7/7 Inquest: Did Scotland Yard Search Luton CCTV Before The Accused Were Spotted on CCTV at King’s Cross?

London 7/7 Inquest, October 13th 2010

Did detective Inspector Kindness of Scotland Yard’s Counter-terrorism Command say that the CCTV at Luton Station was indeed searched before the accused had been seen on CCTV at King’s Cross? At the 2010 Coroner’s Inquest into the London bombings of 7 July 2005, he was questioned by Hugo Keith, counsel to the Inquests on the morning of 13th October, then the following day he was questioned further by Mr Patterson and Ms Gallagher, counsels for the bereaved.

After being sworn, DI Kindness stated to both counsels on both these days that CCTV of the four accused had first been seen by the police on 11 July 2005 – and, that was of them walking through the King’s Cross area. He even remembered the day, which was a Monday. When asked when he first discovered that they had boarded the railway network at Luton, he said that he thought that this was on the 12th; and when asked if this was on the Tuesday, he confirmed that it was, indeed, the Tuesday.

However, Ms Gallagher noticed that on Scotland Yard’s CCTV viewing record sheet, the CCTV viewing of Luton Station had commenced on 10 July 2005, which was a Sunday, and clearly it was the day before the accused had been claimed to have been seen on CCTV at King’s Cross.

Below are the Court transcripts (part), which relate to the conversations held in respect of the dates referred to above. The page numbers have been provided where these transcripts can be found, in full, at The National Archives website.

 

13th October 2010  Morning Session – Hugo Keith, counsel to the Inquests, questions Detective Inspector Kindness:

Page 5

12: Q. Can you recall on what day you first spotted a number of
13: men walking through the King’s Cross area, in particular
14: through the Thameslink station carrying rucksacks?
15: A. It was on 11 July 2005, sir.
16: Q. So on the Monday?
17: A. It was, yes.

Page 10

9: Q. Can you recall when it was that you discovered that they
10: had boarded the railway network at Luton?
11: A. I think it was on the 12th, sir.
12: Q. So the Tuesday?
13: A. Yes.

14th October 2010 Afternoon Session – Mr Patterson and Ms Gallagher, the counsels for the bereaved, questioned Detective Inspector Kindness further:

Pages 64 & 65

15: MS GALLAGHER: You say that you focused upon Luton station
16: as a result of information received on 11 July. Is that
17: right?
18: A. That’s correct, yes.
19: Q. In that document which I’ve made reference to, I think
20: you have it before you, my Lady, the
21: Anti-terrorist Branch SO13 record — do you have that
22: document before you?
23: A. No, I don’t, no.
24: Q. Is it possible for a copy to be provided?
25: MR KEITH: You can have my copy. (Handed)

1: MS GALLAGHER: This is a record of an officer viewing CCTV.
2: It seems to be by a DC Stephen Bain. Was he part of the
3: same team?
4: A. Yes, he was, yes.
5: Q. If you just look in the box at the top, it’s on the
6: left, five boxes down, “Date viewing commenced:
7: 10 July 2005, 20.00 hours”
and “Date viewing ended:
8: 11 July 2005, 23.30”.
9: A. Yes.
10: Q. So is it possible that, in fact, that information was
11: received on 10 July rather than 11 July, Inspector?
12: A. That’s absolutely correct. It’s an error. It should
13: have been the 10th.

Summary

So having had 5 years (2005 to 2010) to establish the dates as to when the four accused were first seen at King’s Cross and Luton Station, DI Kindness gets everything wrong: only when Ms Gallagher noticed a date on the CCTV viewing record, which challenged his claims about the CCTV viewing dates, he immediately changed his story, claiming that the 10th was after all correct.

What did he mean by that admission? He had twice stated that the four accused had first been seen on CCTV at King’s Cross on 11 July, which he even remembered as being a Monday, and that he ‘thought’ that they had first been seen on CCTV at Luton on 12 July (the Tuesday) – i.e he was claiming to have had a clear recollection of the men being first seen on CCTV at Luton at least one day later; he would surely have remembered if it had been the same day. Therefore, when he said: “….It’s an error. It should have been the 10th”, he can only realistically have meant that the CCTV viewing of Luton had, actually, begun on Sunday 10th July, and not 12th July as he said he ‘thought’ it had, which was the day before he had claimed that the accused were first seen on CCTV at King’s Cross. Or, is he trying to have us believe that the information that he said all along was received on 11 July (the Monday) was, in fact, received on 10 July (the Sunday), and that the Luton CCTV was also viewed on this same day?

Submitted by Micky77

 

 

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