this blog comprises some 157 pages as a .pdf but sadly they do NOT load to Blogger so I have put this at your disposal for study as a rather hard to follow text!
I will, when time is available, return and tidy the material to form a rather more readable text.
My thanks to Tom Minogue for compiling this .pdf and for all the meticulous work William Scott has done.
Image via WikipediaA REPORT TO THE LORD JUSTICE CLERK, LORD GILLREGARDING ALLEGATIONS OF IRREGULARITIES AT
QUEEN VICTORIA SCHOOL DUNBLANE BETWEEN 1989 &1996.Index of Contents, Page 1 (This Page)
Bookmark Description (pdf) From page to page.
Submissions 2 10
Terms of Reference 11 11
Report re the Abuse & Bullying of Children at Q.V.S. 12 63
Squire Liddell correspondence 64 73
1st letter to Commissioners & Responses 74 78
2nd letter to Commissioners & Responses 79 99
Ogilvie, Boal, & Ure Evidence transcripts 100 108
Correspondence with Lord Advocate 109 119
“Cullen Uncovered” 120 125
Lord George Robertson 126 133
Complaint Inchmoan Camp 134 135
Telephone Notes of T. Minogue 136 137
Board of Governors QVS & Correspondence log 138 143
The Grand Lodge of Scotland 144
E-mail Addendum to the Lord Gill complaint 145 148
Letter of response from Lord Gill (6th June 03) 149
Final letter to Lord Gill (7th June 03) 150 151
Formal Complaint to Elish Angiolini, Solicitor General 152
Solicitor General’s rejection of Formal Complaint 153 154
Acknowledgement of Solicitor General’s rejection 155 157
Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terrace
Dunfermline
Fife
Thursday 24th April
Lord Gill,
Lord Justice Clerk
Parliament House
EDINBURGH
EH1 1RQ
Dear Sir,
Complaint regarding events at Queen Victoria School 1989-1992
With reference to your letter of 6th March*1 I would accept your offer that I make
known to you my concerns regarding matters relating to the Queen Victoria School.
I am aware that you are, by virtue of your office a Commissioner of the school, and
though you were not a Commissioner at the time of the alleged matters of concern
you are in a position to instigate an investigation into past matters.
This may be necessary, as I have found a lack of willingness on the part of the current President of
the Commissioners, the Past President, and most Commissioners of the school during
the period 1998-1992 to treat seriously allegations that have been made to me by an
ex-housemaster at QVS.
Circumstances leading to my investigation of the ex-housemaster’s
complaint.
In February 2003 as a petitioner to the Scottish Parliament I was asked by the Justice
2 Committee to provide evidence of specific instances where a Judges/Sheriffs
membership of the Freemasons had caused problems. As I am not alone in Scotland in
perceiving the Dunblane Inquiry as a case where Masonic membership had played a
part, both in the events leading up to the Inquiry and during the Inquiry-I cited this as
a case in point.
Many newspaper stories and Internet articles have dealt with the supposed Masonic
influence of Thomas Hamilton having allowed him to obtain licences for firearms
against police advice. Another theory commonly broadcast is that Hamilton’s
connections to prominent figures in public life had allowed him access to Queen
Victoria School Dunblane and that these facts had been instrumental in Lord Cullen (a
Mason) imposing an illegal 100-year ban on documents relating to Hamilton’s
activities prior to the shootings*2. I decided to research these assertions.
I contacted an ex-housemaster at QVS who was reported to have made numerous
complaints about bullying and abuse of pupils at QVS between 1989 and 1992. A
website carried a letter from the ex-housemaster which alleged that one regular and
apparently influential visitor to the school between 1989 and 1992 was Thomas
Hamilton the Dunblane killer. The ex-housemaster confirmed this fact in a telephone
conversation*3 and also claimed that the MOD (HM Commissioners), Scottish Office,
Procurator Fiscal, and Stirling Council would not act on his complaints. The exhousemaster
also believed that Freemasonry had been a factor in the unreported abuse
of pupils at QVS and also had adversely influenced the investigation of his
complaints.
I have been able to independently corroborate 3 of the 4 main allegations made
by the housemaster, namely that:
1/ Thomas Hamilton was a frequent, and influential visitor to QVS.
*1 See letter from Marlene Olsen page 11.
*2 See Euro-realist Internet article page 120—125.
*3 See Telephone Notes 132—133.
1
2/ Numerous complaints about bullying and abuse were made by the
housemaster to various authorities to no avail because of the lack of a thorough
investigation by the authorities.
3/ H M Commissioners ignored or were in ignorance of the above two facts.
Allegation 1: Thomas Hamilton & Friends of QVS.
1. Many visitors who the ex-housemaster described as “toffs” would arrive at the
school and some of these visitors would take boys home for weekends.
2. Visitors to the school had access to the grounds and buildings within the
school, which concerned him for fear that these apparently unauthorised
visitors, might abduct a pupil.
3. He had challenged visitors who were not known to him and had complained to
the headmaster about the presence of these individuals only to be told that
these people were “Friends of Queen Victoria School” and were to be left
alone.
4. Because of his concerns he suggested the issue of photographic passes for
authorised personnel.
5. Boys who had spent weekends with some of the “Friends” would come back
in a disturbed state of mind.
6. One pupil tried to hang himself after being buggered and this was hushed up.
7. He later found out that one regular visitor who, frequented the firing range,
had watched naked primary level boys in the shower area, on dress parade,
and visited teachers in their quarters was Thomas Hamilton the Dunblane
killer.
8. Lord Cullen and George Robertson were mentioned by name as being visitors.
9. The ex-housemaster felt that if his complaints had been heeded and acted upon
the massacre at Dunblane might not have happened given that Thomas
Hamilton was well known to the police at this time.
Independent Corroboration
I had initially thought that the Queen Victoria School did not feature in the Dunblane
Inquiry. However it is a matter of record that substantive evidence regarding Thomas
Hamilton’s association with Queen Victoria School was given by three separate and
unconnected witnesses to the Inquiry*1
In her unchallenged evidence on Day 3, Grace Jones Ogilvie Hamilton’s neighbour
told of how Thomas Hamilton organised and carried out camping expeditions for his
boys clubs at Loch Lomondside and Queen Victoria School. Grace Jones Ogilvie
also spoke of Hamilton showing her videos of what he described to her as “my boys”.
In his unchallenged evidence on Day 14, Ian Steven Boal, an undergraduate sports
student, told of how in 1995 Thomas Hamilton had used his influence at Queen
Victoria School to obtain him (Boal) a part time teaching position at the school.
In his unchallenged evidence on Day 18, Robert Mark Ure a neighbour of Hamilton
told of how he wished to contact Stirling Rifle and Pistol Club as his wife who had
been to the rifle range at Queen Victoria School with Thomas Hamilton, had
embezzled money from the club. Hamilton had said that the Stirling Rifle and Pistol
Club was not a static building and its address might have been in his mail.
*1/ Ogilvie pages 100--102, Boal pages 103--105, Ure pages 106--108.
2
None of the three independent witnesses to Hamilton’s involvement with, and
influence at Queen Victoria School were cross-examined or questioned further by the
legal representatives of any of the parties represented. Lord Cullen did not ask any
further questions of these three witnesses and there is no mention of Thomas
Hamilton’s involvement with the Queen Victoria School in Lord Cullen’s Report.
Conclusion.
I found the ex-housemasters allegations regarding the presence of Thomas Hamilton
at Queen Victoria School Dunblane convincing. In my opinion he was truthful and the
evidence of the above three witnesses regarding Thomas Hamilton corroborates my
impression of his veracity and suggests that he should have been heeded when he
complained at the lack of proper procedures, and the climate of fear that pervaded the
school.
That (between 1989 and 1996) an unemployed man known to the police of three
forces (Central, Lothian & Borders, and Strathclyde) for numerous instances of
unsavoury and threatening behaviour towards adults and children had the run of a
Boarding School for young boys beggars belief.
That such a man, who was also known to the police for incidents involving firearms
was allowed to bear arms within the school unbeknown to the school’s guardians is
truly unbelievable. It also begs the question as to what, or who Thomas Hamilton
knew to allow him these extraordinary privileges?
Hamilton, while shooting on the range at Queen Victoria School obviously carried
firearms and ammunition within the school. The possibility of Thomas Hamilton
running amok at QVS must have been real, but is something that the Cullen Report
does not consider or mention.
Allegation No 2: Numerous complaints about bullying and abuse being made to
various authorities to no avail because of the lack of a thorough investigation.
1. The ex-housemaster told me of how he had made numerous complaints about
bullying and abuse to: HM Commissioners of Queen Victoria School, The
Educational Institute of Scotland, The Social Services Department of Stirling
Council, and the children’s parents, whilst he was at the school These
complaints were not thoroughly investigated *1
2. After leaving the school he complained to The Patron, The Press, Esther
Rantzen, Roger Cook, etc, and when he moved to Shetland to work he pursued
his complaints through his local MP, Jim Wallace, and these complaints were
not thoroughly investigated.
3. The housemaster felt sure that once his specific allegations of bullying and
abuse were taken seriously, welfare staff with expertise in sexual abuse would
identify such matters, which he had broadly categorised as abuse. The
housemaster said he was sure that his complaints would be taken seriously by
someone if he persevered, and in all he complained to dozens of different
sources to no avail.
4. The ex-housemaster told of how his complaining eventually led him and his
wife to protest by refusing to take their places at a dinner, which was attended
by HRH Prince Andrew. This in turn led to a showdown with the outcome
being that the ex-housemaster gave notice that he was terminating his
employment.
*1 Report of bullying and abuse at QVS and addendum pages 12--63
3
5. During the notice period that the ex-housemaster worked he felt that his safety
and the safety of his family was threatened and he sent his family away from the
on-site flat accommodation provided by the school. In this period while the exhousemaster
was in Stirling the police broke down the door of his flat with a
sledgehammer and removed documents relating to his complaints some of
which were never returned. On his return to the school the ex-housemaster was
taken by police to Stirling and held for questioning by detectives from
Edinburgh. Despite his repeated requests for an explanation of these events none
has been provided to this day.
Independent corroboration of the ex-housemasters allegation that he had made
numerous complaints of allegations of bullying and abuse at Queen Victoria
School Dunblane all to no avail due to the lack of a thorough investigation by the
authorities.
The evidence of the ex-housemaster’s allegations of abuse and bullying at Queen
Victoria School Dunblane can be seen in the appended supporting documentation.
Within this documentation it can be seen that the then Minister of State for Education,
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton confirms that the ex-housemaster was not consulted in
any way regarding the complaints he had made. Nor were the parents of the pupils
consulted. It therefore goes without saying that a thorough investigation did not take
place. The fact that almost all of the Commissioners to this day are unaware that any
investigation had taken place is further evidence to suggest that whatever
investigation did take place was not thorough.
Conclusion.
I found the ex-housemasters evidence regarding his numerous complaints of abuse
and bullying at Queen Victoria School Dunblane receiving no thorough investigation
convincing. I can understand why he was reluctant to clearly voice his concern
regarding sexual abuse until he saw that professionals were involved. He was in my
opinion truthful and the content from some of the documentation retained by him
together with reference to Hansard corroborates my impression of his veracity, to say
nothing of his conscientiousness and professionalism. The fact that the exhousemaster
continued to complain up to 1994 and renewed his complaints in 1996
when Thomas Hamilton was identified to him also speaks volumes for his tenacity
and integrity.
The fact that only four of the 16 Commissioners and staff contacted who were at the
school at the time are even aware that complaints had been made and investigated
confirms my view that the complaints the ex-housemaster made were not thoroughly
investigated.
Allegation 3: The Commissioners Apathy/Ignorance.
The ex-housemaster told me of how despite his repeated complaints HM
Commissioners (who are also the governing body of the school) ignored or were in
denial of the fact that serious complaints had been made regarding the practice and
procedures at Queen Victoria School Dunblane. The ex-housemaster stated that HM
Commissioners were available for any dinners or social events. However, on the
occasions when their presence was really required, such as when he had serious
complaints to make, HM Commissioners made themselves scarce, or simply went
through the motions.
4
Independent corroboration of the ex-housemasters complaints that HM
Commissioners were ineffective.
