FILLING station owner Zubair Dean has spoken of how the events of the Hungerford massacre in 1987 left his wife Kakoub mentally scarred for life.

Memories of the horror were renewed this week with the airing of a BBC documentary on Tuesday about the horrific day in August 1987 that left 16 people dead when crazed gunman Michael Ryan ran riot.

Mrs Dean escaped unharmed after Ryan shot at her several times, but the mental trauma left her unable to work again, her husband revealed.

Mr Dean, who owns Dean's garage in Marlborough, said his family had been forced to move from their home behind the Golden Arrow service station, which he and his wife ran on the A4 between Marlborough and Hungerford, where the shooting took place, because of his wife's anguish.

"It scarred her for life," he said. "The main reason why we had to move from there was that she could not live there anymore.

"It ruined my business there because I cannot run the place as well as Marlborough."

Ryan's rampage of death began in Savernake Forest where he shot his first victim, young mother-of-two Sue Godfrey. She had been picnicking with her children Hannah, four, and James, three, when Ryan blasted her 13 times in the back.

From Savernake, Ryan drove to the Golden Arrow filling station, where he was a known regular to Mr and Mrs Dean.

After buying £17 of petrol, rather than his usual £4 worth, he produced from the boot of his car a semi-automatic rifle and opened fire at the garage windows and towards Mrs Dean, then 29, at the pay desk.

One bullet passed through the glass security screen so close to Mrs Dean that she said she believed it actually passed through her hair.

Mrs Dean was not available this week to talk about her ordeal 17 years ago but her husband said she had never been able to work in the garage since that day.

Mr Dean said he had no strong feelings either way about the TV reconstruction although others have said it was insensitive of the BBC to open old wounds, especially so near to Christmas when relatives would be thinking especially of their lost loved ones.