July 7 attacks were watershed moment for head of Met's counter-terrorism squad
When he saw the horror unfolding on the television, he 'did that thing that police officers shouldn't really do' and headed to London before he had been officially deployed.
Mr Murphy told the PA news agency: 'I was an officer who could be called into London or some other part of the country to help SO13 (former Met anti-terrorist branch) if they were responding to a terrorist attack, or conduct searches or support them in some way.
'And I remember sitting in the special branch office, which is our intelligence unit in Hertfordshire, and I was watching this unfold on TV, and I did that thing that police officers shouldn't really do.
'I didn't wait to be deployed. I spoke to my line manager and grabbed a car and all my kit and equipment and drove straight down to London to be here as quickly as I could.'
The compassion shown by the officers investigating the bombings and the speed at which they worked inspired him to spend the rest of his career in counter-terrorism.
Mr Murphy said: 'I arrived in our forensic management team.
'These were the officers and staff that were leading the response at the scenes to gather the evidence and recover those that had been unfortunately killed in the incident.
'I arrived to something I would describe as a really high pace of activity, the sort of activity you would expect policing to be doing at a terrible incident like this, but of course, this was on a scale and a type of incident we had never seen.
'I was struck by all of those counter-terrorism officers from SO13 that I met, their professionalism, their commitment to finding who was responsible for this attack, their overwhelming compassion for victims… that compassion extended to how they recovered those that were deceased from the attacks.
'I was struck by the end of that first day to see the professionalism and the pace they were working at.
'I never wanted to work anywhere else.
'I really only ever wanted to work with this group of people who I thought were some of the most impressive people I'd ever seen, and just the way that commitment portrayed itself to their service to the public and the victims was overwhelming for me.
'So I had been a Hertfordshire officer for nearly 12 years at that point, but I never really went back to Hertfordshire.
'I stayed here then, and have been here in counter-terrorism for the rest of my career.'
He specialised in body recovery, and has been deployed abroad to help investigate several atrocities involving British victims or interests, including the 2015 Tunisian beach attacks as well as tragedies in Algeria, Yemen and Sudan.
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The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Jury shown CCTV footage of alleged assault on police at Manchester Airport
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He added: 'I felt that crowd had been hostile. No-one wanted to help us.' Pc Marsden said he managed to break free from Amaad and deploy his Taser against him before he felt a blow to the head from behind and someone on his back. He said: 'They were sharper blows that kept connecting to my head. It felt like some sort of implement. My fear was that it could have been some kind of knuckleduster. 'This level of violence was now escalating even further.' When he felt an arm 'wrap round my throat' he said he believed there could be a third attacker, he told the court. Muhammed Amaad and his brother are said to have struck out after police were called to respond to an incident (Peter Powell/PA) He said: 'I thought they were trying to strangle me. I could feel the tightness of the arm around my throat and I stumbled backwards.' He said, at the time, he had not realised his colleague Pc Cook had discharged her Taser at Amaaz as he held on to him. Pc Marsden said he freed himself and then went down to arrest the male on the floor. He told the court: 'I firmly believe had he got up he would have overpowered me. I was starting to feel the strain of those hits, I was unbalanced, I was exhausted. I didn't have the energy to keep in that fight. 'I had never seen anyone react to the police before in such a violent attack. They were so intent on causing us harm. 'He (Amaaz) ignored my commands to put his arms around his back. His chest lifted off the floor and his head towards me. 'He was attempting to get off the floor. I needed to deliver one strike to the facial region to stun the subject. 'Using the soft-laced part of my boot I delivered a kick to the facial region which would buy me valuable seconds in order to take control and hopefully dissuade the subject from trying to get up again. 'The male on the floor rescinded almost immediately, bringing his hands to his face.' Mohammed Fahir Amaaz is alleged to have headbutted a customer (Peter Powell/PA) Pc Marsden told the court that he then noticed his police radio had come free from his clothing, attached by a wire, and was swinging in front of him. He said: 'I needed to get control of the radio to stop it being used as a weapon against me. I brought my foot up and stamped it down in an attempt to clamp the wire and stop it being pulled away. 'I don't believe I managed to connect with the wire and I missed it.' Mr Greaney asked: 'Did it connect with anything?' 'No,' said the witness. Mr Greaney said: 'The suggestion being made is that you stamped on the head of Mr Amaaz. Do you believe you made contact with his head?' 'No,' repeated Pc Marsden. The trial continues on Tuesday when Pc Marsden will be cross-examined by the defence.
Daily Record
an hour ago
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Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Elon Musk blasts FBI after axing Epstein probe — raging ‘It's no-one-has-been-arrested-o'clock again'
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One of the main claims by conspiracy theorists was that Epstein was murdered in 2019 to hush him up and protect senior figures. In the run-up to yesterday's revelations, US government officials suggested shocking revelations. When asked if Epstein's client list would be released, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in February: 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review.' She had also said the FBI was reviewing 'tens of thousands of videos' of Epstein 'with children or child porn'. I came face-to-face with Epstein - paedo would flip to dark side like a switch... I'm convinced he DIDN'T kill himself Trump supporter Alina Habba, the acting US Attorney for the District of New Jersey, had said: 'It is incredibly disturbing. We have flight logs, we have information, names that will come out. 'I don't see how it's not shocking there were so many individuals that were hidden and kept secret and not been held accountable.' 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Mr Musk made his claims about Trump being in the Epstein files when they fell out after the Tesla boss left government. The world's richest man later said he 'went too far' — but posted repeatedly about the case yesterday. The President earlier hit back at the claims saying: 'That's called 'old news.' Even Epstein's lawyer said I had nothing to do with it.' Trump and Epstein attended the same parties in the 1990s and in 2017 Epstein claimed he was 'Donald Trump's closest friend'. Trump had said he was 'not a fan of Epstein' and had not spoken to him in years.