Independent corroboration of the ex-housemasters allegations in this regard would be
impossible other than by analogy. Therefore I would draw upon my own experiences
with the Commissioners to test the ex-housemasters claims.
I have written approximately 50 e-mails and letters to Commissioners past and
present in three separate mailings*1 which are as follows:
1/ Letters and e-mails to my MP and the current Secretary of State for Scotland in her
role as President of HM Commissioners regarding the ex-housemaster’s allegations.
2/ A letter to The Patron, HM Commissioners, The Commandant and the Headmaster
of the school seeking to know if they knew of a group called the “Friends of QVS”.
3/ A reminder letter (as only 3 replied to my first letter) to the group at 2/ above and a
new letter which asked a further two questions regarding Thomas Hamilton’s
presence and influence in the school and what if anything was known of the
allegations of abuse and bullying. This letter was also sent to Lord George Robertson
who together with Lord Cullen has been named as visitors to the school.
Responses.
The response from the Secretary of State for Scotland, (Helen Liddell) and my MP
(Rachel Squire) was bordering on hostile. Liddell first claiming that she would not
answer, as this was a question for my MSP-it being a devolved issue. She
subsequently had a change of heart and decided to answer. However, her answer was
to the effect that her role was “purely formal” and as such she could not answer
questions. She suggested that the current Headmaster would be the best person to
answer questions.
Rachel Squire MP was equally unreceptive to my requests that she should even
trouble the Secretary of State for Scotland on this matter. Even though I had explained
the background to my request i.e. Hamilton and VIP’s being visitors to the school,
and abuse having taken place at the school, my MP was surprisingly unhelpful other
than suggesting I write to the current Headmaster.
My first letter to the Patron, Commissioners, and others associated with the Queen
Victoria School Dunblane asking one question regarding the existence of a group
called the “friends of QVS” received a poor response. A letter from the Duke of
Edinburgh’s P.S. Brigadier Miles Hunt-Davis who stated that he would be looking
into the matter, and one from Lord Forsyth of Drumlean suggesting I write to the
Scottish Executive were the sum total of responses.
There were however several phone-calls from Commissioners which seemed to be
aimed at finding out what I knew of the affairs of the school, rather than answering
the questions that I had asked.
*1 See Correspondence Register at pages 134—139, Squire Liddell pages 64-73 and 1st & 2nd letters at pages 74--99.
5
My second letter to the Commissioners, and others associated with the Queen Victoria
School Dunblane asked two further questions regarding Thomas Hamilton’s presence
and influence at the school, as well as asking about the complaints of bullying and
abuse. The response to this letter and my reminder to the first letter, were good.
However, the terms of the responses were disappointing and record that almost all of
those trusted with the stewardship of the school know nothing of the matters I had
raised.
Lord George Robertson who had been named by the ex-housemaster as a visitor to
QVS wrote a very aggressive letter advising me that he had sent my letter to the
Chief Constable of Central Scotland police!*1
Conclusion
As someone who has employed many hundreds of employees over a 25 year period in
business I am well aware that the legal responsibility for the pupils safety lies
squarely with the “Employer” in this case the Board of Management drawn from HM
Commissioners and this much at least was clarified by Lord Cullen in Section 10 of
his Inquiry Report as follows:
10.15 In Scotland the employer in regard to schools is the local authority, except in
the case of self-governing schools where the employer is the board of management:
and in the case of independent schools where it is the proprietor. In England and
Wales the position in regard to legal responsibility is different.
Given their legal responsibilities it is astonishing that the current Commissioner and
President of the Board of Management, Helen Liddell abdicates any personal
responsibility and indeed initially attempted to devolve her responsibilities to my
MSP. When Helen Liddell did a U-turn on the devolution issue, she still maintained
that she had no actual duties or responsibilities for Queen Victoria School, Dunblane.
A previous President, Ian Lang, states that he has no recollection of the matters I
referred to. He thinks he was Honorary President, but states he had no role in the
management of the school. Although he may have appointed some of the
Commissioners, he claims he was only at the school once in almost 5 years!
Another of HM Commissioners and past President of the Board of Management,
Michael Forsyth, was the man who appointed Lord Cullen to head the Dunblane
Inquiry, and set the terms of reference for the Inquiry. He referred my queries to the
Scottish Office, who in turn passed the matter to the Scottish Executive, who claim
that Mr Forsyth knows nothing of the matters I refer to, as he did not attend board
meetings.
Lord Ross, the then Lord Justice Clerk, who after the Secretary of State and General
Officer Commanding, Scotland, is the senior Commissioner, was annoyed that I
should ask him about matters of public interest, stating he knew nothing of the matters
I referred to and insisted that I stop writing to him. Lord Ross then passed the matter
to the Scottish Executive Schools Division.
I am able to confirm the main thrust of the ex-housemaster’s claims from public
records some 12 years after the event. Yet HM Commissioners, the legally
responsible guardians of the pupils, and furthermore, managers of the school knew
nothing (or claim to know nothing) about Thomas Hamilton’s presence and
influence at the school.
*1 See Lord Robertson pages 126--129
6
HM Commissioners almost to a man (with a few exceptions), claim to know nothing
of the allegations of bullying and abuse at the Queen Victoria School far less the
investigation that supposedly took place. Without exception they are unaware that
Hamilton visited QVS! This is testimony to the ignorance of the Commissioners.
Allegation 4: Masonic Influence.
It is the ex-Housemaster’s contention that there were powerful Masonic influences at
work in the Queen Victoria School. He was advised by a colleague (a Mason) that
there was no point in his complaining to the authorities or the Police as the influence
of Freemasonry ran through the upper echelons of the Military, Government, Law and
other VIP’s who were part of the elite that frequently visited the school. The lavish
Commissioners Lunches that were put on for this elite were on such a scale that the
school was sometimes unable to cater for all guests at one sitting and they had to be
accommodated in two sittings, two weeks apart.
The failure of the police to return all of his documents after breaking his door
down and taking his property convinced the ex-housemaster that the school
authorities and the police were linked by Masonry, which allowed them to act
above the law.
Independent Corroboration.
There is no way of corroborating evidence of Masonic influence, as it is secret. The
Grand Lodge of Scotland of Antient, Free and Accepted Masons will not divulge
membership of “gentlemen who are still alive” *1.
That Masons belong to an organisation with a constitution and obligations which
demand fraternal preferment is a matter of fact but without confirmation of the
identity of the “brother who must prefer a brother” evidence is at best perceived
or circumstantial.
Summary.
I embarked on research into the Dunblane Inquiry as a result of an invitation from the
Justice 2 Committee of the Scottish Parliament who asked “if the petitioner was able
to provide evidence of further specific cases where difficulties have arisen over the
question of Sheriff/Judicial membership of the freemasons.”
When responding to the Justice 2 Committee’s invitation I had no idea that my
research would lead to the allegations that have surfaced regarding Thomas
Hamilton’s privileged position at Queen Victoria School. In my petitioning of
Parliament I gained an impression of secrecy and censorship regarding anything
associated with the Dunblane Inquiry.
I found this same secrecy repeated when I wished to establish if the police reports of
the arrest and door breaking incidents at QVS referred to in the Headmaster’s letter*2
to the ex-housemaster featured in any Dunblane Inquiry police reports about QVS.
The Crown Office have refused my requests and a request made through my lawyers
seeking access to inspect these documents*3. Furthermore the Crown Office have
refused to state whether or not the Queen Victoria School features in these closed
documents.
*1 See Grand Lodge of Scotland letter page 140
*2 See Correspondence at page 50 . *3 See Correspondence Lord Advocate pages 109—119.
7
My disappointment regarding the lack of openness of the Crown Office is added to by
their recent decision to remove the names of all witnesses from the embargoed
document Index, and from the 4 documents that have been released as well as
removing the names of schools from these documents.
I have viewed some of the Crown Office’s recently released documents and the
obscuring and deleting makes these documents barely legible. *1 It is probably now
the case that the documents as censored by the Crown Office would not provide any
information regarding Queen Victoria School even if it were present in the original
documents.
The above actions by the Crown Office and the recent Press expose which highlighted
the fact that much of the Police and Crown documentation produced at the Dunblane
Inquiry was edited and summarised gives credence to the recent claims by Dr Mick
North who lost his only daughter in the Dunblane massacre that:
1. The Crown Office has been less than open.
2. The Dunblane Inquiry looks to have been a cover-up.
3. The Dunblane Inquiry was nothing more than a piece of theatre.
To avoid any further allegations of this type regarding the allegations relating to
Queen Victoria School, which is linked by Thomas Hamilton to the Dunblane Inquiry,
I would urge you to act with complete openness and urgency in looking into my
complaint.
The matters I raise are serious ones and no less so because of the passage of time.
These allegations deserve proper investigation because, if the ex-housemasters
allegations of physical and sexual abuse of pupils are true the victims will now be
young men who may be psychologically disturbed by the traumatic experiences
in their formative years.
It is within your power to trace those pupils who attended the school at the same
time as the ex-housemaster and seek confirmation or otherwise of his claims.
There are other serious allegations which have been intimated to me, but I will
not disclose them until I am confident that they will be treated seriously and not
as the complaints of the ex-housemaster.
I would have no confidence in your impartiality to carry out or instigate any enquiry
unless you give me a personal guarantee that you have not taken the oath of Entered
Apprentice into Freemasonry.
I would also ask you to consider whether there is any other matter, which might be
seen as influencing your impartiality.
I would also make it clear that I would be reluctant to cooperate with HM
Commissioners or any branch of the Scottish Justice System in helping to further
expose the activities of Thomas Hamilton at Queen Victoria School without an
assurance regarding their Masonic status.
*1 See Inchmoan Island Report pages 130—131.
8
9
My position in this regard is not frivolous and is expressed clearly because I
genuinely feel that to assist those who are undeclared Masons in dealing with matters
which I suspect are inextricably linked with Freemasonry would be to participate in
the further suppression of the truth about the circumstances leading to the Dunblane
shootings.
I intend to treat this letter as an open letter detailing matters of public concern and I
will distribute it in order that its contents are not suppressed in any way.
Should you require any further clarification please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
CC. Lieutenant General Sir John MacMillan, Chairman of the Board of Governors.
Brigadier Miles Hunt-Davis, P.S. to H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh.
Others.
Addendum to Q.V.S. Complaint Document
• The ex-housemaster’s synopsis of events as related to a journalist in 2003.
Personal and in confidence to Davy
QVS “I am convinced it was a mason conspiracy, MOD, HMI, HMCs, military top brass
and others. The matter was a covered up to protect people in high Office In
Government.” I know nothing of the conditions inside the school as it is now. I can only
describe to you my beliefs and feelings about the school as it was 12 years ago. I have
had reporters and journalists time and time again. I have had enough. All they want is a
story, ‘here to day and gone tomorrow’. There is nothing new here, this is not a
revelation, I do not have videos, written statements or lists of names or secret documents.
Everything I know is here printed below.
I cannot tell you everything, it would take too long and I am trying to forget it now. Until
Robbie phoned about six weeks ago and introduced me to Tom Minogue it was all gone
and past. All of the letters/literature I wrote is lost now; I had to give it up; my wife
pleaded with me to forget the past and just get on with life. I am lucky to have a job at all.
The background
In order to get a true picture of QVS we need to go back to the 19th century, the old
colonial days of Gordon, Kitchener, Rhodes and Baden Powell. Where Eton and Harrow
were templates of all good schools that bred young men fit to rule an empire. Where
bullying and survival of the fittest was the order of the day -Tom Brown eat your heart
out!
QVS begins in the later days of the colonisation of Africa. 1899 saw the Boer war and if
you look on any war memorial for that war the bulk of the names are Scottish. Most of
the soldiers killed were Scottish and in 1900 there were so many orphans in Scotland a
petition was sent to the Queen. As a result she set up a Royal charter for the school, to
care for the sons of Scottish Servicemen – it was indeed a noble cause. In 1902 the
building started and the school officially opened in 1908. There is also a sister school in
Dover called the Duke of York and both schools operated on the same lines. In WW2
both schools operated together in Dunblane where it was safe from bombs. But originally
QVS was not a school, it was an orphanage, and boys were taught trades and raised as
prospective soldiers for future wars or military conflicts; boys who would become men,
‘young men fit to rule or serve an empire’.
