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'I survived the London nail bombings -25 years on I can still see the people covered in blood after wave of hate'

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date17 April 2024
Publication titleMyLondon (England)
At 6.37pm on April 30, the bomb exploded, tearing through the popular Soho bar, killing three and injuring at least 70 people. Those who died would be later named as John Light, 32, Nick Moore, 31, and Andrea Dykes, 27, who was pregnant at the time. Copeland, who had carried out attacks on Black and Asian communities in Brixton and Brick Lane earlier in the month, was arrested and sentenced to six life sentences for the heinous attacks

Amongst those we spoke to is Richard Torry, 64, who remembers being ordered out of his Old Compton Street flat by police. Richard has lived on the busy London street since 1980, said he walked past the pub moments before the explosion. He said: “I thought it had gone off in Leicester Square because it was so loud. I realised later [the explosion] had echoed off the buildings.

"I looked out the window and saw people running down Wardour Street. I thought they were running away but they were running towards it.”

He said police had arrived within minutes and began evacuating buildings in case there was a second bomb. Richard hid in the back of his apartment waiting for a sign to leave.

He packed a bag full of clothes and rushed off to a friend’s place, unsure of when he’d be able to return. He says he can still picture people strewn across the street covered in bloody clothes.

Over three weekends, Copeland targeted Brixton's Black community, Brick Lane's Bangladeshi community and Soho's LGBT community. Tragically his last attack would prove the deadliest and claim three young lives as well as the life of a child who was yet to be born.

Mark Healey runs the anti-hate crime charity 17-24-30 National Hate Crime Awareness Week. The charity holds remembrance services for the bombings every year and has the dates of each bombing in its title: Brixton on April 17, Brick Lane on April 25...

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