A DAY after the massacre at Dunblane school and Scottish police, the community and the country still do not understand what drove gunman Thomas Hamilton to kill 16 children and their teacher.
But, as letters he had written come into the public domain, some clues to the obsessions which drove him are surfacing.
The picture that continued to emerge was one of a loner, fanatical about guns - he was licensed to possess two rifles as well as the four handguns that he used in the massacre and boys, who was also becoming increasingly convinced that he was a victim of injustice.
Last night, the Scottish Secretary, Mr Michael Forsyth, whose constituency includes Dunblane, said police had privately admitted to him that they had concerns over Hamilton's relationship with the local children but that they did not have enough evidence to prosecute.
"The police intimated to me privately what their views were on Hamilton and the difficulty was that there was never any evidence made available to them that would enable them to ensure a successful prosecution", he said.
It has also emerged that earlier this week Hamilton wrote seven letters to Queen Elizabeth, MPs and the media complaining that he had been labelled a pervert by the community and insisting that he did not have a criminal record.
Hamilton (43), who was single and lived just a few miles from Dunblane primary school, also wrote a circular to local parents urging them to send their children on one of his organised summer camps.
"I have no criminal record nor have I ever been accused of sexual abuse by any child and I am not a pervert I cannot understand why you have not booked your boy for this annual event which is held for the benefit and enjoyment of children of his age," he wrote.
All the letters, which arrived at their destinations yesterday, detailed his grievances about not being able to work with children and his treatment by the Scouts Association, which had repeatedly refused his application to rejoin the movement after he was forced to resign following "improper behaviour" at a camp in 1974.
In his letter to Queen Elizabeth, who is Patron of the Scout Association, Hamilton complained that he was unable to walk the streets "for fear of embarrassing ridicule" because of rumours of "epidemic proportions" that he was "a pervert."
As the people of Dunblane mourned, Hamilton's father Thomas, who lives in Stirling, described his son as a "monster" and said he was still trying to come to terms with the fact that he had brought him into the world. I can't live with this. I can't take it," he said.
Hamilton's "sister" Agnes, who lives in Glasgow, claimed yesterday that she is, in fact, his mother but that the gunman was brought up to believe she was his sister and that his grandparents were his real parents.
Although Agnes Hamilton insisted that her son "seemed to get on with everybody", his grandfather, Jim, said he had not spoken to Hamilton for over four years after a family row.
He wanted everything his way and I got fed up and left him to it. I've not spoken to him in four years. I knew he was involved in youth clubs, mainly with young boys," he said.