Here a young man would have a golden opportunity of being provided for by the state.
Imagine a poor boy from the poor areas of Glasgow (in the Edwardian times) being
financed through private military school! There were many applicants and long waiting
lists. In 1990 it costs almost twice as much to send a pupil through QVS as Eton! Each
boy would have standard issue, boy-size clothes. In 1990 a single kilt alone cost over
£350-00 each. From socks to vests and underpants and full military dress boy-size
uniforms, English redcoat-red. They would be able to follow in the footsteps of his father,
learn a trade, basic literacy and learn the pipes, drums or both. It was a school for the
sons of squaddies, not officers, but always to strive for the same standards on the sports
field and military fetes. He would learn how to lead, be tough, strong, how to use and
assemble weaponry of all kinds, and most of all be trusted with secrets. But there was
something else – going to QVS meant joining a brotherhood that spans decades, and old
boys association and was/is very strong. QVS was/is a regiment in its own right, with its
own colours and traditions, and each boy wears his father’s regimental insignia on his
uniform and pipes. The sound of the pipes would send shivers down the spine, little
soldiers in bright red tunics with hunting Stuart kilts would march in perfect formation,
their Glenn Garry tassels blowing in the wind and their shoes so polished you use them as
a mirror.
What could be more perfect? Much of the school business was shrouded in secrecy and
was protected behind the OSA. Even the finances was often hidden and many of the
traditions were unwritten and rituals were common, trials of strength and stamina run by
the older boys who endured suffering themselves as young boys and felt duty bound to
continue the tradition. Fagging was common, young boys treated brutally by older boys
which was tolerated by the staff. Bullying is good for you! Teachers would teach boys
and boys teach other boys and so adfinitum.
The sound of boots marching and sergeant majors screaming commands and boys
obeying, ‘Yes, Sa!’ ‘No, Sa!”. Black cars with official Insignia arrived and Officers with
Sam brown and stick under their arms visited the school, saluting and almost goosestepping
around the place, were held in great reverence. Boys saluted saying ‘Sa!’. On
Parent’s day and parades, the parents were almost afraid of the staff and very submissive,
especially the mothers. The children were taught not to complain, never to tell because
this was weakness and who knows you might break down under interrogation by the
enemy one day, so do not tell anything ‘we are training you up for this’ how easy it is to
fool young boys.
Father: How are you son?
son: Fine…but dad they………:
Father: stand up straight son
Son: But dad they…they…?
Father: never complain son, a real man doesn’t complain, never complain
Son: yes dad, OK
Father: A good man doesn’t complain son, right! That’s life son, that’s the way it goes
Mother: and your father may be promoted to major soon and think of the pension when
he retires!’
Son: ….well….errrr…..well I guess I must be OK then.
The parents rarely knew of the secret horrors that awaited their sons, broken bones which
happened when they fell down the steps or an ‘accident’ in rugby – rugby! haaa there’s
an excuse! A bully’s paradise and the teachers just turned a blind eye – part of school
tradition, we must not interfere, they have to learn to be tough”. Several staff were ex-
Navy sub-mariners and commanders. Boys had no one to speak to, to pour their hearts
out to. I was approached in the early hours of the morning by boys. I was horrified and
afraid of what they told me. There were no guidance teachers, advisors. Matrons were
just skivvies and trained to get on with their work and keep their mouths shut. It was like
stepping back in time! QVS was/is an anachronism. I was to learn that many teachers
were masons, as was the head teacher and another housemasters, and of course, the man
who ran the show, The Brigadier. Boys were told that women were there to obey and
behave or be beaten by bigger, stronger men. Women Full time teachers only came in
after 1992. Housemaster and teachers having signed OSA were loath to discuss personal
problems, pensions were at stake, promotions and futures. We had to write reports and
99% of complaints were filed in the bin. Parents, usually serving military were loath to
complain lest their promotion or pension prospects were endangered. Dealings were
mainly through their COs.
Housemasters used to be army majors but then they brought Civvies in, in the 70s to cope
with increasing academic challenges. When I was originally for interviewed the job I told
the head teacher that nothing stands still or it stagnates, that my intention was to keep
abreast of modern education developments to bring the school out of the 19th Century and
into the 90s and prepare for a new 21st Century. He seemed to like that and I got the job
based on my experience after five years previously working in a boarding school in
Shropshire.
I was in for a shock! Older boys were allowed to use younger boys as slaves. Naughty
boys were given to older boys to punish (fagging) - I was told this was traditional – an
unwritten code and I would not understand their ways because this was Scotland and I
was English. I strongly objected and started to question the older boys, to write reports
objecting to these traditions. As time went by more and more boys opened up and told
the most dreadful and appalling stories. I fell into disrepute among staff. The Brigadier
and military contingencies (the real rulers of the school) wanted me out. (Headteacher
gave me an excellent reference before I left, by the way!)
I was in for a shock! One of the main problems was who do you complain to? There was
no clear complaints procedure. There were official looking bodies of people called HMCs
who spoke with posh , authoritative English accents who would pretend to be
considering your written complaints, in mock complaints meetings, who took months
to answer a single letter with no real answer at all! They even posed as a committee
representative to appear sympathetic and take notes as you spoke, then when you had
gone tear it all up and throw in the bin. I was told this had gone on for years! Meanwhile
I would be fooled into thinking the procedures were being followed, but never a word
came back.. I found out later the reports were never filed and recorded at all and the
HMCs mysteriously gone, non-existent.
It all started when I refused to go to tea with a prince. “You fool” other staff said,
“you have ruined a great career and a good pension!” I was alarmed at the brutality and if
it was the last thing I did I would stop it once and for all – job or no job. I was naïve to
think it would be all so easy. My wife and I refused to go to our places by the side of
Prince Andrew at the mess meal table, in protest at the many unheard voices and
suffering of young boys. I told the brigadier to stop playing soldiers and “get his act
together”. No one had ever spoken like that to him before. Some of the stories the boys
told me were horrifying and I found myself fighting for the child’s right to complain
and be heard, and be happy, to grow up in a caring, family atmosphere of trust I
recalled the poet’s words:
“for we can house their bodies but not their souls – for their souls dwell in the house of
tomorrow where you cannot come, not even in your dreams” (Children from The Prophet
Khalil Gibran).
I said on several occasions that some day, I believe, one of these boys will pick up a
machine gun, which he was trained to use at QVS, and murder innocent people in a
shopping Mal or public place, because he was abused and deeply disturbed as a child at
QVS. “When?” they ask: I don’t know, it’s time bomb, that the results of secret
organisations and people are allowed to act with impunity. We all have an accounting and
a responsibility to these lads! They do not belong to the Ministry of Defence they are
our responsibility, they are the seeds of tomorrow and they have a right to be happy and
grow up in a disciplined and caring environment, whether its Scotland or anywhere else
on earth.
I told the police, the social service, child-line, Esther Rantzen and others NSPCC, and
dozens of agencies; all of them ignored me. I eventually wrote to parents and told them
that their children did not belong to the MOD, but to them, and the children’s welfare
was all that mattered; that their children have a right to be here and be happy. That
joining the army is not the only career and its OK if they like poetry and literature and
hate Rugby, because we are all different; that there are many battles in life and not all of
them are won with guns and brutality. I told the head teacher this was no way to run a
school in the 90s and that the MOD were not genuinely concerned with the educational
process or care of the young. But alas! The powers were above him, he was more of a
figurehead, a puppet ruler under command of the brigadier.
There was confusion between the culture of secrecy and genuine confidences which are
in place to protect the innocent.
As housemaster I saw myself acting in Loco Parentis and I wanted to know where the
boys were, what they were dong and whether they were happy or otherwise. Boys would
go away on weekend military camps and with the brigadier to his home or homes of top
brass or HMC or High society Perthshire people, Fiscals Sheriffs, Police Officials. They
had to take their kilts and clean underwear and I was not given a contact address. What
went on at these parties was secret but some boys were very disturbed. Older boys with
younger boys. I became disturbed too, screams in the dorm at night, empty beds, rituals
in dark places and used warm, filled, condoms hurriedly abandoned; fear throughout
every age group. And the teachers knew about it. I complained but was ignored.
I was advised to get out. What was I supposed to do? I had no pastoral training, and no
one to talk to. I told the Police and social Services but to no avail. The staff cut me off,
missiles thrown at my window, and I was warned to keep my mouth shut. I was living
dangerously in a Mason stronghold. I picked the phone up one day and I was growled at,
like a bear was on the other end. I was fuming mad to say the least!! Eventually the
Police came and bashed down the door of home and took House cash and House records,
then arrested me, took me to Dunblane Police station where I was interviewed for over an
hour by special detectives brought from Edinburgh. Never from that day to this have I
had any explanation for that action. In 1993/94 I took the sword again and found I was
totally blocked and alone. They owe me a lot more than an explanation.
I wrote to Andrew Mellor in 1992/3, Scotland’s guidance advisor at the time and he was
appalled and showed a determination to help me. Then suddenly out of the blue he was
promoted to Chief Bullying Officer and the communicating stopped.
Hamilton’s friend, fellow housemaster and primary teacher Ben Philip, (Mason), died
aged 44 in some freak accident in the school hall in December 1993 (!?) I think that
Philip’s death was suspicious to say the least; I think he was a man with a conscience and
about to crack ……and a brother mason surgeon filled in the death certificate with an
appropriate bogus cause of death. If I had have stayed at QVS I would have been dead
too. Jim Wallace helped me as my MP, but said he hit a brick wall. The MOD threw the
OSA at me, the HMI virtually ignored me, shame on them! But Wallace forced them (94)
to send me a progress report to show the details of changes that had been brought in the
school since I left a female AHT has been appointed, and the introduction of individual
rooms instead of dorms, and last but not least, girl pupils!
So here we have the stage set which led to 16 children and teacher lying needlessly
dead in a Dunblane graveyard. What possible connection is there? Two dead men, a
gun club, vulnerable little boys and a nest of masons. These deceitful men have been
hiding behind a screen of apparent respectability for decades, centuries even, highranking
respectable persons preying on young boys who were conditioned to remain
silent, thinking they were heroes by not telling. Not all boys were abused and these were
often the abusers and bullies themselves, and will be in a hurry to defend the honour of
the school.
In the HMI’s report I was accused of exaggerating, but they never interviewed me
or spoke with me at all, not did they send me a report. It was as if I did not exist.
There were serious reports of abuse in the fifties that never made it out of the QVS gates!
Paedophilia is not new, it was and is today a huge problem, a cancer in society. All
hidden behind the OSA! Even Dickens tried to expose it and we can see some the
characters like Oliver Twist and the Beadle. Dickens was told that he would not have sold
his books if he told too much. This is what I firmly believe but cannot prove, try as I will:
QVS was a perfect cover for institutional physical and sexual abuse, at first, orphan boys
and, on and off, over decades QVS has supplied children (with sealed lips) for abuse,
“Where the carcass is, there the eagles gather”. They were accessible to ‘eagles’ like
top brass military, politicians, Police Officials, Sheriffs, Fiscals and successful business
people in Perthshire, and fools like me could be squashed, swallowed up or sent to some
island somewhere. They all gather at the water hole. Outrageous you say? There are
similar stories from Wellbeck college and Duke of York, where names of the famous are
well known associations including famous Statesmen. The link is masons, masters of
secrecy and deception, which is where Hamilton comes in to the story, the weak link in
the powerful chain of abusers. Here we have a perfect situation where boys, sworn to
secrecy and parents under orders to keep quiet, helpless to complain. Hamilton was
unbalanced and had power by knowledge. This is why he was allowed to have guns.
He was in on the secret and knew names of those other paedophilic members.
If those names get out even now after 12 years there will be a riot and the press will have
a field day! Lives and careers will be ruined! Is this why Hamilton’s file went missing
only hours after the Killings? Is this why Lord Cullen who I believe was a QVS
Commissioner, was appointed to preside over the Hamilton investigations? This is how
Masons operate, they control everything and their allegiance is to each other. No wonder
they want a 100-year embargo on the Hamilton case!
