and ordered Susan to walk with him into the woods. Bernard was the tenth fatality on that bloody Wednesday. Emerging from the house, dressed in a headband and sleeveless flak jacket, Ryan carried a bag filled with food and other supplies. Michael Ryan: The Hungerford Massacre: Directed by Adam Luria. The beauty spot near Marlborough is a popular place with dog walkers, picnickers and ramblers. "'Some blokes gone mad with a gun', they said. Shortly after Ms Haslett escaped South View, her colleague Derek Whiting arrived in a second ambulance, completely unaware that a gunman was at large. Ryan then shot at an ambulance, shattering its windscreen, as it was trying to reach some of the victims in a narrow lane. Lisa Mildenhall, 14, was shot and wounded by Ryan, who had smiled at her whilst she crouched on the ground at her front door, and then shot her four times in the legs and stomach. Storms survived the shooting. But how did the town heal its wounds? Meanwhile, police were busy getting some people to safety and preventing others from going where they thought Ryan might move to next. If there is a shooting elsewhere in the world, he braces himself for his phone to ring. Mr Playle's blue Ford Sierra crashed after he was shot by Ryan. Dr Gregory Moffat, a childhood aggression specialist, claimed that victims of bullying are generally small, weak, lack confidence and are loners. Then the nurse came back. The primary school where Marjorie Jackson was a caretaker had broken up for the summer holidays. 12 - Sandra Hill He says he was helped by a discovery made at the post-mortem examination - that his father had developed lung cancer. One man was injured. Mr Whiting did not understand. Dr Yardley says Ryan would have learned how to treat women from how his father treated his mother. "I turned to move away and he shot me. Watched by neighbours, he went into the house and muffled shots were heard. The Whitings' son Matthew, who was 11 at the time, was with his childminder in the playground and saw Mr Butler being shot. At one point, he claimed to have an Israeli fragmentation type hand grenade, which seriously worried the police. It later transpired that he had shot the family dog, a black Labrador. "If he had the choice - to die from a horrible disease like that, or be shot, I know he'd choose the bullet. Now, as his colleague, quantity surveyor George White, drove him home to check on his wife, they came across Ryan. The report also said the operation was hampered by press helicopters making so much noise it was difficult for police on the ground to hear or relay instructions. Her children, who were 85 yards away from where her body was found, were later reunited with their father. I've never run so fast. When he was 13 his mother bought him an air rifle. Some more minor details of that fateful day in 1987 vary in the different accounts but all agree that it will remain in memory as one of the worst gun crimes in British history.Sir Charles Pollard, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police from 1991 2001, commented, The realisation that this could happen in fun-loving England, where we dont have guns and the police arent armed it changed policing and it changed society forever.. Having murdered Mrs Godfrey, Ryan headed back to Hungerford in his Vauxhall Astra GTE, stopping at Froxfield filling station. 'It's a show that I'm passionate about': Will Mellor on 'Cops Who Kill'. Ryan spotted another shocked neighbour, Marjorie Jackson, peering through the window at the dead bodies and shot her as well. He believes Ryan would get an illicit sexual thrill during his woodland trips and obtain pleasure and a sense of accomplishment from following and watching people unseen. It started with an assumed attempted sexual assault, but Ryan went on to kill many close acquaintances in his hometown. He spied on them as they ate their picnic lunch, before playing a while. He then asked the time and was silent for a while. The incident prompted the government to change gun laws, banning semi-automatic and pump-action rifles. Sent them away.". 6 were already dead.". Read about our approach to external linking. As Mr Playle rounded a bend in Priory Street, Ryan fired a single shot. It was a police vehicle which had its blue lights flashing. Ambulance-woman Hazel Haslett was injured in the arm and the leg by broken glass. Shotguns had to be registered and were required to be kept in secure storage. At another point, close to the end, he said, I wish I had stayed in bed. She parked behind Whites car and opening the door and looking in, said, Oh Ivor and then hurried up the road. Policemen. He also had several different firearms: a Beretta 9 mm semi-automatic pistol; an M1 carbine semi-automatic assault rifle; and a Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle loaded with armour-piercing bullets. Eventually, shots were heard coming from John O'Gaunt School. 