Rookie officer ran to help 7/7 blast survivors

A rookie policewoman with just five weeks' service told the 7/7 inquest yesterday how she "didn't give any thought to turning around" as she ran into a pitch black Tube tunnel where 26 people were killed.

Probationer WPc Helen Skeggs was preparing for her beat patrolling Hampstead's streets on 7 July 2005 as terrorist Jermaine Lindsay detonated a rucksack full of explosives on the Piccadilly line between King's Cross and Russell Square.

She quickly jumped into a van with other young constables and drove to Russell Square.

Reliving the moment she arrived at the booking hall which was full of survivors, she said: "It was more like a scene you would expect from a film.

"There were walking wounded everywhere, lots of blood everywhere and lots of people crying for help."

The sight prepared her for far worse below and she ran down to the platform with a bunch of other young probationers.

"It was covered in blood," she said. "And I could hear cries coming from the Tube. It was very dark and I could see smoke coming out of the entrance of the tunnel."

Making her way through the tunnel the officer heard an explosion above ground.

It was the Number 30 bus being blown up by 18-year-old Hasib Hussain in Tavistock Square, killing 13 people.

That bomb went off an hour after Lindsay, 19, ringleader Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer detonated their bombs almost simultaneously underground. The suicide bombers killed 52 innocent people. "I didn't give any thought to turning around and going back," said WPc Skeggs.

She said she looked at a fellow probationer and said "let's do this" and pressed on determined to help as many victims as possible.

Arriving at the wreckage she helped survivors and carried a man to safety back down the tunnel before returning to the carriages where she worked to save Shelley Mather.

The 26-year-old New Zealander was alive when WPc Skeggs helped carry her off the carriage. But she died minutes later as a doctor was preparing to perform a tracheotomy on her.

WPc Skeggs won a Commissioner's High Commendation for her heroism.

The coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, said: "You couldn't have been criticised when given the choice of electing to stay on the platform or helping upstairs.

"You couldn't have been criticised if when you heard the bomb you had turned back. You did neither."

The inquest continues on Monday.