HMC were invited into Office not appointed by interview, and included head teachers,
Police, top military Brass (retired), Fiscals and generally rich, high Society people. Iain
Laing was chief Commissioner of QVS in 1990/91. After I complained in 1991 these
HMCs suddenly disappeared into thin air. But I got nowhere. I am just a foolish teacher,
Mr nobody, who they squashed like a fly, the proverbial fool on the Hill, “the man with a
thousand voices talking perfectly loud…but nobody ever hears him…they know he’s just
a fool” (Beatles 1967).
And I spoke out long before Hamilton committed his crime. The Police knew this
man had an unhealthy interest in little boys and guns and that he was a friend of the
Police and QVS a frequent visitor to the shooting range. I saw him but I had no idea
who he was at the time. I was never a member of any gun club, just a teacher doing
my job caring for boys.
I am most angry at the HMI. I confided in them with details. My allegations were never
investigated except by the Police and their file remains closed to all including
Wallace, my MP. But the HMI betrayed a teacher. They never interviewed me – no one
ever did – I did not exist! They interviewed pupils and parents who were briefed by the
MOD and known to be loyal to the QVS management. QVS was under their auspices.
They failed the community and destroyed their own credibility. The English HMI were
frozen into disbelief when I copied the material to them in London in 1994, and the GTC,
of which I am a registered member, were equally helpless. In 2000 at the inspection of
Baltasound Junior High School, I called them to a private meeting; the HMI were
positively uneasy with me and ‘bit my head off’ when I referred to the QVS.
I did some research some years ago and found that masons are not only an anachronism
but are powerfully implicated in nearly all cases of institutional abuse of orphan children
going back over years in England, Wales and Scotland, Dickens’s Beadle lives! Even if
they are not direct perpetrators of abuse, they hide or disappear vital files that prevent the
matter from going to court, appoint bogus fellow mason investigators like Lord Cullen -
and all to protect their brethren and their own reputations. Biblical language is the only
way I can think of aptly describing masons: “this brood of serpents”, “these whitewashed
graves full of dead men’s bones”? Secret societies bring shame to Scotland.
Circles and windmills
Why don’t old boys, now men, complain? Because they are invited into the ‘care’ of ‘the
mason fold’ with all its privileges - wheels within wheels, windmills and circles? This is
the way secret societies perpetuate themselves. Would you want people to know how you
were treated at QVS if you had a young wife and a family? The old boys association is
very, very strong and mason controlled. Not all boys were abused, maybe only a
relatively small percentage. Expect hundreds to rally to the defence of QVS! who will
say how wonderful were their days at QVS.
The most precious resource is people! How can we raise up a new nation, as part of a
cancerous system based secret societies? Scotland is a new nation full of talent and
tremendous natural resources. The young are the seeds of tomorrow, our scientists,
lawyers, all kinds of professionals, a responsible electorate - the young people – the
Scotland of tomorrow? Somebody has got to stop masons!
My wife once described me as a general going into battle - with no army. Yes, I would
like justice to be done and masons discredited, but I have done my bit. Maybe some day
someone will have the courage (and good luck) to tear down that barrier and expose that
secret societies who hide behind respectability and use their fellow human beings to
satisfy their own gratification and desire – and then further abuse their power to cover it
all over for 100 years, when they are safe, long gone from the scene and not accountable
any more. Is it any wonder they want their membership of the lodge to be a secret!
They may say: who is this man who says such terrible things? Let him stand in a Court of
Law and prove it! I can’t, not now. I am just an ordinary teacher, not even promoted.
Who am I to stand up against the might of the MOD who have sent countless men to their
deaths in war, or tell the proud Cullen that he is corrupt and shames his countrymen?
If I had had help all those years ago and responsible agencies had seen the proverbial ‘red
light for danger’, AND INVESTIGATED MY ALLEGATIONS THOROUGHLY, then
maybe Thomas Hamilton could have been stopped, blacklisted and disarmed by a
responsible Central Police Force.
And maybe, just maybe, those wee graves in a cold Dunblane graveyard would be green
grass. Maybe there would be still another dedicated teacher like Gwen who died so
bravely, and maybe, just maybe another 16, twelve year olds, like the pride of Scotland’s
youth, paused ready to be launched into their lives as a new nation is born!
I have climbed the great mountain and crossed the wide river, I have put my job and life
on the line - I can do no more. I’ve had enough and my family have suffered too; now I
want to go home to myself. For my sins, I have settled in my exile on this most northerly
Isle; I have fought the battle and lost, and now I want to tend my oysters in peace. Let
others fight the battle, I’ve had enough. I cannot answer any more question, give names
or details, videos. If you want answers to the Hamilton killings then QVS is the place to
go and DIG. I would like to be left in peace, I can do no more now.
GH
Lieutenant General Sir Peter Graham
Gordon’s Museum
St Luke’s, Viewfield Road
Aberdeen
AB15 7XH
17th February 03
Dear Sir,
Members of the Board of Her Majesty’s Commissioners
Queen Victoria School Dunblane 1990-1996.
I believe that you served as a member on the Board of Management in the above and wonder if
you could point me in the right direction to obtain details of the individuals who belonged to a
group entitled “Friends of QVS”.
My request is a serious one and is in no way part of any commercial enterprise but is rather a
matter of public importance.
Thanking you in anticipation of your cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
Lord Ross
33 Lauder Road
Edinburgh
EH9 2JG
17th March 03
Dear Sir,
Queen Victoria School Dunblane, 1989-1992
I thank you for your letter and regret that I have to ask more questions which I would be
obliged if you would consider answering and while I have had no indication to date that
the allegations have found any corroboration among the Commissioners of QVS I must
be seen to be taking this matter seriously and make no apology for asking these further
questions which you are of course at liberty to ignore.
I am looking into a complaint that has been raised with me by an ex-employee of the
above establishment, which I understand you were associated with between 1989 and
1992. The nature of my enquiries which I must take seriously centre on three allegations
of circumstances pertaining during the above period, which are as follows:
1/ That a group of prominent people with no official connection to the school, who were
known as the “Friends of QVS”, visited the school and took boys home for weekends.
2/ That Thomas Hamilton (The Dunblane killer) was known as a “Friend of QVS” and
had access to and influence in the Queen Victoria School.
3/ That there were allegations of widespread Bullying and Abuse of some of the pupils by
fellow pupils and others.
I would be obliged if you could tell me anything you know of these allegations which
have been the subject of representations by me to all of the Commissioners who I have
been able to contact to date. If you can advise me of any contact addresses on the list then
please do, as I would like to attempt to do justice to my research.
Should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue. Petitioner to the Scottish Parliament.
Lord Lang of Monkton
17th March 03
Dear Sir,
Queen Victoria School Dunblane, 1989-1992
I am looking into a complaint that has been raised with me by an ex-employee of the
above establishment, which I understand you were associated with between 1989 and
1992. The nature of my enquiries which I must take seriously centre on three allegations
of circumstances pertaining during the above period, which are as follows:
1/ That a group of prominent people with no official connection to the school, who were
known as the “Friends of QVS”, visited the school and took boys home for weekends.
2/ That Thomas Hamilton (The Dunblane killer) was known as a “Friend of QVS” and
had access to and influence in the Queen Victoria School.
3/ That Bullying and Abuse of some of the pupils took place by fellow pupils and others.
I would be obliged if you could tell me anything you know of these allegations which
have been the subject of representations by me to all of the Commissioners who I have
been able to contact to date. If you can advise me of any contact addresses on the
attached list then please do, as I would like to attempt to do justice to my research.
Should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue. Petitioner to the Scottish Parliament.
276 G.J. Ogilvie
actually done for a living? - Well, that's all I knew about, yes.
How did you know about the boys' camps? - He told
me.
How frequently did you have talks, conversations, with
him? - Not a lot but one or two conversations I had with him. Out
the back in the garden or on the road.
If you met in the street would you acknowledge each
other? - If I was on the same side as him, yes, but if I was on the
other side, no.
Would you stop in the street or would it be very rarely
you would actually have occasion to stop and speak to him? - No,
I wouldn't stop and speak to him.
So that on the occasions when there was some
conversation between you, who was it that started the conversaton
off? - It was him and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Can you remember the first time that happened? -
Well, if I was maybe out the back hanging out my washing, he was
there. I never heard him coming but he was there and he would
speak and I just got a fright and I would talk but then I just left him.
Did he ever do anything that you saw that either upset
you or caused you any anxiety? - Well, he didn't really upset me
but he asked me into his house and I was caught unawares and I
went into his house but I was most uneasy. That sort of upsetting.
Was it just one occasion you were inside the house? -
One occasion, yes.
Apart from that, and I will come back to that in a
minute, there was not anything else you were aware of going on in
the area which caused you any concern? - Just the way he went
about. He was a sort of odd character. The way he walked and
spoke.
Tell/
277 G.J. Ogilvie
Tell me something about the way he walked? - He
sort of crept. He was very head down and sort of crept along.
What about the way he spoke? - He was very proper
and soft spoken.
He has been described as a slow, deliberate speaker?
- Yes.
Was there any sign in the activity around his house
that he had an interest in boys' clubs? - Oh, yes.
What were the signs? - Well, he used to get a van
from Central Region and he told me it was for camps on Loch
Lomondside or at Queen Victoria School and he used to have big
boards and he would take them down the back and paint them
white. That was for flooring at the camps for the boys to sleep on.
Did you learn anything about whether he charged very
much for these camps? - Yes.
Did you learn that from him? - Yes, I did.
What did he tell you about that? - £70 or £80 per
week.
When you saw a van around the house, did you see
boys there as well? - Once.
What age were they? - Well, I would have said
between maybe six and 10 years of age.
What were they doing? - Well, they were in the van
and he would put in big rolls, bales, of toilet rolls and washing up
liquid but the boys would be in the van or running round the van.
They were never in his house.
Tell me about the circumstances in which he invited
you into the house? - Well, I was coming home one night round
about 9 and he was at his front door looking up towards Annfield
and he had a sort of telescopic thing in his hand and he was look at
Annfield through it and he saw me coming and he just said "Mrs.
Ogilvie, can I have a word?" and/
278 G.J. Ogilvie
and I said "Well, what is it, Tommy?". "Just a minute" he said and
his front door was open and he didn't go to shut it. He walked in in
front of me and I walked in behind him and into his sitting room and
he asked me to sit down. Well, I did sit down.
Roughly when was this? - Well, it was the summer
time. I can't remember if it was last summer or the summer before.
It wasn't any earlier than that.
When you sat down what happened? - He asked me
to look at a video.
What was on the video? - Small boys.
How long did it last? - Well, he fast-forwarded it and
stopped it and let it go for a bit and then he would fast-forward it
again and let it go for a good bit. That is what he did all the time
and he was very proud because he said "These are my boys". That
is what he said. I sort of had my back to him and I was looking out
the window more often than I was looking at the video.
How long do you reckon it lasted, showing you this
video? - The bit that he showed me, well, I think about 40 minutes.
And can you tell me what you saw on the video? -
Just small boys.
Doing what? - Well, they were walking along or
maybe running. I can't remember if they were jumping over a
wooden horse. I can't remember that but I think there was one bit
that there was that on it but I'm not too sure. But they just seemed
to be marching in lines, the boys.
Did they approach the camera at any stage? - Well,
they turned their head towards the camera.
As they walked past the camera? - Yes.
So they would come right up to it more or less and
look at it and walk past? - No, they were walking to the camera,
the video, they were walking but they were never looking straight
singly. It was just as if they were in a line and they were
photographed as they were walking up. They didn't look/
Was it eventually paid? - Eventually, yes.
How much was it for? - £280. Originally it was
supposed to be £250.
In September and December were you being paid for
temporarily assisting him? - Yes, depending on the nights of the
week.
In December I think you brought your relationship to
an end? - Yes, because like, the only reason I had -- you might
think it strange because I was at Dumbarton and I was travelling
away up to Stirling, but the only reason I came to Stirling was my
girlfriend at the time was at Stirling University so therefore I had a
contact within Stirling, so it was quite convenient for me to work in
Stirling.
What was your reason for bringing it to an end? -
Well, sometimes he would maybe have me pick him up outside his
house and he would have his camera stuff, equipment with him, and
I felt that I was getting like a taxi service rather than a sports coach.
It wasn't concern over what he was doing at the clubs
that made this end? - No.
When did you next hear from him? - It must have
been -- well, after I said I wasn't coming to work for him he kept on
phoning to say are you coming up and I said "No." It would be
maybe May time.
