The Hungerford Massacre...
BBC1 has just shown The Hungerford Massacre, a documentary into the incident that changed Britain in many ways. The BBC Website also has a report in the Crime Case Closed section.
I have to say that I thought this programme was absolutely brilliant... well constructed & presented. If the BBC do repeat it, I would certainly recommend it.
I don't remember exactly where I was when this happened, but I know that I was 15 years old and living in Aldershot at the time.
I do, however, remember the incident. I remember thinking how things like this just didn't happen.
Surely not in this country?
But Hungerford was only 56 miles away.
In 1987, no-one had a gun... it just wasn't heard of.
Michael Ryan had a gun. Three guns, in fact. Legally. And he just lost it.
What happened on that day changed a lot of things: British Policing; gun laws; telecommunications systems; emergency services.
But compare then to now. In August 1987, one man killed 16 people. It shook the country. In 2004, hardly a day goes by when you don't hear about gun crime on our streets. Last Tuesday, Caroline and I were in Reading at a restaurant. That night, after we'd come home, someone got shot not 2 miles from where we were sitting. There were the shootings in Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham earlier this year.
Are the changes that were implemented as a result of the 1987 massacre lost? Or has our society just moved in the wrong direction.
I have to say that I thought this programme was absolutely brilliant... well constructed & presented. If the BBC do repeat it, I would certainly recommend it.
I don't remember exactly where I was when this happened, but I know that I was 15 years old and living in Aldershot at the time.
I do, however, remember the incident. I remember thinking how things like this just didn't happen.
Surely not in this country?
But Hungerford was only 56 miles away.
In 1987, no-one had a gun... it just wasn't heard of.
Michael Ryan had a gun. Three guns, in fact. Legally. And he just lost it.
What happened on that day changed a lot of things: British Policing; gun laws; telecommunications systems; emergency services.
But compare then to now. In August 1987, one man killed 16 people. It shook the country. In 2004, hardly a day goes by when you don't hear about gun crime on our streets. Last Tuesday, Caroline and I were in Reading at a restaurant. That night, after we'd come home, someone got shot not 2 miles from where we were sitting. There were the shootings in Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham earlier this year.
Are the changes that were implemented as a result of the 1987 massacre lost? Or has our society just moved in the wrong direction.
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moody
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