AFTER THE BOMBINGS...............

THE TIMES

10th MARCH , 1973.

 

The finding of the car bomb which injured nearly 200 people in Old Bailey, London, on Thursday was delayed about 15 minutes by "human error" in the City police control room, Mr. James Page, the commissioner, said last night. Forensic science tests yesterday indicated that the four cars used in separate outrages were shipped across the Irish Channel. An IRA squad travelled with them, police said. Bomb damage at the Central Criminal Court was inspected yesterday by the Prime Minister and the Lord Chancellor. The Prime Minister praised police and court officials. Seven men and three women were still being interviewed at Ealing police station last night in connection with the incidents.

 

Explanation of missing 15 minutes

by Clive Borrell and Stewart Tendler

 

Mr. James Page, Commissioner of the City of London Police, admitted last night that "human error" by one of his staff caused a 15-minute delay in evacuating the Old Bailey area on Thursday when a car-bomb injured nearly 200 people. One man died after the explosion.

 After a day of questioning about the times at which certain messages, many of them hoaxes. were received and acted upon, Mr. Page made a statement last night admitting his force was to blame for the delay.

There was inevitable speculation last night on how many victims could have been saved from injury had they been given longer warning than the eight minutes which police at the scene eventually were given by radio.

But Mr. Page, who met Mr. Carr, the Home Secretary and Sir Robert Mark, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, yesterday, has decided he will face all questions at a press conference today.

He was not anxious to elaborate last night on the statement he made earlier.

This said: “It has now been established that there was an error in the interpretation of the message in my control room which delayed the finding of the bomb by about 15 minutes. This information was frankly volunteered by the officer concerned. This was a human error which does not suggest that any change of procedures between the two forces is required.”

 Mr. Page's statement did much last night to clear the air after a day of uninformed speculation. At one stage The Times was accused in some quarters of being slow to tell the police about a telephone caller who had said that a bomb had been planted in a car outside the Central Criminal Court.

In fact, at almost the same time that the call was made to The Times a similar warning was given to Bow Street police station, which passed the message to Scotland Yard. The call was then passed on to the City police.

It is at that point that the City police admit there was "human error".

 A report sent to all newspapers by the Press Association yesterday mentioned criticism of a reporter of The Times who was sent to the Central Criminal Court after the newspaper received the bomb call. "The number of the car was passed on to the police, but no attempt appeared to have been made by the reporter to draw the attention of the City police officers on duty inside the front doors of the Central Criminal Court to the car", the report said. Mr. Colin Webb, news editor of The Times, said in a statement that when the reporter identified the car he telephoned his office immediately. "He knew we were in touch with Scotland Yard and was told the information would be passed to Scotland Yard, which it was, immediately.

"For all we knew at that stage it could have been a hoax or a trap, or one the police knew about; it could have been anything. He did not think it part of his business to raise an alarm by going around saying: 'There could be a bomb in that car'.

"In fact, there were no policemen there at the time; they did not arrive for about 15 minutes."

Mr. Carr, the Home Secretary, accepted Mr. Page's conclusion last night that the discrepancy was due to human error and said that he was satisfied that the procedures for passing messages were satisfactory. He gave a full report to the Prime Minister about Thursday's incidents.

 Scotland Yard detectives received information yesterday that Thursday's bomb attacks in London were planned at least a week ago in Ulster.

Forensic' science tests show that the four cars used, two of which exploded, injuring a total of 238 people in Old Bailey and Whitehall, were shipped across the Irish Channel, probably carrying more than 3001b of gelignite between them.

 An IRA squad is known to have travelled in some of the vehicles without being detected. It is believed that sympathizers met them when they landed and guided them to a secret depot outside London where the cars. all stolen in Ulster, were given false registration plates.

 Some of the cars used in the attacks *were spattered with mud and forensic scientists at Home Office laboratories were last night trying to trace its source.

Det. Chief Supt Gerald Lee, head of the City of London CID, said that the car bomb which exploded outside the Central Criminal Court had been stolen in Northern Ireland. It was traced by the number on the chassis block. It was brought into England on Monday.

 Commander Robert Huntley, of Scotland Yard, said a chalk mark on the tyre of the car outside New Scotland Yard containing 1751b of gelignite was being checked as a clue to the car's origin.

 "We have no reason to believe that the other three cars did not come from Ulster in the same way ", Mr. Huntley said. Checks were being made on car ferries.

Commander Ernest Bond, who worked on the Angry Brigade bomb cases, said the techniques used to plant the bombs were similar to those used in Ulster.

The explosives removed from the car outside New Scotland Yard and in Dean Stanley Street were being analysed yesterday. The defused bomb in Dean Stanley Street contained 1001b of gelignite.

Reports that warnings of possible attacks had been passed to Scotland Yard from sources on both sides of the Irish Channel were denied by the two senior officers.

Asked about reports that the Provisional IRA had claimed responsibility for the attacks, Mr. Huntley said the evidence from the IRA differed from that known by Scotland Yard. How- ever, the differences were not significant.

Both the City police and Scotland Yard issued an appeal asking for people to come forward who had noticed any of the four cars this week. Mr. Lee said the Cortina outside the Central Criminal Court with the registration of YSN 469K was thought to have been parked there after midnight on Wednesday.

 

The car in Great Scotland Yard was a bronze or gold Hillman Hunter, NVM 632F. The green Corsair at New Scotland Yard was NYP 4773 and the blue Vauxhall Viva in Dean Stanley Street was BYS 246B.

Mr. Lee said that the City police had been aware of possible danger for some time but the force did not have the same special patrols in operation as the Metropolitan Police.

Christopher Sweeney writes from Belfast: Two of Belfast’s most experienced Special Branch detectives flew to London yesterday to help with the questioning of, the 10 people who are assisting police enquiries into the bombings. All flights to Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic from Heathrow airport, London, yesterday were watched by police and security men. Passengers were put on board aircraft early so that the precautions did not disrupt flight schedules. All travellers were asked to identify their baggage before it was loaded on the aircraft. All people travelling to Dublin were required to fill in yellow immigration cards.