What was the purpose of him contacting you then? -
That was because he was looking for somebody for a sports camp
in summer 1995, and he was actually asking myself whether I would
be willing to work with him for two weeks.
Did you agree to that? - No, I just felt like it was only
two weeks work, and I was unemployed and obviously the school
period is over six weeks, so I was hoping to gain further
employment.
Was it knowing about the previous year's camp that
was influencing your view? - Well, to a certain/
certain extent. I never particularly liked the fact the kids had to do
so much strenuous work. The sleeping arrangements weren't
particularly good as I previously mentioned.
Did he do anything to try to persuade you? - He
increased the amount of money that I was going to work for.
To what? - I think it was £300.
In fact, you didn't take that job? - That's right.
You had another job? - That's right.
What was that? - It was actually by Mr. Hamilton I
actually gained that employment. It was at the International School
teaching Spanish kids sports.
Where was that? - Queen Victoria School.
Was that a longer period than two weeks? - It was for
four weeks. I gained that employment because Mr. Hamilton had
gave my number on to somebody else.
Well, you were at that training....? - It was a school.
While you were there did you go to Dunblane High
School Club at all? - Yes. He phoned me up a couple of times
saying "Why don't you come down and see" -- some of the boys
who had been at the previous camp were actually there in 1995 and
he said "Why don't you come down and see how they are getting
on".
Did you go? - I went down three times.
Did Mr. Hamilton have any assistance at the camp? -
Yes, he had one qualified teacher and two other students.
Did you see them there? - Yes.
Did they know what they were doing, or appear to
know what they were doing? - Yes. It was just virtually similar to
exactly why I was there,/
there, i.e., while the kids were doing gymnastics, and they were in
their trunks once again.
How many kids were there? - I estimate 25/28.
So it was bigger than the year before? - Yes.
On one of the visits you were there did you come
across a child who was upset? - Yes. There was a kid in a corner
crying. I asked him -- no, I never asked the kid directly -- I asked
what was wrong with the kid and they said that he was homesick
and he was upset. It was just he was homesick and therefore he
was in a corner crying. I thought it was a bit harsh and when
talking to him........
Did he say whether he had run away? - Yes, I think
he did. He said maybe two boys had run away the previous night
and he said they came back and their parents had been notified.
The parents seemed quite happy to have the kids continue.
Were the children wearing black swimming trunks
again? - On the occasions I was there I was doing gymnastics,
yes, and they were in their swimming trunks.
Generally speaking at that camp did the children
appear to you to be happy or unhappy? - I don't think they enjoyed
the gymnastics; I think they found that quite hard work. On the
whole they seemed -- no, I never really had that much contact at the
time. They seemed okay, yes.
What about the people who were working with them
this time? Was he getting on with them? - He said he had a
couple of problems with them because, in particular the school
teacher, because I didn't think they were particularly impressed by
his teaching methods, i.e. kids being in trunks, the same as I
thought myself, a bit strange.
Were there any photographs taken on any of your
visits? - He did take several when I went, yes. There was a
picture taken, a group picture outside.
How/
just came out the blue, unexpected as I say.
Can you say whether he was in the school grounds or
not? - Yes, he was definitely, because had he been any other way,
that is to say coming from the back -- there is a road that comes in
the back of the school, and we would have seen him coming down
that road when we were coming to the gates. He was in the
annexe, one of the annexes to the school.
As you walked along the path was the school to your
right or your left? - Left.
The gates you are talking about, were they to your
right or your left? - Well, they were a'fore us.
In front of you? - Yes.
These gates lead to where? - The gates lead out to
Springfield Road, the gates of the school. They come off
Springfield Road past the church and into the school playground.
How are you able to tell where Hamilton had actually
come from? - Well, I would have seen him had he been in that part
of the road from the back of the school.
Because you didn't see him where you would expect to
see him if he was walking in the ordinary course like yourself, is the
only place he could have come from.......? - The annexe to the
school.
Did you speak to him? - Yes.
What did you say to him? - I turned round and said,
"Where did you come from?" and he said "I was away to organise
another boys' club". I just went to ask a question and -- he seemed
agitated as if he had been caught out.
Did you address him by name? - Yes.
What name did you call him? - John.
Why did you call him John? - Well, I wasn't thinking
properly at the time. It is actually a little -- I thought his name was
John and he/
he brought us up on that and he says, "My name is not John, it is
Tom".
This fairly unsavoury character whom you have told us
lives across the road from you -- you didn't know his name for sure?
- I knew his name, it was just a misinterpretation at the moment.
Are you sure about it now that it was him? -
Certainly, definitely. There is no other one in Scotland like him.
I think you were asking him where he had been. Did
you ask him anything else in that conversation? - Yes. I asked
him what he meant by starting a boys' club at a quarter past 11 at
night in the dead of winter, and he suddenly went on -- what I
wanted to ask him, I asked him for the name of the Stirling Rifle and
Pistol Club's address or the telephone number of it.
Why did you ask him that? - My estranged wife had
told us previous to that she had been to the rifle range with him at
Dunblane Victoria School and she had been embezzling money
which was not to my knowledge, and I was wanting to rectify that
with the gun club, I had nothing whatsoever to do with it, and I was
wanting to contact them either by phone or by writing to the
Secretary to point that out.
So you took this opportunity to ask him for what
information? - The Stirling Rifle and Pistol Club's phone number,
or the address of that place. He told us it wasn't a static building
they had. He informed us that might have been in his mail, that is
to say the telephone number or the address.
Now, you told me earlier you had seen him on some
other occasion before the 13th March. When was that? - That
was the 3rd of March we were talking about.
When was the next time you saw him? -
Approximately the 10th of March. We were going down, Helen
Peters and I, my girlfriend, were going down to Cecil Street Garage
at night to get the morning paper that comes in early, and he
stopped me, he wanted to talk about the request I had made of/
of him.
How long after the evening you have told us about
was that? - After the 2nd or 3rd March, it would be approximately
seven or eight days.
Did you speak to Hamilton on that occasion? - Yes,
in Cecil Street.
On the week of the Dunblane incident did you see
him? - No. My girlfriend was looking out of the window and she
said, "There's Thomas Hamilton away by".
What day was that? - The Monday.
Two days before? - She brought it to my attention it
was a different colour of briefcase than he normally had. It was
normally black, as if we would get the assumption he was into
photography, but I knew otherwise through the estranged wife, he
was in the gun club along with her.
This is the Monday -- what time? - Approximately 9
o'clock, half past 9.
What was he carrying? - It was a tan briefcase with
insertions for guns.
Where was he going? - Going out the street.
From his house? - Yes.
Did he have any transport there? - No, he was
walking.
Describe to me please the briefcase? - It was a tan
briefcase, one that I had seen about in the military that officers had
shaped for taking the contents of guns.
This is something for transporting guns, is it? - Yes.
It is a briefcase.
But specifically for guns? - Yes.
Is that the last time you ever saw him? - Yes.
No cross-examination.
MR./
Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terr
Dunfermline
Fife
KY12 0LU
F.A.O. Colin Boyd, The Lord Advocate
Crown Office
25 Chambers Street
EDINBURGH
EH1 1LA
Monday 3rd March 03
Dear Sir,
Petition PE 306 Calling for a register of membership of organisations such as the
Freemasons for members of the judiciary.
I am the petitioner in the above petition and am currently responding to an invitation by
the Justice 2 Committee of the Scottish Parliament to provide further information.
Specifically they have invited me to provide examples of instances where a judge’s
membership of the Freemasons has caused a problem.
In the course of my research into the Dunblane Inquiry I have heard allegations of abuse
of pupils at the Queen Victoria School Dunblane in 1991. I would be obliged if you
could advise me as to whether any of the 108 documents listed in the National Archive
Index contain any mention of the Queen Victoria School? The fact that there is no
mention of the school on the document Index is not conclusive proof that the documents
do not contain reference to the school.
I believe the descriptions of the documents are misleading. I say this after obtaining a
copy of correspondence from Mr William Burns of South Queensferry who is listed at
Document 105/1-2 as having correspondence with: “the clerk to the Inquiry regarding
possible affiliations of Thomas Hamilton with Freemasonry etc.” The correspondence is
in fact between William Burns and Lord Cullen regarding Lord Cullen’s and police
Officers’ and witnesses’ membership of the Freemasons.
The fact that Lord Cullen did not respond to the submissions of Mr Burns and allowed his
clerk to phone and then write to Mr Burns does not alter the fact that William Burns
made representations to Lord Cullen and the Index description should have reflected this
fact. The terms of his correspondence speak for themselves and are not as stated on the
National Archive Index.
I would urge you to treat this matter seriously as it is necessary for me to establish the
truth or otherwise of allegations made by a housemaster who taught at Queen Victoria
School in 1991. The allegations include claims that pupils at the school were taken home
for weekends by members of a group calling themselves the “Friends of Q.V.S.” some of
who abused the boys.
If you find that there is anything about your own knowledge of the Dunblane Inquiry or
the Queen Victoria School, or if you have ever taken the oath of Entered Apprentice in
Freemasonry or if there is any matter which, if known might preclude you from being
perceived as dealing with this matter objectively perhaps a referral to the Solicitor
General might be considered?
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue. Petitioner
Enclosures: 1 Copy of submissions to the Justice 2 Committee.
Colin Boyd QC
Lord Advocate
Crown Office
Edinburgh
EH1 1LA
20th March 03
Dear Sir,
I wrote to you on 3rd March to ask you certain questions and have since had a letter
from a member of your staff purporting to be a reply on your behalf. Quite apart from
not answering any of the questions that that I asked of you it is not acceptable to me
that a third party enters into matters that require answers from you personally.
I would therefore repeat my questions to you as follows:
Have you ever taken the oath of Entered Apprentice in Freemasonry?
Do you have any personal knowledge or association with Queen Victoria School
Dunblane, which might, if known, give rise to concerns regarding your objectivity in
this matter?
Do you know of any reference to the Queen Victoria School in any of the 100-year
closed documents held by the Scottish Record Office?
A prompt response to these questions would be appreciated, as your answers to these
questions are required. Any such response or your failure to respond will form part of
a publication in the public interest currently being compiled.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terrace
Dunfermline
Fife
KY12 0LU
Tel: 01383 729869
e-mail tomminogue@btinternet.com
Lindsey Anderson
Policy Group
Crown Office
25 Chambers Street
Edinburgh
23rd April 03
Dear Ms Anderson
With reference to your letter of 14th April in response to my letter to the Lord Advocate of 20th March I
would comment as follows:
The matters I wrote to the Lord Advocate on were for him to respond to, particularly in relation to his
having taken the oath of Entered Apprentice in Freemasonry. Your understanding of the Lord
Advocate’s position on this matter does not satisfy or reassure me.
Your statement that the Lord Advocate not being personally aware of any reference to the Queen
Victoria School in any of the 100-year closed records is again less than satisfactory as it comes on the
heels of your statement that the Lord Advocate is so busy that he cannot reply to his own
correspondence and your inference that the 100-year closed documents are so voluminous that the staff
of the National Archives will be kept busy for some time even identifying their content.
I also understand that representations made on my behalf by my legal representatives to allow me to
inspect the documents held under the 100-year embargo have been unsuccessful.
Given that the Crown Office have also decided that the names of all schools be obscured from the 100-
year closed documents it would seem that there is an unwillingness on their part to assist me in my
efforts to establish the veracity or otherwise of the matters relating to that school that have been brought
to my attention.
I will complete my submissions to the Lord Justice Clerk without the benefit of the assistance of the
Crown Office.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
Other Eurorealist sections
Diary Updates Go!
100 Year Embargo
Bet you can't wait that long
For the latest information on this issue request more from Greg e-mail here
with the subject line 'cullen info'
More details at these sites
http://www.official-documents.co.uk/document/scottish/dunblane/duncntnt.htm
You will find the transcript covered day by day at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/justice/dunblane/dunblane-00.asp
However you can download the entire text of the transcript from:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/justice/dunblane/dunblane-01.pdf
You will however require ‘Acrobat 3+’ or better to download and read the .pdf files and
if you wish to download the full transcript it will take about 45 minutes on a normal line
as it is 5,656KB.
