THE volume of Dunblane papers released yesterday is vast. Even the index to the material, officially recorded by the National Archives of Scotland as the COM21/4 series, runs to several hundred pages.

In total, more than 3000 items occupying more than 15ft of shelf space have now been opened to the public at West Register House in Edinburgh.

All the material was submitted to Lord Cullen's inquiry into the massacre of March 13, 1996.

It includes hundreds of witness statements, letters to and from Thomas Hamilton, police intelligence reports and records of Hamilton's firearms, as well as psychological, financial and autopsy reports.

Some of the most moving items are statements from teachers who tried and failed to save the lives of gravely wounded children at Dunblane Primary after Hamilton had shot them.

The files were originally marked as "closed" for 100 years, with Lord Cullen's approval, in order to protect children mentioned in relation to Hamilton's previous suspicious behaviour.

However, the extraordinary step fuelled a host of conspiracy theories that Hamilton had been spared prosecution and allowed to keep firearms because of friends in high places, possibly as part of a paedophile ring.

In 2003, ministers told the lord advocate to make the files public, ending the controversy.

During the following two years, the documents were edited by the Crown Office to remove the names of witnesses, children, and officials. What is left manages to dispel the conspiracy theories, but still manages to paint a depressing picture of how Hamilton evaded justice until he belatedly shot himself.