Parents of 7/7 victim bring memorial book to city

Published on Tuesday 19 September 2006 11:44

THE parents of the only Scot killed in the July 7 terror attacks on London are bringing their own moving tribute to the victims to the Capital.

Edinburgh-born accountant Helen Jones, 28, was killed instantly when suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay blew up the Piccadilly Line tube train she had taken to work.

Following the official commemorations, her mother, Elizabeth Staffell, and stepfather, David Gould, felt something more personal needed to be done to remember the victims.

They feel the results of their work - a memorial book containing personal tributes to many of those killed - is a powerful way of showing that the bombers have not won.

Most of the victims were in their 20s and 30s. All their names are listed in the book, which contains stories about 38 of the 52 passengers who died on trains and buses in London last year.

Mrs Staffell, who lives in Chapelknowe, near Lockerbie, took the idea for the book from a similar tribute to the victims of the Lockerbie plane bombing.

She said: "The names of the bombing victims have been put on plaques at the Tube stations, but a name on a wall doesn't mean anything. We wanted something more than the official memorials. If you read a tribute book like this, you feel you get to know the person and it keeps their memory alive.

"By doing this, we have proved that the bombers did not succeed. They wanted to destroy us, but we have been drawn together."

The book will be on display at Edinburgh Central Library on Wednesday, at 5pm-7.30pm, Thursday 11am-7.30pm, and Friday 11am-4.30pm.