HERBERT Smith, a retired driving instructor from Stone, was around 25 when he met murderer Michael Bassett.
Mr Smith, now 77, had a driving school from 1962 to 1975. He taught many young people how to drive but will always remember Bassett.
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“My first impression of Michael was that he was always well dressed, but he had an unusual Bohemian-style haircut. He was just 17 when I taught him to drive, but he was very well mannered, quietly spoken and interesting to talk to,” he said.
Mr Smith, of Airdale Road, would pick Bassett up from Alleyne's school at first, then when he finished school, from his home in Barlaston.
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“We would talk for around an hour after his lesson,” said Mr Smith. “He was a big fan of Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond books. He told me he wanted to write novels or play the piano professionally. I encouraged him to write and was convinced he would someday become a novelist.
“He was a great observer of things and people. He once saw a woman riding a bike and said to me ‘wouldn’t she look funny if you couldn’t see the bike?’
“After the lesson, we would talk and he would smoke heavily. He once told me he had a gun and would take pot shots at local cats from his bedroom window.”
Bassett passed his driving test first time and Mr Smith did not see him again until some months later.
He said: “He appeared to be depressed and said it was because he couldn’t get a job. I thought that was odd because he was very intelligent.
“But I saw him a while later in the high street and he came running up to me very excited and said he had got a job as a rep, with a company car, and that he was going to cover North Wales. It was a very good job. That was the last time I was to see him.”
A few years later, Mr Smith and his wife had taken a drive and were listening to the car radio. A news bulletin came on saying three young French campers had been shot at Mouldsworth in Cheshire. A later announcement said the shooter had been found dead on the Barlaston Downs in a fume-filled maroon Ford Escort, cradling a gun and a confession.
Mr Smith said: “The shooter was not named in the report, but I told my wife – that’s Michael Bassett. I don’t know what made me say that, but I knew it was him.”
Bassett, then 24, had driven from the Park Drive home he shared with his aunt Madge Hurndall and her husband to Rhyl where he stole a .22 automatic rifle from a fairground, along with three magazines and 100 cartridges.
He then drove to Mouldsworth, where he fired 20 shots at the campers. In his confession he merely wrote: "they provoked me so I taught them a lesson".
In his last written words, Bassett said he had had as much as he could stand of life, adding: "I found the only way to get away from all the lies, sins, failure and general uselessness is to turn myself off as it were."
His suicide note went on to talk about the habit of doing evil things and of one sin leading to another until the ultimate sin is committed.
In another letter to a female friend, he hinted that one of her male acquaintances who had annoyed him with "tales" was fortunate not to come within his gunsights.
Mr Smith said: “I’d given him at least 40 lessons. My friends asked me if there were any signs he was going to become a killer. I didn’t think he could ever kill anyone. He was just such a nice lad.
“I still think of him now and then out of the blue - he was someone I will never forget.”
Mr Smith, now 77, had a driving school from 1962 to 1975. He taught many young people how to drive but will always remember Bassett.
Advertisement
“My first impression of Michael was that he was always well dressed, but he had an unusual Bohemian-style haircut. He was just 17 when I taught him to drive, but he was very well mannered, quietly spoken and interesting to talk to,” he said.
Mr Smith, of Airdale Road, would pick Bassett up from Alleyne's school at first, then when he finished school, from his home in Barlaston.
Related content
Times Gone By: Grave has answer to murderer's motives
UPDATE: Man charged with attempted murder appears at Stafford Crown Court
Stafford MP honours Holocaust victims
Man appearing in court charged with attempted murder in Stafford
“We would talk for around an hour after his lesson,” said Mr Smith. “He was a big fan of Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond books. He told me he wanted to write novels or play the piano professionally. I encouraged him to write and was convinced he would someday become a novelist.
“He was a great observer of things and people. He once saw a woman riding a bike and said to me ‘wouldn’t she look funny if you couldn’t see the bike?’
“After the lesson, we would talk and he would smoke heavily. He once told me he had a gun and would take pot shots at local cats from his bedroom window.”
Bassett passed his driving test first time and Mr Smith did not see him again until some months later.
He said: “He appeared to be depressed and said it was because he couldn’t get a job. I thought that was odd because he was very intelligent.
“But I saw him a while later in the high street and he came running up to me very excited and said he had got a job as a rep, with a company car, and that he was going to cover North Wales. It was a very good job. That was the last time I was to see him.”
A few years later, Mr Smith and his wife had taken a drive and were listening to the car radio. A news bulletin came on saying three young French campers had been shot at Mouldsworth in Cheshire. A later announcement said the shooter had been found dead on the Barlaston Downs in a fume-filled maroon Ford Escort, cradling a gun and a confession.
Mr Smith said: “The shooter was not named in the report, but I told my wife – that’s Michael Bassett. I don’t know what made me say that, but I knew it was him.”
Bassett, then 24, had driven from the Park Drive home he shared with his aunt Madge Hurndall and her husband to Rhyl where he stole a .22 automatic rifle from a fairground, along with three magazines and 100 cartridges.
He then drove to Mouldsworth, where he fired 20 shots at the campers. In his confession he merely wrote: "they provoked me so I taught them a lesson".
In his last written words, Bassett said he had had as much as he could stand of life, adding: "I found the only way to get away from all the lies, sins, failure and general uselessness is to turn myself off as it were."
His suicide note went on to talk about the habit of doing evil things and of one sin leading to another until the ultimate sin is committed.
In another letter to a female friend, he hinted that one of her male acquaintances who had annoyed him with "tales" was fortunate not to come within his gunsights.
Mr Smith said: “I’d given him at least 40 lessons. My friends asked me if there were any signs he was going to become a killer. I didn’t think he could ever kill anyone. He was just such a nice lad.
“I still think of him now and then out of the blue - he was someone I will never forget.”
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