UK/FILE: Emergency and security services bracing themselves for criticism as coroner at inquest into 7/7 bombings prepares to rule

Record ID: 355797

  • Title: UK/FILE: Emergency and security services bracing themselves for criticism as coroner at inquest into 7/7 bombings prepares to rule
  • Date: 7th May 2011
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (JULY 7, 2005) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF INJURED PEOPLE BEING TREATED AT ENTRANCE TO GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC8G21FMBWVXH9JMMG3IEMMV6W
  • Story Text: The coroner in the inquest for the 52 victims of the suicide bombings on London's transport network on July 7, 2007 will announce her verdicts and make a series of recommendations for preventing future deaths on Friday (May 6).
    Four British Islamists -- Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19, -- detonated home-made bombs on three packed underground trains and a bus in London on July 7, 2007.
    Apart from those killed, some 700 people were injured or severely maimed.
    The coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, is expected to record unlawful killing verdicts for all 52 victims who died in the attacks on three Tube trains and a double-decker bus.
    She will also make a ruling on whether a separate inquest should be held for the four bombers.
    The inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice in London began in October and heard oral testimony from 309 witnesses before closing its evidence sessions in March.
    It had a wide-ranging remit to examine whether the emergency services' response was adequate and whether MI5, also known as the Security Service, could have prevented the attacks.
    The hearings looked in detail at the bombings at Aldgate, Edgware Road and King's Cross Tube stations before turning to the explosion on a number 30 bus in Tavistock Square.
    relatives of the victims have called on the coroner to use her "Rule 43" powers to make 32 recommendations, including nine relating to an alleged failure by MI5 and the police to stop the atrocities taking place.
    The emergency services' ability to help the injured was restricted by equipment shortages and bureaucratic delays in reaching the scenes of the attacks, the inquest heard.
    A senior MI5 officer, referred to as Witness G, gave evidence about what the security authorities knew of 7/7 ringleader Khan and his number two Tanweer before the attacks.
    MI5 took a clear colour picture of the two bombers at an M1 service station in February 2004 but this was never shown to an al Qaeda supergrass who met Khan at a militant training camp in Pakistan but did not know his name.
    And just months before the atrocities, police received a tip-off about a committed extremist called "Saddique" who could have been identified as Khan but for undisclosed reasons of national security.
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