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. 20th August 1987. Two more vehicles driving along the road were shot at. "We cope by taking every day as it comes. Ryan then walked into Priory Road, where he found Sandra Hill, 22, driving her red Renault 5, with the window down and the music blaring. The Hungerford Massacre on August 19, 1987, saw 16 people killed in a. She managed to drag herself into her house and survived. "He was a good man. Gunman Michael Ryan shocked the country with his rampage around the quiet Berkshire town. They keep meaning to frame it and put it up on the wall. The speed with which he carried out his agenda indicates an element of forethought. "In fact, I first thought it was another lad who lived there. "I was desperate to get into the house. Seeing two of his neighbours, Roland and Sheila Mason, in their back garden, he shot Roland six times and Sheila once, in the head. Healthwise, we're struggling. Then he realised the policemans wounds had not been caused by a shotgun but by a semi-automatic rifle. She ducked below her counter just as a bullet pierced the safety glass above it and ricocheted through the small shop behind her. The birds didn't sing again for five days.". He then shot her in the back with a Beretta pistol. Ryan fired at them and Victor died instantly, whilst Myrtle died later in hospital. "He certainly had no 'manifesto' or message to the world.". No-one blamed me. Other victims included Susan Godfrey, of Reading, who was killed while picnicking with her children; Roland and Sheila Mason, who were killed in their home; Kenneth Clements, who was shot while walking to Hungerford Common. Prof Jackson's colleague at Birmingham City University, Dr Elizabeth Yardley, has a different theory. Mrs Gibbs died several days later, in hospital. He wounded a further 15 before turning the gun on himself. A groundsheet was found nearby, which could have been laid by Ryan in order to contain DNA evidence. Brightwell answered that he did not know at the time but was attempting to find out, and continued to persuade him to drop his weapons and come outside. "If he did have a sexual crime in mind, then that would have been about control too.". "Ivor has very limited mobility, and his lungs are damaged from the bullet. Despite his elaborate fantasies, however, Ryan was not mentally ill. Medical reports show he had no history of mental illness - in fact, his doctor had countersigned Ryan's gun applications. Dean reported later that when she looked Ryan in the face, it seemed as if he was not even aware of her and was looking right through her. With her window open and radio on in her Renault 5, she became Ryans 13th murder victim, dying from a single shot. In 1987, Michael Ryan committed a killing spree that left sixteen dead and sixteen injured. Your dad's been shot. Ryan said he would not exit the building until he had news of his mothers condition.Some of the things Ryan shouted out the window to Brightwell were, Hungerford must be a bit of a mess; If only the police car hadnt turned up. Dorothy Ryan, Michaels mother, was a lunchtime supervisor at the primary school where Mrs Jackson worked. A police negotiator managed to engage him in conversation. Along the way, Ryan shot and wounded a man, who was pulled to safety as Ryan moved closer in order to shoot him again. The Hungerford massacre was a spree shooting in Hungerford, England, United Kingdom, on 19 August 1987, when 27-year-old Michael Ryan shot dead sixteen people, including an unarmed police officer and his own mother, before shooting himself. Brereton was hit by four of the bullets and died in his car. Crossing the street, shooting as he went, Ryan strode towards 60 Priory Road, the home of Victor and Myrtle Gibbs and blasted open the front door with his semi-automatic rifle. He returned to South View to find bodies on the ground and was asked by police to identify them. An investigation after the shootings found both Dorothy and Michael Ryan had been overdrawn on their bank accounts - in Dorothy's case largely because she bought her only child a new car every two years. Dr Yardley thinks he planned them well in advance. Next to him, in the passenger seat, Ivor Jackson was also shot in his arm, chest and head. "What he did was the ultimate taking back of control.