FIVE YEARS on from the suicide terror attacks on the London transport system that left 52 dead and hundreds injured, security on the Underground has not been strengthened, a lawyer for some of the families of the victims told the opening day of the inquests.
“Nothing on the Underground has changed,” said lawyer Clifford Tibber. “There is no security whatsoever. In the immediate aftermath of the bombings, every Tube station was swarming with police, station staff were conducting random bag checks. But all that has stopped.
“There is no building in the country where you don’t have some sort of security measures; why should a Tube station be any different? We’ve just had the terror alert raised again, so where are these bag checks and scanning equipment? You don’t have to check everyone – random checks are a sufficient enough deterrent,” Mr Tibber said.
He said a House of Commons inquiry had called for random searches, dog patrols and for chemical and biological detection equipment to be installed.
However, Transport for London said it had increased the number of CCTV cameras to 12,000 and transport police numbers to 700, along with better radios. “London Underground’s challenge in today’s security climate is striking the right balance between running a mass transit service that keeps London moving, while introducing stricter security measures that, in practice, can make it harder for people to travel.”
The inquests, which were attended by large numbers of relatives and friends of the dead, began in the Royal Courts of Justice with the listing of the names of all of the victims who died on three Tube trains and one bus.
The inquests into the deaths of the bombers, Mohammed Sidique Khan (30), Shehzad Tanweer (22), Jermaine Lindsay (19) and Hasib Hussain (18), will take place later.
In opening statements, it was learned that ringleader Sidique Khan had intended to attack the day before, but he cancelled before dawn after his wife Hasina Patel suffered a miscarriage. In a text to his fellows, he said: “Having major problem. Cannot make time. Will ring when I get sorted. Wait at home.”
The bombers were ready to fight police if they were intercepted, carrying home-made grenades and a semi-automatic handgun, while commuters who spotted them on an overground train shortly before the explosions said they were “smiling and laughing and generally relaxed”.
Graham Foulkes, still grieving for the loss of his 22-year-old son David in the Edgware Road bombing, insisted that MI5 had known about Mohammed Sidique Khan from 2004 onwards and claimed that the intelligence service would do everything possible to prevent the public learning the truth. “They knew what his intent was,” he said. “They could have stopped him but they didn’t.”
Several investigations have already taken place into the bombings, including reports from the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee and the London Assembly, but the inquest has powers to examine whether MI5 or the police could have prevented the attack and whether emergency services responded properly.
The inquest is expected to last five months. The Metropolitan Police investigation was the largest ever conducted by the force and thousands of documents have been lodged with Lady Justice Hallett, who will also have sight of papers from MI5 and the ambulance service, along with closed-circuit television footage and forensics.