Dunblane book taken off shelves

A book on the Dunblane massacre written by a man convicted of possessing child pornography has been taken off the shelves. Predicate is written by Peter Sotos, the first man in the United States to be charged with owning child pornography. The book contains graphic and disturbing descriptions of the sexual abuse of children as well as pictures of all 16 of the Dunblane Primary School victims who were murdered a decade ago on Monday. Gunman Thomas Hamilton appears on the book's cover and on the last page. The book, which was being promoted at the Borders bookshop in Glasgow, also contains extracts from the public inquiry by Lord Cullen. It publicises itself as: "A new examination of Thomas Hamilton and the Dunblane massacre, dissecting Hamilton's motives and life and revealing the gay sub-culture of clandestine paedophilia which spawned this most reviled of all killers."

A spokeswoman for Borders said: "We believe that our customers have the right to make their own choices about what they read and to support that right we make the widest range of titles available in our stores. This is consistent not only with our mission, but with the basic principles of free expression and access to information. At the same time, we are of course sensitive to the opinions of our customers and we investigate every comment we receive. In this instance, in the light of public concern, we have decided to remove the book from sale." Borders UK currently operates 36 Borders Superstores in city centres and retail parks, including four in Scotland.

source: 'Dunblane book taken off shelves'; news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=371262006; Scotsman.com (The Press Association); 11 March 2006