| Hateland -
Articles |
04/07/00
- Nail horror packed into a sandwich container
South London Press
COPS have described the extraordinary and at times bizarre
series of events that led to the nail bomb explosion in
Brixton, which injured 50 people. David Copeland arrived
in Brixton by black cab from Clapham Junction railway
station before 4.30pm on April 17. He was carrying a black
'Head' sports bag with green writing on it.
This bag contained the nail bomb that exploded with devastating
effect just under an hour later. A senior Scotland Yard
source has told the SLP the green writing on the bag was
crucial in helping detectives pick out Copeland's image
on CCTV footage seized from cameras in the area Copeland
arrived and realised he was too early and so did some
'window shopping'.
He also sat in a park and during this time was asked to
take part in a survey on local policing, which he completed.
He then placed the bomb outside the Iceland supermarket,
near the junction with Electric Avenue and opposite a
bus stop packed with people on that busy Saturday afternoon.
He then quickly left the area The sports bag was then
spotted by a group of market traders working on the corner
of Electric Avenue. They picked it up and took the bag
to between a fruit and veg stall and watch stall on Electric
Avenue and opened it. Inside they saw what they immediately
suspected could be a bomb.
They saw wiring and a plastic sandwich box with a coloured
lid. Stuck to this was a larger brown cardboard box. Inside
the sandwich box were two square batteries and a round
object that looked like an alarm clock The cardboard box
appeared to be full of nails. The traders' description
of what they saw inside the bag before the bomb went off
later allowed explosives experts to piece together how
the bomb had been made.
The bag was moved and put on some wooden pallets outside
Electric Avenue and next to the Iceland food store. However,
a member of the public, unaware at that stage of its contents,
spotted the bag and incredibly TOOK out the bomb and put
it back on top of the pallets. He then walked off with
the Head bag.
A quick thinking market trader immediately realised the
significance the Head bag would have, chased the man who
had removed the bomb from it, and made him hand it over.
The security guard in Iceland was then alerted and a police
car on Brixton Road was flagged down. The officers were
approaching the bomb when it exploded at 5.26pm.
The blast sent nails flying like bullets in all directions,
injuring dozens of bystanders including a 23-month-old
baby who was left with a nail embedded in its skull that
penetrated the outer layer of its brain. Two people lost
an eye, one suffered a fractured ankle and elbow and severe
damage to a facial nerve.'
Many suffered temporary hearing loss and three people
suffered perforated ear drums. The explosive force was
so great shrapnel blasted through vans, buses and shop
windows. Nails were later found inside the Iceland store.
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