SCOTTISH police last night named the gunman who killed 16 children and a teacher in their school as Thomas Hamilton, a 43 year old former scoutmaster and local man who was obsessed with young boys and guns.
After killing the children and their teacher in a "minute massacre" at Dunblane primary school, Stirlingshire, Hamilton shot himself. Police said he was armed with four handguns.
Last night police officers stood guard outside Hamilton's house. A spokesman refused to say whether any more guns had been found on the premises.
It is understood that Hamilton, who was single, had been interviewed by the police following complaints by several parents that he had taken semi naked photographs of their sons while they were playing at the local boys' club, which he had founded.
"Apparently what he did latterly was to make the boys strip to the waist and change into striped underpants and then he would take photographs of them before they embarked on their sports activities. Some boys seemed to enjoy the club but others didn't and their parents took them away.
"One mother spoke to me about him and said her son was frightened just to see him, but he would never tell her why he was so frightened," said Mrs Frena Davidson, a regional councillor.
Hamilton founded his Stirling Rovers boys' club in the early 1980s. According to the Scout Association, Hamilton joined as a leader in July 1973 but was forced to resign in March 1974 following a complaint about his "unstable and possibly improper behaviour" at a Scout camp.
A spokesman said Hamilton had repeatedly attempted to be reinstated as a scoutmaster, but the organisation's vetting procedure had always picked him out". The spokesman refused to elaborate on the complaint against Hamilton.
"Our vetting procedures ensure that people with the wrong motivations are picked up and never accepted into the movement. Mr Hamilton made a number of attempts to come back into Scouting but was always rejected. He declined our offer of help," he added.
ft ifs also understood that last week Hamilton wrote to Queen Elizabeth complaining that the Scout Association had mounted a campaign to tarnish his reputation, despite his "valuable" work with local children over the last 20 years. Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the report.
Hamilton was also a member of the local rifle club, and appeared to be fascinated by guns. Several former work colleagues said he offered to show them his handguns and ammunition. "He seemed to be very proud that he had the guns," said Mr Sandy Leathley, a free lance photographer.
Neighbours regarded Hamilton as a "deep and cautious" man, who was a loner and "kept himself to himself". Mrs Grace Ogilvie, a next door neighbour, said she knew he had guns but had never seen them. She described watching one of Mr Hamilton's "uncomfortable" home videos of boys playing in their swimming trunks.
"It wasn't indecent but I felt uncomfortable and wondered `What the hell am I sitting watching this for?'. I didn't like looking at it ... I just thought he was rather queer. He sort of crept along the hedge. A few years ago he appeared in the Stirling Observer [the local newspaper]. I think it was to do with being too severe with discipline on children," she added.