Anxious wait for families of 7/7 victims

FAMILIES of the victims of the July 7 terrorist attacks will learn this week whether the inquests for the bombers will be held along with those for their loved ones.

Former Hulme Grammar and Oldham Sixth Form College student David Foulkes (22), from Austerlands, was one of the 52 people killed when four bombs detonated that day.

His father Graham has previously branded plans to hold his son’s inquest at the same time as his killers as unacceptable.

Mr Foulkes also wants the inquest to examine whether security services could have prevented the attacks.

He said: “It is our firm belief there was an overwhelming volume of information in the hands of the intelligence community, which, had they acted properly, would have prevented the attacks.

“If the coroner says the inquest must include what they knew, then they will have to give evidence under oath and we can establish the facts.”

The coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, will hold a three–day hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London to decide what form the inquests should take.

She will hear legal arguments about whether inquests into the 2005 London bombings need to be held at all, and if so how broad their scope should be.

One of the key issues is whether the hearings for the four suicide bombers should be combined with those for the innocent victims.

Lady Justice Hallett, a senior judge in the Court of Appeal was specially appointed as coroner. She will rule on whether she should sit with a jury.

She must also decide who should be counted as “interested persons” entitled to be represented at the inquests.

The bereaved relatives are automatically classed as interested persons, but some survivors of the attacks believe they should also have the status.

Ministers have rejected two applications for legal aid from relatives of the bombers.

More than 700 people were injured when suicide bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan (30), Shehzad Tanweer (22), Hasib Hussain (18), and Jermaine Lindsay (19) detonated their devices on three tube trains and a bus.

If they go ahead, the inquests are expected to start in October.