Saturday, July 7, 2012

7/7 London Bombing Survivor Fears Olympic Attack

A London bombing survivor has revealed her fear of a terror attack during the Olympic Games seven years on from the devastating 7/7 atrocities.


Beverli Rhodes, from Kennington in Ashford, was one of the hundreds caught up in the tube and bus blasts on July 7, 2005.


Ironically she was on her way to a meeting about anti-terrorism and security at the Olympics, the day after London was announced as the host of the 2012 Games.


The 52-year-old, who was a senior project consultant in anti-terrorism at the time, was on the tube travelling between King’s Cross and Russell Square when it was blown up by suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay.


She was thrown forward and knocked unconscious and suffered serious chest, leg and facial injuries.


She continues to suffer from severe post traumatic stress disorder, which forced her to give up her career in security.


Ms Rhodes said had she not been caught up in the blasts, she would have been working for the upcoming Olympics.


“I would have been part of the main team delivering security infrastructure. This is still very close to my heart,” she said.


“I’m worried about the Games and I hope to God that nothing happens.


“I know my former colleagues will have been working hard to thwart any attempts, but it’s the rogue terrorists working alone that are not under any direction that I worry about. (IDIOT?)


“Security will have been watching all the right people but it’s the rogue ones that slip through the net, that’s the concern. You can’t make a situation 100 per cent safe.”


Ms Rhodes said on July 7, which falls this weekend, she will relive each moment of terror experienced seven years ago.


“It’ll run through in my head what was happening at that specific time,” she said.


“I do have flash backs. I’m off medication now after six and a half years and I’m learning to cope without it. It was for my walking and balance and also for post traumatic stress disorder, which is an ongoing thing.






“I used to have horrific nightmares and awful outbursts of being upset. I came off the medication cold turkey in January, I needed to know that I could cope without it.”


Ms Rhodes said while she will travel in London, she is still unable to use the underground and recently found herself having to quickly exit a train when she realised it would be going to Kings Cross.


She now holds workshops for people suffering post traumatic stress disorder, such as soldiers and rape victims, and helps them create survival strategies.


“I can take something worthwhile from what happened by helping others,” she said.


Another Kent victim was 28-year-old Philip Russell, from East Peckham in Tonbridge, who died following the explosion on the number 30 bus at Tavistock Square.


He had been on his way to work at JP Morgan Asset Management in the city.


His parents Grahame and Veronica have since set up a scholarship fund in his name at Kingston University where their son spent four years.

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