HANSARD
House of Lords Official Report Vol. 589 - No. 151 - 12th. May 1998 - WA113 & WA114
Verbatim Transcription:
Thomas Hamilton: Inspector Hughes' Report
Lord Burton asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the Report by Sergeant, now
Inspector, Hughes, of Central Police, into Thomas Hamilton; to list all the charges to which he
recommended consideration for prosecution; and whether they will state why the Report is not
listed in the index or appendix to Lord Cullen's Report into the Dunblane tragedy. [HL1712]
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Lord Sewel:
This report was made to the Procurator Fiscal while Thomas Hamilton was alive. It was
therefore not a submission to Lord Cullen's Inquiry, but the Inquiry took account of it as a
production. Lord Cullen did not list productions in the report or in the appendix. Mr. Hughes'
report is, however, referred to at pages 34 - 36 of Lord Cullen's Report.
Lord Cullen concluded that these productions should have a 100-year closure placed on
them.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
OK - so what does this TELL us?
NOTE: Lord Sewel was 'The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Scottish Office'.
NOTE Lord Burton "to list all the charges to which he recommended consideration for prosecution".
Lord Sewel did not answer this question and gave NO information of the charges recommended.
NOTE: Lord Burton "why the Report is not listed in the index or appendix"
Lord Sewell gave NO answer to this question, he merely confirmed it was not listed.
NOTE: Lord Sewel "This report was made to the Procurator Fiscal while Thomas Hamilton was alive." a mere
statement of source of the submission.
NOTE: Lord Sewel "It was therefore not a submission to Lord Cullen's Inquiry, but the Inquiry took account of it
as a production." This is 'weasel wording' it either was or it was not a submission.
If it was, why is it not listed.
If it was not, why is it referred to by Lord Cullen.
NOTE: Lord Sewel "Lord Cullen did not list productions in the report or in the appendix." We now note the
PLURAL, what other documents and evidence were suppressed during this 'Public Enquiry'?
Why, contrary to precedent and common practice were not ALL documents & evidence listed?
NOTE: Lord Sewel "Mr. Hughes' report is, however, referred to at pages 34 - 36 of Lord Cullen's Report." How
can reference be made to a document/evidence if it was not a submission to the enquiry and is not listed?
NOTE: Lord Sewel "Lord Cullen concluded that these productions should have a 100-year closure placed on
them."
This leads to a host of questions:
1. By what authority can a member of the House of Lords enact a 'closure'?
2. By what authority does Lord Cullen ORDER the Procurator Fiscal?
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3. Why was no reference made in the Report to a matter of such gravity that Lord Cullen enacted a 100-year
closure?
4. How many items have been suppressed by this 'closure'?
5. What other evidence has been with held from the PUBLIC Enquiry?
6. What could be SO important that it requires closure for 100-years! Cabinet war papers are normally released
after 30 years.
I believe that the official answer would be 'to protect the names of victims of paedophilia activities perpetrated by
Thomas Hamilton.' this of course would be a totally inaccurate and misleading answer. Various children are
referred to in the Report and their anonymity is preserved therein by listing them in 'Appendix 2' of Lord Cullen's
Report as '*Anonymous Former Boys Club Member' etc. The anonymity could be preserved by the simple
expedient of use of a 'felt tip pen', which I understand was used in 'The Lawrence Enquiry'.
It becomes increasingly clear that a massive cover-up has and is taking place.
There is every reason to believe that this orchestrated cover-up is with the collusion of parties producing Lord
Cullen's Report, for which Lord Cullen is personally responsible.
Further this cover-up has required the collusion of senior Police Officers.
Further the cover-up has required the collusion of Senior Government Ministers.
Further the cover-up has required the collusion of the Cabinet.
Further the cover-up has required the collusion of the Home Secretary.
Further the cover-up has required the collusion of the Prime Minister.
QUESTION: Do the people of Britain pay for a Report of this stature to be cover-up?
QUESTION: Who is of such a stature that members of the House of Lords, senior Police, Cabinet Ministers, the
Home Secretary, the Prime Minister and others would 'spirit away' documents?
QUESTION: Who else was implicated in Mr. Hughes' Production, which senior politician(S) is being sheltered
by this cover-up and was named by Mr. Hughes, of Central Police, into Thomas Hamilton; listing all the charges
to which he recommended consideration for prosecution?
QUESTION: Was there a case pending against a senior politician linking him with Thomas Hamilton and
paedophile activities, which was suppressed 'because' of the election?
QUESTION: Did George Robertson MP., now Lord Robertson head of N.A.T.O., as is alleged, support the
application for a Firearms Certificate for Thomas Hamilton, stating him to be a man 'suitable and of good
character'. George Robertson was at the time an MP.
Should this be established.
QUESTION: Was George Robertson 'leant on' to make the support.
QUESTION: Would this explain the 'over the top' vociferous activities of George Robertson MP, AFTER the
Dunblane tragedy, against legal firearms and in breach of The Bill of Rights and existing legal legislation.
QUESTION: What documents are being suppressed?
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QUESTION: Was there any connection between any of the following eg. membership of the same Masonic
Lodge:
Thomas Hamilton, any Police Officer in the case, any Cabinet Minister, any MP or Lord Cullen?
QUESTION: Did then Sergeant, now Inspector, Hughes write a report [believed to be 7 pages long] condemning
Hamilton as unsuitable as a Firearms Certificate holder.
QUESTION: Was Mr. MacMurdo, the Assistant Chief Constable of Central Police, responsible for the rejection
of recommendations that Hamilton should not be issued a Firearms Certificate.
QUESTION: Why was Hamilton granted a Firearms Certificate when he was KNOWN to be of unsound and
unstable character?
QUESTION: Why was this not shown in detail in Lord Cullen's Report? Surely this was a major constituent
point that such a Report should have addressed.
DEDUCTIONS: We believe we know the identities of ALL concerned in terms of incriminated by this
information.
We believe that Lord Cullen has by virtue of the cover-up in the Report on the Dunblane Tragedy in which it is
possible that Politicians and Police were responsible, albeit indirectly, for the death of:
Victoria Clydesdale
Emma Crozier
Melissa Currie
Charlotte Dunn
Kevin Hassell
Ross Irvine
David Kerr
Mhairi MacBeath
Gwen Hodson/Mayor
Brett McKinnon
Abigail McLennan
Emily Morton
Sophie North
John Petrie
Joanna Ross
Hanna Scott
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and
Maegan Turner
should be precluded from heading or participating in the Report on the Paddington Rail Tragedy.
We believe that ALL documents, evidence and pertinent data should immediately and forthwith be released to
the public domain as the head of N.A.T.O. seems to be in some way embroiled in the matter and this could prove
to be a risk to the safety and security of the N.A.T.O. Alliance and the Western World.
We believe that ALL documents, evidence and pertinent data should immediately and forthwith be released to
the public domain as as it seems that a PUBLIC Enquiry has been suborned.
We believe that ALL documents, evidence and pertinent data should immediately and forthwith be released to
the public domain as there seems to be a cover-up relating to senior Ministers of Her Majesty's Government.
Should anyone reading this have ANY contribution of fact or evidence material to this apparent cover-up please
take one of two actions:
1. IF YOU WISH to remain anonymous please contact me direct with any information you may wish to impart.
2. IF you are happy to be linked to the ongoing investigation PLEASE join and post your information to
PLEASE whatever you do distribute this 'e'mail as widely as you can - the British Public should be made aware
that there would seem to be solid evidence of a cover-up sheltering senior Government Ministers and employees
of the crown.
PLEASE also be mindful of the security of Britain, N.A.T.O. and the Western World, in the light of the FACTS
above and acquit your duty to defend your Country by ensuring that this information is thoroughly brought to
light.
Thank you ALL for helping to disseminate this information.
Top
I have taken the liberty of transcribing below a letter which was first sent
in November 1996 to The Press & Journal of Aberdeen, HRH the Duke of
Edinburgh and The Gun Club of Great Britain. No response was received.
The substance was as a result sent to The House of Commons subsequently no
response thereto was received.
I have taken the liberty of removing the identity of the original sender for
their own security.
TRANSCRIPT:
"With regard to recent publicity correlating secret organisations with
paedophilia, particularly the Free Masons, I would like to bring to your
attention the link between the abuse of boys at the Queen Victoria School
(QVS), Dunblane. The large presence of Freemasons in that establishment and
the slaughter of 16 children and a teacher at Dunblane by Thomas Hamilton on
13 March 1996. As far as I know no such link was revealed in the Cullen
Report. In June 1994 I released a report about my own experience as a *******
at QVS. A copy of my report was sent to almost every Scottish education
authority in July 1994.
I believe that, had my allegations in 1991 been properly investigated,
there is a strong possibility that Hamilton would have been discovered. His
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signatures in the visitors log have been removed. The awful slaughter in
March 1996 could have been prevented by an impartial police investigation.
In my report of June 1994 I accused the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the
Scottish Office and the Procurator Fiscal of a deliberate cover up and of
maladministration at the QVS.
The Masonic presence in the local police and the QVS was strong. It is a
fact that Hamilton was enrolled in Lodge Number 1417 (Garrow Hill) in 1977.
He was granted a firearms certificate in 1997. It was no idle boast when
Hamilton claimed he was "a friend of the police" (Masons). In March 1996,
just after the slaughter, Hamilton's file went missing. Hamilton was a
regular visitor to the primary departments of QVS. I saw him on several
occasions as a friend of a housemaster. He was one of many visitors. I
presume the school security had cleared him. Nothing of this was in the
Cullen report. Lord Cullen is a Mason with a duty to protect brother Masons.
There is evidence to show corruption and maladministration by the police.
The following statement will show why the police are not going to be
investigated.
Top
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Lord George Robertson,
NATO Secretary General,
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,
Brussels,
BELGIUM
Saturday 5th April 03
Dear Sir,
Queen Victoria School Dunblane 1989-91
I am presently investigating a complaint made by an ex-housemaster of the above school
and to that end have written to the Patron, Commissioners, Brigadier, and Headmaster of
the school in an attempt to verify the allegations that have been made by the exhousemaster.
The nature of my enquiries which I must take seriously centre on three allegations of
circumstances pertaining during the above period, which are as follows:
1/ That a group of prominent people with no official connection to the school, who were
known as the “Friends of QVS”, visited the school and took boys home for weekends.
2/ That Thomas Hamilton (The Dunblane killer) was known as a “Friend of QVS” and
had access to and influence in the Queen Victoria School.
3/ That Bullying and Abuse of some of the pupils took place by fellow pupils and others.
I ask you if you know of any of the above matters due to the fact that the ex-housemaster
states that you were a visitor to the Queen Victoria School at the time he was employed
there. I would also state that to date of the many Commissioners and others who have
been contacted there is little or no corroboration of the allegations to date.
Thanking you in anticipation of your assistance.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
Lord George Robertson
Secretary General
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
Boulevard Leopold III
Brusells
Belgium
18th April 03
Dear Sir,
With reference to your letter of 14th April 03 I would comment as follows:
My letter of 3rd April advised you in polite terms of who I was and what I was enquiring
about.
The fact that you claim to know of no enquiry is therefore puzzling as I thought that I had
stated in polite and concise terms the nature of my enquiry. However if my letter was too
brief then perhaps I owe you an apology for this and would clarify by expanding on the
nature of the circumstances leading to my enquires as follows:
Circumstances leading to my investigation of the ex-housemaster’s
complaint.
In February 2003 as a petitioner to the Scottish Parliament I was asked by the Justice 2
Committee to provide evidence of specific instances where a Judges/Sheriffs membership
of the Freemasons had caused problems. I am not alone in Scotland in perceiving the
Dunblane Inquiry as a case where Masonic membership had played a part in the events
leading up to the Inquiry and during the Inquiry and cited this as a case in point.
I was aware that many newspaper stories and Internet articles have dealt with the
supposed Masonic influence of Thomas Hamilton having allowed him to obtain firearms
against police advice. A commonly broadcast theory is that Hamilton’s connections to
prominent figures in public life had allowed him access to Queen Victoria School
Dunblane and that these facts had been instrumental in Lord Cullen (a Mason) imposing
an illegal 100-year ban on documents relating to Hamilton’s activities prior to the
shootings. I decided to research these assertions.
