Michael Ryan

The Hungerford massacre remains, along with the 1996 Dunblane school massacre, and the 2010 Cumbria shootings, one of the worst criminal atrocities involving firearms to occur in the United Kingdom. The Dunblane and Cumbria shootings had a similar number of fatalities, and in both cases the perpetrators killed themselves. Only one person died in the 1989 Monkseaton shootings, but 14 others were wounded, and the perpetrator did not kill himself.

A report on the massacre was commissioned by Home Secretary Douglas Hurd. The Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 was passed in the wake of the incident, which bans the ownership of semi-automatic centre-fire rifles and restricts the use of shotguns with a capacity of more than three cartridges. The shootings remain one of the deadliest firearms incidents in British history.

The Hungerford Report was commissioned by Home Secretary Douglas Hurd from the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Colin Smith. Ryan's collection of weapons had been legally licensed, according to the Report. The Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988, which was passed in the wake of the massacre, bans the ownership of semi-automatic centre-fire rifles and restricts the use of shotguns with a capacity of more than three cartridges (in magazine plus the breech).

The Hungerford massacre was a series of random shootings in Hungerford, England on 19 August 1987, when Michael Robert Ryan, an unemployed antiques dealer and handyman, shot dead 16 people, including an unarmed police officer and his own mother, before shooting himself. The shootings, committed using a handgun and two semi-automatic rifles, occurred at several locations, including a school he had once attended. Fifteen other people were also shot but survived. No firm motive for the killings has ever been established, although one psychologist has theorised Ryan's motive for the massacre had been a form of "anger and contempt for the ordinary life" around him, which he himself was not a tangible part of.

Ryan's true motives may never be known as he killed himself and his mother, the only other person who knew him well. Both John Hamilton (the medical director of Broadmoor Hospital) and Jim Higgins (a consultant forensic psychiatrist for Mersey Regional Health Authority) thought he was schizophrenic and psychotic. Hamilton stated, "Ryan was most likely to be suffering from acute schizophrenia. He might have had a reason for doing what he did, but it was likely to be bizarre and peculiar to him." The local vicar, David Salt, said on the first anniversary of the massacre, "No one has ever explained why Michael Ryan did what he did. And that's because, in my opinion, it is not something that can be explained." Ryan's body was cremated at the Reading Crematorium on 3 September 1987, 15 days after the massacre.

Hungerford was policed by two sergeants and twelve constables, and on the morning of 19 August 1987 the duty cover for the section consisted of one sergeant, two patrol constables and one station duty officer. A number of factors hampered the police response:

Ryan had been issued a shotgun certificate in 1978, and on 11 December 1986 he was granted a firearms certificate covering the ownership of two pistols. He later applied to have the certificate amended to cover a third pistol, as he intended to sell one of the two he had acquired since the granting of the certificate (a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver) and to buy two more. This was approved on 30 April 1987. On 14 July, he applied for another variation, to cover two semi-automatic rifles, which was approved on 30 July. At the time of the massacre, he was in licensed possession of the following weapons:

Michael Robert Ryan was an unemployed labourer and antiques dealer. He was born at Savernake Hospital in Marlborough, Wiltshire, near Hungerford, Berkshire, on 18 May 1960. His father, Alfred Henry Ryan (born 6 January 1905), was 55 years old when Michael was born. Alfred died in Swindon in May 1985 at the age of 80 from cancer. At the time of the shooting, Ryan lived with his mother, Dorothy (born 17 May 1924), a dinner lady at the local primary school. He had no siblings. There was extensive press comment on this, suggesting the relationship was "unhealthy" and that Ryan was "spoiled" by his mother. A Guardian headline described Ryan as a "mummy's boy". Ryan was a bachelor and had no children.