Skip to main content

Thomas Hamilton: Sergeant Hughes' Report

Volume 597: debated on Wednesday 10 February 1999

The text on this page has been created from Hansard archive content, it may contain typographical errors.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Why the report of Detective Sergeant Hughes delivered to the procurator fiscal in Scotland on 6 September 1991, which included 10 charges drafted against Thomas Hamilton of Dunblane and reflected upon his suitability to possess a firearms certificate, and which was made available to the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into the Dunblane killings, is subject to a secrecy order for 100 years. [HL851]

Sergeant Hughes' report was made available to the Cullen Inquiry as a production. The report contains sensitive information about children who attended a summer camp run by Thomas Hamilton in 1991 (not the children of Dunblane) and alleged offences against them. For these reasons it was considered appropriate that the production should remain closed for 100 years. This closure is in accordance with current Government guidelines published in the White Paper Open Government (Cm 2290 (1993)).