I contacted an ex-housemaster at QVS who was reported to have made numerous
complaints about bullying and abuse of pupils at QVS between 1989 and 1992. A website
carried a letter from the housemaster which alleged that one regular and apparently
influential visitor to the school between 1989 and 1992 was Thomas Hamilton the
Dunblane killer. After a lengthy correspondence I visited the ex-housemaster who
amongst other things claimed that the MOD (HM Commissioners), Scottish Office,
Procurator Fiscal, and Stirling Council would not act on his numerous complaints. The
ex-housemaster also believed that Freemasonry had been a factor in the unreported abuse
of pupils at QVS and also had adversely influenced the investigation of his complaints.
I have been attempting to independently corroborate some of the main allegations made
by the ex-housemaster. It was as part of this process of corroborating or otherwise what
the ex-housemaster had claimed that I wrote to you. I wrote to ask if you were a visitor to
the school as he had stated that this was the case. No other claim or inference on your
presence at Queen Victoria School was claimed by the ex-housemaster or inferred by me.
You were simply one of a number of VIP’s noticed by the ex-housemaster at the school.
If you were familiar with the school I hoped that you could confirm or otherwise your
knowledge of the matters detailed in the three questions I asked you. I have asked similar
questions of many other people who were associated with the school and the many
responses received will form the basis of a report of my findings. I will be making my
findings known to a Commissioner of the school, Lord Gill shortly.
As a concerned citizen looking into the truth of allegations that have been made to me I
find your remark that I am impertinent to be offensive, ill advised, and warranting an
apology. The claims I have sought to verify are serious and require that I am satisfied or
otherwise with their content before making them known to the relevant authorities. The
only way I know of doing this is to ask those involved. To date your reaction to my
questions is unique in its aggressive tone.
I have no objection to you sending my letter to whomever you see fit and I will not be
slow to act in a like manner but I fail to see why you would wish to send my letter to the
police, far less the Chief Constable of Central Region. If I did understand why you would
consider it appropriate to send my letter to the police I would have thought that you
would have sent letter to Fife Constabulary, as that is the police district in which I live.
I hope that my explanation of the background to my enquiry will reassure you of my
sincerity in this matter and perhaps you might retract your police complaint. I would also
ask that you reconsider your decision not to assist me in what is, after all, a matter of
public interest. I would however respect your decision to decline my request and that is
your prerogative.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terrace
Dunfermline
Fife
KY12 0LU
Tel:01383 729869
e-mail: tomminogue@btinternet.com
Det. Supt. John Anderson
Central Scotland Police
Police Headquarters
Randolphfield
Stirling
FK8 2HD
Saturday 14th June 03
Dear Sir,
Queen Victoria School Dunblane
Given that I am the subject of the correspondence you make reference to I would be
obliged if you could send me a copy of Lord Robertson’s letter of 16th April to you so
that I may consider the matters you refer to in context.
On the understanding that I am not fully appraised of the background against which your
letter of 3rd June (received 12th June) was written, I would comment as follows:
It is true that some of the matters I allude to are indeed potentially very serious criminal
offences, and in the normal course of events the police would be the first people to be
advised of such matters. However the circumstances surrounding these allegations are
anything but normal and for that reason it seemed appropriate to report the matters to a
very senior Judge who is now a Commissioner of the school, though not a Commissioner
at the time of the alleged incidents.
It was thought reasonable not to lodge allegations of improper conduct aided by Masonic
influence among officials at QVS, with those suspected of the impropriety. For this
reason Lord Gill’s suggestion that the complaint be put to the Commissioners was
rejected, and instead it was decided to lodge a complaint formally with the Solicitor
General. This was done by e-mail on 12th June. At an earlier stage, but for the same
reason, it was decided that a complaint critical of Central Scotland Police might best be
assessed by others.
As to the suggestion that I should urge the ex-housemaster to contact Central Scotland
Police, this would appear to be impractical in that the ex-housemaster accuses members
of the same police force of:
1/ Breaking down the door of his flat with a sledgehammer.
2/ Taking documents from his flat and not returning them.
3/ Failing to act on his complaint.
4/ Being part of a cabal of Masons who were suspected of abusing pupils.
5/ Protecting their brother Thomas Hamilton from attempts to prosecute him.
Also given that in 1991 the then housemaster was convinced that the Central Scotland
Police were dominated by Masons and this factor is widely believed, since then, to
explain the inexplicable actions by this police force in renewing Hamilton’s gun licence,
it would be surprising if the ex-housemaster would have confidence in this force dealing
objectively with his concerns.
Despite the above concerns I will pass your letter on to the ex-housemaster but will
refrain from making the recommendations you urge, as I myself have serious doubts as to
the impartiality of Masons who are present, if not prevalent, in all police forces in
Scotland including Central Scotland.
As to the responsibility for consideration as to whether or not a criminal investigation
should be commenced I am sure that the Solicitor General is the appropriate person to
decide this matter.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
C.C. Solicitor General.
Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terrace
Dunfermline
Fife
KY12 0LU
Tel: 01383 729869
E-mail: tomminogue@btinternet.com
Det. Supt. John Anderson
Central Scotland Police
Police Headquarters
Randolphfield
Stirling
FK8 2HD
Saturday 12th July 03
Dear Sir,
Letter dated 16th April 2003 from Lord George Robertson to Central Scotland
Police regarding Thomas Minogue.
I wrote to you on Saturday 14th June in reply to your letter dated 3rd June and responded
as best I could to your letter, given that I was limited by the fact that you had not saw fit
to appraise me of the exact nature of a letter from Lord George Robertson which had
prompted you to write to me.
Given the above facts I asked you to provide me with a copy of the letter Lord Robertson
had sent to you. I have yet to receive a response and would again ask that I be given sight
of the letter dated 16th April 2003 that Lord Robertson wrote to you concerning me.
If you do not accede to my legitimate request or fail to answer this letter in 7 days I will
instruct my legal advisers to take measures to obtain a copy of this letter.
I would also ask you to confirm or otherwise the veracity of a claim made to me that Lord
Robertson’s son is a member of Central Scotland Police?
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
C.C. Chief Constable Central Scotland Police, Pagans.
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, KG KT OM GBE One letter to.
Buckingham Palace. One response from P.S.
LONDON
SW1A 1AA
The Rt. Hon Lord Ross Three letters to.
33 Lauder Road One from Lord Ross
EDINBURGH One from Scottish Exec
EH9 2JG
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean Three letters to
C/O The House of Lords Two from Lord Forsyth
Westminster One from Scottish Exec
LONDON
SW1A 0PW
Mike Ewart Three letters to
Department Head None from Mike Ewart
Scottish Education Department Two from Scottish Exec
Victoria Quay
EDINBURGH
EH6 6QQ
Lt Gen. Sir Peter Graham Two letters to
The Gordon Highlanders Museum Two letters from Sir Peter
St Lukes Viewfield Road
ABERDEEN
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Lord Lang of Monkton Three letters to
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Captain R A Smith RN Three letters to
Queen Victoria School One reply from Captain Smith
Dunblane
Perthshire
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James Craig Esq. Two letters to
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Tel. 01 764 652 191
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(Former director Royal Artillery)
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Tom Minogue
From: "Tom Minogue"
To:
Cc: "John MacMillan"
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 12:35 PM
Attach: 3 Pages from Dunblane Inquiry regarding Rifle Range at Dunblane.pdf
Subject: Addendum to report on Queen Victoria School Dunblane
Page 1 of 1
5/9/03
Dear Ms Olsen, please find a three page addendum to my submission to Lord Gill which concerns an anonymous
witness statement read out to the trial by Mr Lake. The statement details how Thomas Hamilton took the witness
to a shooting range at Dunblane where he was allowed to fire real bullets from a rifle. This would seem to indicate
that the events took place at Queen Victoria School as it is the only rifle range in Dunblane. There should not be a
problem in tracing this anonymous witness who also claims he was sexually abused by Hamilton as the Dunblane
Inquiry knew his identity sufficiently well for Mr Bonomy to be able to state that "the witness in the past been
convicted of a serious crime of dishonesty". I shall circulate this information and any other information possibly
regarding Queen Victoria School to the recipients of my submission and will of course advise Lord Gill of any
other matters that arise. Regards, Thomas Minogue.
WEDNESDAY, 26th JUNE, 1996.
TWENTY-FIRST DAY.
LORD CULLEN: Mr. Bonomy, I think we are
without Mr. Jones today, so you can proceed.
MR. BONOMY: Thank you, sir. I have had
brought to my attention a witness who claims to have been abused
by Hamilton. This is the first such evidence that has come to light.
He is unwilling to be identified. I have given anxious consideration
to the question whether an anonymous written statement of his
evidence should be read to the Inquiry. The view I have formed,
with some hesitation, is that that is the appropriate course in the
circumstances, albeit it is not an ideal course. I also consider it
appropriate to advise the Inquiry that there are certain matters
mentioned in the statement peripheral to the meat of the statement
that one might expect would be corroborated by independent
evidence. Efforts have been made to try to corroborate that without
any success.
You should also be advised, sir, that the witness
has in the past been convicted of a serious crime of dishonesty.
That is a full account of the background, and with
your leave, sir, I propose to invite Mr. Lake to read the statement.
LORD CULLEN: Yes -- Mr. Lake?
MR. LAKE: This is the anonymous statement --
"When I was about 12 and living at home I attended a Boys' Club
called the Rovers Group at Bannockburn High School, which was
run by Thomas Hamilton. I think I got to know about it through
certain leaflets that came through the letter box. I attended that for
about four weeks. I remember that on two occasions we got to
shoot guns at the Club in Dunblane. This Club wasn't at the school
but in a hut on the other side of the dual carriageway. We shot
with real rifles with bullets, not pellets. Hamilton picked us up and
took us to Dunblane. We once went to the High School/
School in Dunblane and joined in with that Club. It was a
gymnastics Club.
"When the summer came, a trip was organised to
go and stay on a boat. I got permission to go to it and Hamilton
sent a letter home setting out the details of the camp trip, boat, how
much money we needed etc.
"The holiday was to last for about a week or a week
and a half and we were staying on a cabin cruiser on Loch Lomond.
There were about eight boys of my age involved. The only boy I
remember being there was my sister's boyfriend. I don't know who
the other boys were but we were all specially chosen from the
Bannockburn Club.
"One day I remember that I was particularly
frightened because Hamilton was tying a rope round us, one at a
time, and throwing us off the side of the boat and then pulling us
back in. I cannot now remember what the purpose of this
manoeuvre was, but I remember being very frightened and I refused
to take part and pretended that I was ill and stayed in the cabin.
"That night I was told to report to his cabin. The
boys all slept together at the back of the boat and Hamilton slept in
his own cabin. I eventually went in. I only had on my underpants.
He had a sort of telescopic pointer device which you would use to
point to a map or a chart and he was pointing this at me and he told
me that I had better behave. He began to touch me between my
legs and my private parts and I was very scared. I started to cry.
"He told me to stop crying or I would be hit with the
pointer. While all this was going on he was only dressed in shorts.
I was then told to lie down on his bed and I was lying facedown.
He started to push his fingers into my backside. By this time he
had his shorts off and his penis was erect. He was rubbing it. He
was also stroking my back and asked if I liked it. At one point I was
crying and he banged this pointed device down at the side of my
face. It didn't actually touch me, but hit the pillow. I lay there
frozen stiff with fear. He then told me to stand up and face the wall
and again he ran his hand up and down my back and/
and he was breathing heavily.
"I was then allowed to go. I was terrified, and then
the next day I phoned my mother and asked if I could come home.
All I did was to tell her I was homesick. I couldn't tell her what took
place. I came home at the same time as everyone else. It was too
far away for me to come home early. He didn't touch me again
during the period of this holiday although I was very frightened of
him.
"I can't be more specific about the year this
happened. I do remember though that the boat blew up about a
week after the trip.
"I do agree, however, that what he did to me should
be known about. It has affected me badly and has always troubled
me."
ROY CAMERON (49), Sworn:
EXAMINED BY MR. BONOMY: Are you Roy
Cameron? - I am, sir.
And are you presently the Chief Constable of
Dumfries and Galloway Police? - That is correct, sir.
I think you are also Chief Constable designate of
another Force? - That is correct -- Lothian & Borders Police, sir.
When do you take up that post? - The 6th
September this year.
