Echoes of Ryan, the Hungerford gunman who massacred 16

There are clear similarities between the

Ryan, 27, pictured, a part-time antiques dealer, lived with his mother, who was among those he shot during his rampage through the Berkshire town. He was said to have an obsession with survival skills and was licensed to own a variety of weapons. He used a Beretta pistol and two semi-automatic rifles in the shooting.

He began his killing spree 12 miles west of the town in the Savernake Forest, when he shot a woman on a picnic with her two young children 13 times in the back. After driving back into the town, he roamed the streets shooting randomly.

After more than an hour, Ryan broke into a local college where he held police at bay for several hours before killing himself.

The massacre led to an outcry about lax licensing and resulted in the 1988 Firearms Act, which banned the private ownership of semi-automatic weapons and restricted the use of shotguns.

Britain's other most notorious shooting was at Dunblane in Scotland in 1996, when Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and their teacher in the local primary school before killing himself.