| Hateland -
Articles |
01/07/00
- My David was a terrific child, intelligent and loving..
now i am destroyed
The Mirror
COPELAND'S tormented mother Caroline says she will always
love him despite his crimes. Shivering uncontrollably
and breaking down in tears, she said: "I know he
may be a monster and I hate what he's done. But he's my
son and I won't stop loving him. I gave birth to him,
he's mine.
"The David who has done these things is not the sweet,
gentle and beautiful little boy I remember. "He was
a terrific child, intelligent and loving and we all adored
him. That David is still inside my head and nobody will
ever take that away from me. "Now he has destroyed
me, destroyed his family and destroyed the lives of all
those people and I still don't know why.
"Can any parent imagine how horrific it is knowing
that something of yours did this appalling thing to these
people? I cannot describe the shock and horror we all
feel." Hairdresser Caroline, 47, was so traumatised
by Copeland's sick deeds she spent months on tranquilisers.
She considered suicide until being talked out of it by
her parents and other sons Jonathan, 25, and Paul. 20.
Now she constantly trawls through the past, searching
for clues to explain his acts. She said: "I keep
asking myself what happened to make David change. There
must have been something.
But I can't think of any moment in his life that would
have made him change into the sort of person capable of
doing what he's done. "He was just an average little
boy, who had a normal upbringing. He went to Cubs, the
swimming club and did all the things little boys do. "There
was still no sign of any problem in his young teenage
years. "We didn't live in an area of racial tension.
He wasn't brought up like that. He had the best upbringing
I could give him. "You read about this sort of thing
in the papers but you never dream it could happen to you."
Five years ago Caroline divorced her husband Stephen after
20 years of marriage. Copeland was 19 and soon afterwards
moved to London. Since then she has rarely seen him. His
mum said: "He'd phone occasionally.
There's an old saying that a daughter is a daughter for
life but a son is only a son until he has a wife or moves
on with his life. "David knew my phone number and
where I lived. He knew I was there for him when he wanted
me." Caroline trembled as she recalled the day she
heard of his arrest.
"At first I didn't believe he'd done it. I thought
there must have been a huge mistake. "Then I saw
the pictures in the papers and began to have my doubts."
Caroline never once mentioned the word "murder"
or talked about bombs or about the evening of April 30
last year when she nearly became a victim of her own son's
bomb.
She was having a drink in Covent Garden when his third
device went off, killing three and injuring 79 in Soho's
Admiral Duncan pub. At her flat in Bracknell. Berks, she
sobbed: "I can't begin to believe what David has
done to all those poor people. I feel so ill when I think
about those people who died.
"I keep thinking I'm in a nightmare, knowing something
of mine could do this, cause this pain. "He must
be ill and I can only hope the cause of his illness is
found and that he's cared for in the best way. "When
I visit him he doesn't say anything about it. I can't
bring myself to mention it either, even though I really
want to know why.
"How could David do this? What was he thinking? I
have so many questions yet neither of us have talked about
it." Talking of how she is trying to cope, she said:
"I was on medication but it was only masking everything.
I've got to keep on working. I've got my parents and sons
to look after."
She added: "I just want the old David back. I don't
know what happened to change him but something must have.
The old David would never have done this. He is facing
a life sentence and that's going to be a life sentence
for me too." Copeland's dad Stephen, 51, believes
his son's personality change came when his mother walked
out.
He insists the bomber had a normal childhood but "went
off the rails a bit" when he was about 18 or 19.
He said: "We do not know why she went. It had a dreadful
effect on David. At the time he was still living here.
He was getting drunk and staying out late. He was upset
and angry.
"There was nothing unusual in his childhood. He was
treated the same as his brothers. If anything he was the
favourite because he was so cute. "I used to go into
his room. He had the normal kinds of things in there,
the girlie posters. "It was when he got to 18 or
19 he dropped everything. He took himself away from his
friends and family and cocooned himself in his own world."
It took Stephen, of Yateley, Hants, months to accept his
boy had been responsible for the bombings. And he still
finds it hard to believe he was capable of causing such
harm to others. "Dave has told me it was not his
aim to kill anyone. It was a wake-up call that the far
right was still around. He wanted to terrorise people."
Stephen is pleading his son's case on a bizarre website
on the internet.
He said: "I have set up the website to set the record
straight. It's for people to see our side of the story."
Classmates at Yateley School in Hampshire yesterday told
how Copeland as "strange, a bit creepy". One
said: "He didn't mix and always seemed a bit distant.
He just seemed to end up being apart."
He gained eight GCSEs but not even his family realised
just how bright he was. He has an IQ of 126 in the top
10 per cent of Britain's brainiest people. Before his
parents split, David's gran Ellen died of a stroke and
his dad was injured in a crash which left him unable to
work for years. At weekends Copeland worked out some of
his frustrations at a gym. He also liked golf and music.
His elder brother Jonathan, 25, had left home. His younger
brother Paul, 20, was a student at Luton University. With
his mum gone, Copeland found life at home unbearable and
began isolating himself from his family and the few friends
he had. Then he became interested in right-wing fanatics.
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