What age are you? - I am 49 years of age.
How long have you been a police officer? - 30
years' service.
Can you take us through your service, please? -
Yes; I started as a cadet in Dumbartonshire; followed that with
beat duties in Dumbartonshire Constabulary; was promoted
sergeant fairly/
Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terrace
Dunfermline
Fife
KY12 0LU
Tel: 01383 729869
e-mail: tomminogue@btinternet.com
The Right Hon. Lord Gill
The Lord Justice Clerk
Parliament House
Edinburgh
EH1 1RQ
Saturday 7th June 03
Dear Sir,
Complaint regarding alleged irregularities at Queen Victoria School Dunblane 1989-96
With reference the above document which was submitted to you on 24th April 03, and
your response to that document of 6th June the following comments must be made:
“I have now completed my detailed study of the dossier that you sent me”.
It is noted that your study has been extensive which is exactly what you promised in your
letter of 30th April, however it is disappointing to note that your comments regarding the
complaint suggests that your study, however detailed, has missed the main points made in
that document.
“I am unable to reach a definite conclusion on your complaints on the information
that you sent me and I am in no position to carry out an investigation of my own”.
It is fully appreciated that you, as an individual, are limited in what you could achieve personally
and would not be able to reach definite conclusions from the complaint. However it was hoped
that as a very senior law officer and a Commissioner of QVS, perhaps chosen for that reason,
you would be ideally placed to decide what action would be appropriate. It was anticipated that
in such grave circumstances you might have instigated a judicial inquiry or requested that the
Lord Advocate or Solicitor General so do.
“I infer from you (sic) dossier that the police and the prosecuting authorities have decided
to take these matters no further”.
There is no basis to make an inference that the allegations made in the complaint document have
been even considered by the police and the prosecuting authorities. The allegations made in the
complaint document repeat, but are not limited to earlier allegations made by the ex-housemaster
of abuse and bullying. These were not investigated by the relevant authorities. This fact is
indisputable and is best witnessed by the then Education Minister, James Douglas-Hamilton who
at page 32 of 144 of the complaint document stated:
“Throughout their enquiry the primary concern of HMI was to investigate the
situation in the school in relation to pastoral care and pupil supervision rather
than to investigate specific allegations of bullying”.
The Minister does not mention the allegations of abuse made by the ex-housemaster but it goes
without saying that these allegations are included in the matters that were not investigated.
In addition to the matters that were detailed by the ex-housemaster but not investigated, are
matters regarding the Commissioners and their dereliction of duty in allowing Thomas Hamilton
unfettered access to Queen Victoria School. These matters simply cannot have been
investigated.
“It is a question for Her Majesty’s Commissioners whether they will wish to take any
action as the governing body of the school. The next meeting of Her Majesty’s
Commissioners will take place on Monday 16 June. I have requested that your
complaint shall be an agenda item at that meeting”.
As the actions or rather the lack of action by HM Commissioners forms part of the complaint to
you, the suggestion that the same Commissioners (or some of them) responsible for allowing a
mass murderer to enjoy the run of QVS should decide what further action should be taken
against themselves is more than a little puzzling. There is doubt that such a suggestion would
engender any confidence, in the parents of children who had attended the school during the
period in question, that the requisite duty to care was being properly exercised.
It is noted that you have not seen fit to address the concerns clearly expressed regarding your
Masonic status.
The terms of what is a very serious complaint were clearly expressed. Your failure to address
these concerns and the question of your Masonic status leave me to conclude that you have failed
to appreciate my concern, or the serious nature of the complaint, and unless you intimate by
return that you are willing to revise your proposed action I will have no option but to present my
complaint to the Solicitor General in the hope that she may find that it warrants a full and
thorough independent investigation.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
C.C. The Patron, The Chairman of the Board of Management.
By E-mail and letter am Monday 9th June.
Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terrace
Dunfermline
Fife
KY12 0LU
Tel:01383 729869
e-mail: tomminogue@btinternet.com
Mrs Elish Angiolini QC
The Solicitor General for Scotland
The Crown Office
25 Chambers Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1LA
Saturday 14th June 03
Dear Mrs Angiolini,
Complaint regarding allegations of abuse and bullying at Queen Victoria School Dunblane.
I would be obliged if you would accept the attached file and consider it as a formal
complaint. The matters contained in the file are of a serious nature and concern
allegations of abuse and bullying at Queen Victoria School Dunblane in the early 1990's
and the supervision of the school at that time.
I had originally lodged this complaint with Lord Gill who is a Commissioner of the
school but for the reasons set out at pages 144-147 of the complaint document find that
this avenue of complaint is not satisfactory to me. I would also point out that as the
allegations contain a Masonic content I would ask for your assurance that anyone
supervising or having a role in this investigation has no connections with Freemasonry.
Since e-mailing you I have received a letter from Central Scotland Police asking me to
urge the ex-housemaster to make a complaint to them directly. I enclose this letter and
my response to the police letter, which sets out my reasons for not agreeing that their
suggestion would be practicable. I would not pretend to be an expert on the various
options of investigation open to you but would have thought that the first step would be
to trace and obtain statements from pupils who were at Queen Victoria School at the time
of the alleged physical and sexual abuse to ascertain if these incidents did in fact take
place and if Thomas Hamilton was involved.
Yours faithfully
Thomas Minogue.
1
Thomas Minogue
94 Victoria Terr.
Dunfermline
Fife
KY12 0LU
Tel:01383 729869
e-mail: tomminogue@btinternet.com
Lindsey Anderson, (Policy Group)
Crown Office
25 Chambers Street
EDINBURGH
EH1 1LA
Tuesday 15th July 03
Dear Sir,
Formal complaint to Elish Angiolini the Solictor General for Scotland re
allegations of abuse and bullying at Queen Victoria School Dunblane.
I refer to the above complaint addressed to the Solicitor General on 8th June (e-mail)
and 14th June (letter) and to which you say in the first paragraph of your letter of 14th
July you respond, “on behalf of the Solicitor General”. I would comment on your
letter as follows:
The second paragraph of your letter echoes the reason why I chose to treat this matter
very seriously and make every effort to verify the allegations made to me, namely,
that allegations of physical and sexual abuse at a school are very serious matters.
You go on to support the position taken in a letter of 3rd June from Detective
Superintendent John Anderson of Central Scotland Police to me, but you do not take
into account my response to this letter, which details my valid reasons for not
accepting his proposals that I complain to Central Scotland Police. Nor do you touch
on my reasons for not recommending John Anderson’s proposals to the exhousemaster,
which are also set out in detail in my response to John Anderson.
The third paragraph of your letter seems to imply that the role of the Procurator Fiscal
is not directly concerned with the investigation and prosecution of crime, which you
imply is actually the role of the police.
Your promotion of Central Scotland Police in investigative matters over the
Procurator Fiscal Service continues in the fourth and fifth paragraphs of your letter,
where you show some personal expertise for investigation by spotting that the exhousemaster
is named in the papers.
My concerns about the past activities of the police (which might involve criminal
conduct) and your praise for the work of the police Family Unit are dealt with in
paragraph six of your letter.
Unlike the ex-housemaster I have no direct knowledge of Central Scotland Police
other than second hand knowledge gleaned from the Official Transcript of the
Dunblane Inquiry and my impressions as set out below are limited accordingly.
2
For the avoidance of doubt, I do have a high regard for some members of the police,
which is soured by those bad apples who bring the service into disrepute.
I do not doubt that the Family Unit is served by many fine people and it is well known
that between 1991 and 1993 the Family Unit (then called the Force Child Protection
Unit) in the person of Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes produced recommendations
and a report on Thomas Hamilton the Dunblane mass murderer, which, if acted on
would have resulted in Thomas Hamilton being charged with 10 criminal offences
and his gun licence being revoked.
Another upstanding member of the Central Scotland Police force with responsibility
for the Child Protection Unit who comes shining through from the Transcript of the
Dunblane Inquiry is Detective Chief Inspector Joseph Holden, who supported
Detective Sergeant Hughes in his attempts to bring charges and revoke Hamilton’s
firearms licence.
Again from the Official Transcript of the Dunblane Inquiry it is apparent that
someone also meriting praise is Detective Constable Ann Anderson of the Firearms
Licensing Department, who after interviewing Hamilton as part of his firearms licence
renewal tried to revoke his licence.
The commendable actions of the above police officers are in marked contrast to the
officious actions of Depute Chief Constable Douglas McMurdo who overruled
Detective Sergeant Hughes’ recommendations in his report, and Detective Inspector
John Anderson who dissuaded Detective Constable Ann Anderson from
recommending refusal of Hamilton’s licence renewal, despite the strong negative
feelings that Ann Anderson had about Hamilton.
Contrasts such as the upstanding actions of the former group of police officers with
the questionable actions of the latter group are notable throughout the Dunblane
Inquiry and have caused some people, including myself, to conclude that Hamilton’s
Freemasonry protected him in life and in death. This would explain the inexplicable.
At a much earlier date (1989-1991) the ex-housemaster who related his experiences at
Queen Victoria School to me also concluded that Freemasonry was the common
denominator in the abuse of power that allowed a privileged clique including Sheriffs,
Fiscals, and Thomas Hamilton to visit and in some cases abuse pupils at that school.
It is noticeable that you have not sought to address my genuine concerns with regard
to Masonic membership. This is not unusual in Scotland and in fact Lord Cullen
failed to respond to a submission to the Dunblane Inquiry regarding his Masonic
membership and a request that police witnesses be required to state their Masonic
status.
It is not strictly accurate to say that he ignored it as he concluded that it should be
buried from the public for 100 years. A subject you are familiar with, as you have
refused my lawyers request for me to view the 100-year closure documents.
In paragraphs seven and eight of your letter you deal with the police complaints
system, which you note is available to the ex-housemaster. I have some knowledge of
this system, having been involved in a complaint about the actions of members of Fife
Constabulary for the past 2 years and it can be compared with wrestling smoke.
3
Reformers universally condemn self-regulation of the police force, and my
experiences are in line with the generally held perceptions of this discredited process.
You then deal with the possibility that an Assistant Chief Constable can report a
police officer to the Area Procurator Fiscal and that she might commence her own
investigation.
Again without wishing to be disrespectful to the various Depute Chief Constables of
Central Region from Norman McLeod in 1977 to Douglas McMurdo in 1996, who
granted firearms licences to Thomas Hamilton, their actions do not engender
confidence in the objectivity of their office in dealing with a complaint connected
with Thomas Hamilton.
I am disappointed to note that the Solicitor General does not seem to have taken any
of my concerns seriously, and I find her rejection of my complaint sad and
inexplicable. The complaint was clearly not one that I could have taken to Central
Scotland police.
I am particularly disappointed that the Solicitor General was not receptive to my
suggestion that she initiate interviews with the pupils who attended Queen Victoria
School at the time of the ex-housemasters allegations. We, the ex-housemaster and I,
are perhaps less than objective given our personal experiences, which may have
coloured our views on Freemasonry. Central Scotland Police are similarly subjective
(post-Dunblane) in their defence of the tarnished reputation of that force.
It seems to me as a layman that the Solicitor General would have been able to employ
specialist investigators would have been ideally suited for the task of assessing the
veracity or otherwise of complaints that pupils were abused by an elite clique
dominated by leading lights in Central Scotland public life. To me this would seem a
sensible measure, as members of the legal establishment may have been involved in
the abuse or the cover-up of the abuse of pupils at Queen Victoria School Dunblane.
Despite the above, I will pass on the Solicitor General’s request that the exhousemaster
take his complaint about abuse at Queen Victoria School Dunblane to
Detective Superintendent John Anderson of Central Scotland Police.
As was the case with the previous request from Detective Superintendent John
Anderson that I urge the ex-housemaster to contact Central Scotland Police, I regret
that in all honesty I am unable to add my voice to the Solicitor General’s request.
I will write to the ex-housemaster copying your letter on behalf of the Solicitor
General and will advise you of his response in due course.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Minogue.
P.S. The Detective Inspector John Anderson who in 1995 dissuaded Detective Constable Ann
Anderson from withdrawing Thomas Hamilton’s firearms licence and the Detective Superintendent
John Anderson who asks me to urge the ex-housemaster to contact him are not by any chance the same
person are they?
C.C. The ex-housemaster.
