Stephen Clarkson: Tributes to Glasgow terror attack 'secret hero'

BBC News

12-03-2025

A "secret hero' who helped foil the Glasgow Airport terror attack in 2007 has died after a battle with a rare cancer, aged 59. Stephen Clarkson was picking up family from the airport when two suicide bombers drove a jeep packed with petrol and gas cannisters into the terminal building.As one of the bombers fought off police officers and tried to open the car's boot, the builder took him down with a "wee forearm smash". He sought no recognition but a newspaper learned of his role and dubbed him the "secret hero". He was later awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery.
His elder brother David said he died at a hospice in Glasgow on Sunday, five months after being diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer that affects the bile ducts.
David recalled how Stephen made little of his part in preventing any loss of life on the day of the Glasgow attack. "We'd been working nearby and he said he'd be away half an hour," he said. "Later he phoned me to say why he was late back and said 'I think I've just decked a suicide bomber'."When Stephen's family urged him to share his story, he told them: "I don't bother with that".
It was only when other members of the public who had responded were nominated for a Pride of Britain award that David contacted a newspaper - without Stephen's knowledge - to tell them about his brother's heroism."When he found out he went off his head and said: 'What you doing!' "He was modest with everyone else but with me he was full on," said David.
Stephen himself later described to the BBC how he initially thought the attack was a car accident, but realised something was wrong when bomber Kafeel Ahmed started lashing out at police who had arrived at the scene. He was inadvertently pepper sprayed by the officers as he went to assist. "Just when I cleared my eyes, he was coming in my direction," he said. "I got angry. He still hadn't been stopped so I just ran at him and knocked him to the ground with my forearm and elbow."
'Commando-style moves'
In another interview with the Guardian newspaper 10 years after the attack, he revealed that his partner Gillian had recently died from cancer at the time, and her bravery had inspired his own. "I had watched her fight like hell to survive, and these characters were trying to take people's lives as if they meant nothing. It enraged me," he said. He also reflected on how his upbringing in the Royston area of Glasgow had prepared him for the encounter. "He'd been doing these commando-style moves to fight off the police, and he seemed well trained, but I grew up in Glasgow. "It seemed natural to me that a wee forearm smash would sort it out."A day earlier the attackers had made a failed attempt to set off two massive car bombs in London. Ahmed was badly burned in the Glasgow attack and later died in hospital while his co-conspirator Bilal Abdulla was sentenced to at least 32 years in prison.
David said that his brother had a track record of disregarding his own safety to try to save others. Some years before the Glasgow attack, he had crawled through smoke in a burning building in an unsuccessful attempt to try to rescue an elderly man from a fire. He had also received a letter of commendation from police in Edinburgh after rescuing an American tourist who became stranded on Arthur's Seat. More recently, when living at Penilee in Glasgow, he waded into a frozen pond to rescue a woman's dog that had fallen through the ice. "Stephen would give you the shirt off his back and do without. He always thought of everyone else and never himself," said David. Asked to sum up his brother, he replied with a single word: "Remarkable". Stephen Clarkson's funeral will be held at Craigton cemetery on 21 March.