S2 Ep7: Michael Ryan, the perpetrator of The Hungerford Massacre

Devils in the Dark

True Crime, Comedy

4 • 835 Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Helen and Danni take a look at The Hungerford Massacre, a day of death and destruction that rocked the nation. The country went into a state of shock when, one morning, a lonely young man named Michael Ryan woke up and, seemingly on a whim, decided to murder as many people in the quaint English village of Hungerford as possible. It was a day that led to huge gun reform in the United Kingdom, but the horrors of what unfolded on the 19th of August, 1987 can still be felt to this day. Expect destruction on an enormous scale, the government actually doing something right for once, and the absolute worst journalist of all time.

Devils in The Dark contains graphic details of violence and mentions of suicide, and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

00:00 - Introduction
07:20 - Who was Michael Ryan?
13:13 - The murder of Susan Godfrey
14:19 - Michael attempts murder at a petrol staton on the A4
15:35 - Michael loses it back at home
21:51 - The murder of Kenneth Clements
26:34 - The murder of PC Roger Brereton
28:05 - The murders of George White and Abdul Khan
37:39 - Officer Trevor Wainwright receives a harrowing phonecall
42:00 - The murders of Eric Vardy, Sandra Hill, Victor Gibbs and Myrtle Gibbs
42:37 - Michael Ryan heads to The John O’Gaunt Community College
45:08 - Michael Ryan takes his own life
52:56 - A perfect example of horrible journalism
57:00 - Gun reform in the UK
01:01:00 - Outro

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Special thanks to Woodcut Media.

Produced by Alexandra Jueno at Audioboom Studios.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Once upon a time, Amazon Music met audiobooks and listeners everywhere rejoiced.
0:05.8	Oh yeah.
0:06.6	Because now they could listen to one audiobook title a month from an enormous library of popular audiobook
0:12.2	titles including Romantasy, autobiographies, true crime, and more.
0:19.3	Suddenly listeners didn't mind sitting in traffic or even missing their flight.
0:23.4	Amazon Music Unlimited now includes Audible. No way. Download the Amazon Music app now to start listening.
0:29.2	Terms Apply. Welcome to Devils in the Dark with me, Helen Anderson. And me, Danny Howard.
0:34.4	We're two best friends entering the world of true crime.
0:38.1	We'll be sharing the stories of some of the worst and most horrific murder cases in history
0:42.7	with the help of professional criminologists.
0:45.1	And we're taking you along for the ride.
0:48.0	In this episode, we're turning back the clock to look at one of the most deadly mass shootings in UK history.
0:55.2	It's the Hungerford Massacre.
1:07.5	I'm taking the lead today, so I'll start things off.
1:14.6	Hello, Helen. How are you? What machinery would you like to talk about today?
1:16.5	Diggers.
1:23.5	That was a reference to last week when we spent probably a bit too long talking about cranes,
1:26.4	because that's what the people want to hear. We know it.
1:27.9	So this week, what do you have for us Ellen?
1:31.3	I'm going to tell you a story about something that happened to me at primary school.
1:34.1	It was a DT lesson.
1:36.1	So I was making things out of wood.
	...

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