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UK: Nail-bomber of gay bar gets 50 years

Mon 5 Mar 2007 In: International News

A High Court judge has ruled that the Soho nail bomber should not be considered for release for fifty years. David Copeland, now 30, terrorised London's minority communities for thirteen days in the spring of 1999. Bombs in Brixton and Brick Lane caused serious injuries. The nail bomb he planted in gay pub the Admiral Duncan, in London's Old Compton Street, killed three people and injured eighty. Mr Justice Barton ruled today that the original recommendation that he should serve 30 years before being considered for parole was too lenient. Copeland was 22 when he carried out his 13-day hate campaign. When he was captured, his lawyers tried to claim he was mentally ill and he was tried on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The judge called Copeland's case "deliberate, multiple murder" and extended his tariff, the time he will remain in prison, by 20 years. "A defense was put forward by the defendant of diminished responsibility, which the jury rejected," the judge said. After his arrest, Copeland told detectives he was a neo-Nazi and said he wanted to start a race war in Britain. He chose the first gay pub from an alphabetical list and on Friday 30th April 1999, his nail bomb ripped through the Admiral Duncan pub in London's Soho area. Andrea Dykes, 27, who was four months pregnant with her first child, died in the bomb, along with her friends, Nick Moore, 31, and John Light, 32. They were having a drink in Soho before attending a West End musical. Mr Light was to be the baby's godfather. Andrea's husband, Julian, was seriously injured. Some of the wounded had limbs amputated. Copeland's attack on London's gay community remains one of the darkest days in the city's history.     Ref: PinkNews.co.uk (m)

Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff

First published: Monday, 5th March 2007 - 12:00pm

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