Hamilton's `Mason link'

A Labour MP is calling for an inquiry into allegations that Thomas Hamilton, the killer at Dunblane, had links with the Freemasons.

Frank Cook, member for Stockton North, said he had tabled a Commons motion claiming that Hamilton may have been allowed to build up an arsenal of high-powered weapons because of links with the ultra-secret society.

Mr Cook claims Hamilton was granted a firearms certificate in 1979, two years after joining Lodge number 1417 of the Masonic Order at Garrow Hill, Glasgow. Mr Cook says his information is from a senior police source.

No one at the lodge was available for comment.