July 7th Home Office 'narrative' thread, Shredding the official document

From the web site of General Pervez Musharraf.

A comment on the Home Office narrative by Gill Hicks and her Partner Joe Kerr, taken from the p158, Vol.III of the 7 July Review Committee Report [PDF]

According to Joe Kerr, "the narrative" was "written without any reference to anybody who was there as a civilian presence". Aside from the interesting choice of "civilian presence", this raises further questions about the two people who claim to have seen Hasib Hussain and Mohammed Siddique Khan, namely Richard Jones and Danny Biddle.

Page 12 of the official Home Office narrative states:

So, if Richard Jones and Danny Biddle are the two eye-witnesses who claim to have seen two of the men fiddling in their rucksacks, and the narrative was written without any reference to any "civilian presence", what does that make Richard Jones and Danny Biddle?

If we change the narrative to include the correction issued after our FOI request it becomes ever more absurd:

CORRECTIONS

1. Page 4. The time of 07.15 should be changed to 07:14 and the text should read
“Lindsay walks through the entrance foyer of the station, walks to the ticket hall and appears to check the departure board. Lindsay then walks back out of the station to rejoin Tanweer, Khan and Hussain at the rear of their vehicles. The 4 then put on their rucksacks and walk towards the station. They enter Luton station and go through the ticket barriers together. It is not known where they bought their tickets or what sort of tickets they possessed, but they must have had some to get on to the platform.”

2. Page 4. The time of 07.40 on the left side of the page immediately preceding the paragraph that commences, “The London King’s Cross train leaves Luton station”. The time of 07.40 is incorrect and should be replaced by 07.25 which is the correct time.

August 2007


This section would then read:

05.07: A red Fiat Brava arrives at Luton station car park. Jermaine Lindsay
is alone in this car. During the 90 minutes or so before the others
arrive, Lindsay gets out and walks around, enters the station, looks
up at the departure board, comes out, moves the car a couple of
times. There are a handful of other cars in the car park. A few more
arrive during this period.

06.49: The Micra arrives at Luton and parks next to the Brava. The 4 men
get out of their respective cars, look in the boots of both, and appear
to move items between them. They each put on rucksacks which
CCTV shows are large and full. The 4 are described as looking as if
they were going on a camping holiday.

One car contained explosive devices of a different and smaller kind
from those in the rucksacks. It is not clear what they were for, but they
may have been for self-defence or diversion in case of interception
during the journey given their size; that they were in the car rather
than the boot; and that they were left behind. Also left in the Micra
were other items consistent with the use of explosives. A 9mm
handgun was also found in the Brava. The Micra had a day parking
ticket in the window, perhaps to avoid attention, the Brava did not.

07:14: Lindsay walks through the entrance foyer of the station, walks to the ticket hall and appears to check the departure board. Lindsay then walks back out of the station to rejoin Tanweer, Khan and Hussain at the rear of their vehicles. The 4 then put on their rucksacks and walk towards the station. They enter Luton station and go through the ticket barriers together. It is not known where they bought their tickets or what sort of tickets they possessed, but they must have had some to get on to the platform.


CCTV of the 4 entering Luton station

07.21: The 4 are caught on CCTV together heading to the platform for the
King’s Cross Thameslink train. They are casually dressed, apparently
relaxed. Tanweer’s posture and the way he pulls the rucksack on to
his shoulder as he walks, suggests he finds it heavy. It is estimated
that in each rucksack was 2-5 kg of high explosive. Tanweer is now
wearing dark tracksuit bottoms. There is no explanation for this
change at present.

07.25: The London King’s Cross train leaves Luton station. There are
conflicting accounts of their behaviour on the train. Some witnesses
report noisy conversations, another believes he saw 2 of them
standing silently by a set of train doors. The 4 stood out a bit from
usual commuters due to their luggage and casual clothes, but not
enough to cause suspicion. This was the beginning of the summer
tourist period and Luton Station serves Luton Airport.

1. Did Lindsay enter the station and look at the departure board during the 90 minutes whilst waiting for the others to arrive and then again at 7.14?

2. Did they put their rucksacks on at 6.49 or after 7.14?

Nice work, Bridget.

Seconded! And thirded!

These are large rucksacks, and appeared to be heavy.

Yet each of the bombs we were told about was said to have contained somewhere between 2 and 5 kilograms of explosive matter, unspecified with any certainty. You wouldn't need a huge rucksack for that sort of load, you could carry it in hand luggage.

So what else was in the rucksacks to make them full and heavy? One report spoke of banknotes at the scene of an explosion. Since only those closest to the blast in each instance would have lost clothes or possessions, would that cause enough banknotes to be released to be worth commenting on?

All the contemporary news media reports (ie in July 2005) claimed that the breakthrough came on the evening of 11th July, and that Hasib Hussain was the one recognised.