A report in a tabloid newspaper announcing that Lord Cullen was not to propose a ban on handguns caused major ructions in Whitehall with ministers decrying it as “misleading,” “mischievous” and “scurrilous”. It turned out also to be wrong.

On August 1 1996, Glynis McKeand, the Clerk to the Dunblane Inquiry, wrote to Stuart Higgins, editor of The Sun, to complain about the newspaper’s front page story, headlined “Dunblane’s Judge No to Gun Ban,” and an accompanying highly critical leader article.

She made clear Lord Cullen had “not yet reached conclusions to his recommendations let alone committed them to writing or communicated them to anyone else”.

She added: “You will appreciate a serious view is taken of the publication of information which is unfounded in fact and is used as a basis for highly critical comment. I trust that you will make this correction known to your readers.”

Lord Mackay, the Lord Advocate, in a letter to Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, described The Sun Article as “misleading and positively mischievous”.

He explained: “Lord Cullen contacted me this morning and is extremely annoyed about what the newspaper has printed. Lord Cullen is arranging for a letter to be sent to the editor of The Sun, confirming that he has not reached any decisions.”

Lord Mackay said he had no reason to believe the remarks attributed to a “so-called insider” were actually made but insisted no official or special adviser should say anything to the Press that could be misinterpreted or to suggest there was a “private line” between Lord Cullen and the Government.

He explained: “Any speculation about what Lord Cullen might ultimately recommend is wholly inappropriate and should be avoided. Further articles of a similar nature to those in today’s Sun could be extremely embarrassing for the Government in our efforts to obtain the support of the public for the legislation planned for the autumn.”

In response, David Maclean, the Home Office Minister, hit out at the “scurrilous article and leader” in The Sun. He said after exhaustive inquiries he had concluded no one in Government had spoken to the newspaper.

He added: “It is significant that most of the media recognised The Sun’s article for the speculative and misleading report it was.”

Six weeks later, the Cullen Report made 23 recommendations to tighten rules on gun ownership and monitor those who worked with children.

It proposed a ban on all handguns, save .22-calibre target pistols, leaving Britain with some of the strongest laws on private ownership of guns.

In February 1997, the Conservative Government's proposals became law but after Labour came to power in May of that year it brought in an amendment to ban all handguns, which became law six months later.