Possible motives
Hamilton's motives remain unknown, though there were complaints to police regarding his suspicious behaviour towards the young boys who attended the youth clubs he directed. There were suspicions prior to the massacre that Hamilton's interest in boys was paedophilic with more than one complaint being made regarding him having taken photographs of semi-naked boys without the parents' consent.[8]
He claimed in letters that rumours about him led to the failure of his shop business in 1993, and in the last months of his life he complained again that his attempts to organise a boys' club were subject to persecution by local police and the scout movement. Among those to whom he complained were local MP Michael Forsyth and Queen Elizabeth. In the 1980s, another MP, George Robertson, who resided in Dunblane, had complained to Forsyth about Hamilton's local boys' club, which his son had attended. On the day following the massacre, Robertson spoke of having argued with Hamilton "in my own home".[10]
The professional tennis player Andy Murray discussed his recollections of the Dunblane massacre in his autobiography Hitting Back (2008). The victims were mostly children who were in a younger age group class than Murray, but he has discussed his recollections of taking cover in a classroom.[16] Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening and is reluctant to talk about it in interviews, but, in his autobiography, Hitting Back, he says that he attended a youth group run by Thomas Hamilton, and that his mother gave Hamilton lifts in her car.[17]
