I spent weeks identifying 7/7 victims – the atrocity still haunts me 20 years on

The Sun

9 hours ago

HERO Scots cops who identified victims of the London 7/7 terror attacks last night revealed they are still haunted by the atrocity 20 years on.
Paul Clements, 67, recalled his 'traumatic' five-week deployment in a mortuary holding commuters killed when terrorists detonated suicide bombs on three trains and a bus.
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The retired Met Police officer revealed he still struggles to board the Underground due to painful memories of the rush-hour tragedy — when 52 people lost their lives and 784 others were wounded.
He had grown used to dealing with the 'ugly side' of life in the force but nothing prepared him for his work helming a team of Disaster Victim Identification officers.
Days from the 20th anniversary of the attack on July 7, 2005, dad-of-one Paul, from Stranraer, said: 'I spent five weeks in a mortuary with a team trying to identify victims.
'It was traumatic, of course it was. Each body part or each person is also a crime scene.
'Obviously we had to recover any forensic evidence. We had to look for SIM cards, or bits of circuit board, for evidential purposes, because we were trying to find out what type of detonators were used.
'You're dealing with an ugly side of life — and as a police officer you do deal with the ugly side of life — but this was on a fairly massive scale.
'It took most people by surprise. You do have to be professional.'
Three bombs were detonated on board Underground trains within 50 seconds of each other as Londoners headed to work.
An hour later a fourth explosive ripped through the top of a No30 double-decker bus.
Recalling his struggles later to catch the tube, with the memory of the attacks fresh, Paul said: 'I remember later walking to the tube station.
7/7 survivor Dan Biddle and his rescuer Adrian interview
'I got to the entrance and I just couldn't walk in it. I got a mental flashback of everything I'd just dealt with.
'I thought, no, I cannot go on the tube. And strangely enough, I got a bus, and the bus took me probably three or four times the length of time.
'Although obviously a bus was bombed as well, it didn't have the same mental impact as the tube did.
'For about a year I just refused to go on the tube. Needs must and eventually I faced up to it and jumped on the tube. But even now it just brings back all those memories.
'I'll do it, but I never feel comfortable going on the tube — and that's 20 years later.'
Three suicide bombers launched the deadliest terror atrocity on British soil — setting off from Leeds around 4am in a hired Nissan Micra then driving to Luton to meet their fourth accomplice.
Scots Victim Tragedy
ACCOUNTANT Helen Jones was the only Scot to die in the terror attack.
Helen, 28, was killed in the Piccadilly line bombing just weeks after moving into a North London flat with her boyfriend.
She grew up in Templand, near Lockerbie, Dumfries-shire, and went to Aberdeen University aged just 16.
After leaving school, she also spent time working with prostitutes and drug addicts at Glasgow's city mission and volunteered at homeless hostels.
She'd texted her partner just before the bomb was detonated.
Three of the men, Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, and Germaine Lindsay, 19, entered the Underground and boarded separate trains.
Ringleader Khan got into the second carriage of a westbound Circle line train heading to Paddington and detonated his device near double doors at Edgware Road station.
Tanweer boarded an eastbound Circle line train and set off his device at the rear of the second carriage between Liverpool Street and Aldgate at the same time.
Meanwhile, Lindsay caused the most devastation when he exploded his bomb on a southbound Piccadilly Line service between King's Cross and Russell Square.
An hour later Hasib Hussain, 18, launched a fourth attack on boarding a bus at Tavistock Square.
Retired Detective Sergeant Callum Sutherland, 67, from Greenock, led units working with pathologists to identify the deceased in a makeshift mortuary.
The crime scene manager and his officers had to search for bits of explosive devices — a job so grim that many opted to stay in a hotel for five weeks rather than return to their families and discuss the devastating details.
Callum endured harrowing shifts with fellow officers within the temporary morgue in the gardens of the Honourable Artillery Company.
Netflix Doc Details Horror Attack
A NEW Netflix documentary will offer inside accounts of the horrific day.
Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers features exclusive interviews with witnesses, including survivors and police.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, 72, also contributed to the programme.
And relatives of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, pictured, who was shot dead after being wrongly suspected of being a terrorist, also have their say.
The documentary will launch on the streaming service on Tuesday.
He admitted: 'A girl was meant to be getting married there over the weekend. The police or the government paid for her wedding to be somewhere else so they could use this as a temporary mortuary.
'It's later it affects you. You'll hear police officers say, it doesn't bother me, it's just a job.
'Well, rubbish. It does. Not necessarily at the time, or the next day, or a few days later, but at some point it will.'
Family man Callum has also worked with crime author and scriptwriter Lynda La Plante on TV shows Prime Suspect and Trial & Retribution.
He added: 'You have the occasional nightmare. I've always felt if it doesn't bother you, then you're not the right person for the job.
'One of the things that was different as well is, generally, in a murder, you don't know who did it, or you don't know the exact cause of death until you have a post-mortem. But with the bombings, you knew how those people had died from the word go.
'It's tiring because you were doing 12-plus hour days, day in, day out, but we had an important job to do.'
He and colleague Paul remain proud of how they handled the toughest days of their careers.
Paul said: 'It doesn't feel like 20 years. It seems in some instances almost like a couple of years ago. We all felt very proud. I think we're all professional, and it was a multi-team sort of effort because it wasn't just Met officers and we worked exceptionally well.'
Callum added: 'You should be thinking about people who've lost their loved ones, giving family comfort and finding out who did it.'