DETAILS emerged yesterday from a police report which branded Dunblane killer Thomas Hamilton a ticking time bomb.

A senior officer warned Hamilton was "quite capable of violence" five years before he murdered 16 children and a teacher in their school gym.

The detective also branded the boys' club organiser "devious and deceitful" as he called in vain for his firearms licence to be revoked.

The revelations - and suggestions Hamilton may have targeted Dunblane Primary after teachers branded him a pervert - came in secret papers about the March 1996 massacre.

The files from Lord Cullen's inquiry at the time of the shootings had been subject to a 100-year closure order.

But Lord Advocate Colin Boyd reviewed that decision and agreed to make them public.

Thousands of documents are now available for public scrutiny and reveal no evidence of a rumoured cover-up over the tragedy.

Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes, the former head of Central Scotland Police's child protection unit, had investigated an assault claim against Hamilton in July 1991.

He became concerned about photos of boys taken at one of Hamilton's camps at Loch Lomond.

But a report he prepared for the procurator fiscal in September 1991 was marked "no proceedings".

And an internal memo outlining his fears about Hamilton's firearms certificate was stamped "no action" by the then deputy chief constable.

A 1996 witness statement by Hughes, whose name is deleted from the document, laid bare his earlier concerns about Hamilton.

He said: "In the report, I stated that Hamilton had an extremely unhealthy interest in young boys which appears to have been controlled up till then.

"I asked that serious consideration be given to withdrawing his firearms certificate as he was a scheming, devious and deceitful individual.

"At that time I believed he was a paedophile and I clearly felt that his modus operandi was to network children, in particular groups of young boys."

The detective added: "I believed there was a darker side to his personality and in layman's terms ICall free nowwould have described him then as a schizophrenic.

"I had strong feelings at the time that he was quite capable of violence and did not cope particularly well with stressful situations.

"I felt he tried to be intimidating, in a veiled sort of fashion and that gave me most cause for concern."

The detective said one boy at the camp told how he was given small swimming trunks and photographed in compromising positions.

He said: "This appeared to me to be the classic signs of a child being groomed for future abuse."

It also emerged that Hamilton spoke about Hungerford mass murderer Michael Ryan less than a week before the Dunblane massacre.

One witness told how Hamilton pondered how long it would take armed police to reach an emergency.

The files provide some clues as to why Hamilton targeted Dunblane. Just after Christmas 1995, he wrote to the school complaining about rumours being spread about him.

Hamilton also sent a letter to Central Region's education convener moaning: "Even former cleaners and dinner ladies have been told by teachers that I am a pervert