All language subtitles for Nail.Bomber.Manhunt.2021.NF_.WEB_.1080p.720p.H264.Eng_.HI_

[atmospheric music playing]

-Could I have a beer?
-[man 1] Of course.

-Thank you.
-[man 1] I'll get you one.

-[bottle opening]
-[lid clattering]

-[siren wailing in distance]
-[liquid pouring]

[man 1] Why did you agree to meet me?

[laughing]

It's an interesting story, and, um…

I've got a different perspective.

[brooding music rising]

[chanting]
Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!

[man 2] I spent 10 years undercover
in the far right.

It was so much worse than I thought
it was going to be. Really.

It was hardcore.

The first years, especially,
it was like full-on Nazi,

and people were, like,

competing to be as radical as possible.

And there was talk
about starting a race war.

Yeah, the race war.

We would come to a time
where we needed to, like, kill people.

[crowd yelling]

[man 2] And we'd have hit lists.

And then, like, you'd have, like,
the bomb makers themselves.

[crowd shouting]

[man 2] In the 1990s,
there was trouble in the streets.

A lot of tension.

All someone had to do was light a match.

But we didn't think anyone
was really gonna do it.

But then one person did.

[suspenseful music playing]

[projector clicking]

[stopwatch ticking]

[siren wailing]

[suspenseful music playing]

[man 3, on recording] This interview
is being tape-recorded.

I am Detective Sergeant Terrence Boland,

attached to the Anti-Terrorist branch
at New Scotland Yard.

The other officer present is…

[Johnstone]
Detective Constable Philip Johnstone

from the Anti-Terrorist branch
of New Scotland Yard.

[Boland] Today is the 1st of May, 1999,

and the time is now 18:13
according to my watch.

[machine clicks, whirs]

[Boland] You know,
the whole idea of us sitting here

is to get to the truth.

[suspect]
I'd just be the spark, that's all.

The spark that would set fire
to this country.

The thoughts,
they were getting stronger and stronger.

I just couldn't get it out of my head.

My destiny, you know?

Eventually, I woke up one morning,
and I weren't thinking about it anymore.

I was gonna do it.

[Johnstone]
When were you intending to blow it up?

[suspect] Saturday.

Half past five.

["Red Alert" by Basement Jaxx playing]

♪ Red alert, red alert
It's a catastrophe ♪

♪ But don't worry ♪

♪ Don't panic ♪

♪ Ain't nothing going on but history… ♪

That beautiful morning

everybody was everywhere,

the sunshine, Brixton was bubbly,

and people were doing
their own things.

[fruit vendor] Peaches, plum, nectarines!
There are strawberries! Come on!

We got Harrod's fruit
at Woolworth's prices!

Brixton is amazing place to be.

It's a historical place to be, you know?

This is where all the Black people

came to first in London.

♪ Don't panic ♪

People work together,
people live together.

We knew people from all over the world.

People selling everything and everywhere,

getting their penny from where they can.

[CD vendor] Yeah, that's £2, darling.

[man 4] We got all the C--
every CD in the charts.

[man 5] Snoop Dogg…

[man 4] Michael Jackson, Madonna.

I actually had an adult film
made by Snoop Dogg.

Yeah.

-Pirate it-- But I never watched it.
-We never sold that.

-We did.
-Didn't think so. All right then.

[man 4] Sorta Robin Hoods.
In their eyes, we were Robin Hoods,

but not in Our Price's eyes anyway.
Our Price used to be over the road,

and we used to say things like,
"This is my price, not Our Price."

We had a lot of rhymes.

"Didn't fall off a lorry,
had to jump and get it myself."

"I don't care if you're in the game
or out the fucking game,

half the shopping store prices."

-Really liked that. High-five.
-[laughs]

-Don't leave it hanging.
-[both laughing]

[clock beeps]

[woman 1] Coconut!

Coconut, coconut, very fresh here.

We were all there, a happy, lovely day.

All of a sudden, my neighbor said to me,

"Wow, Talent, there is a bag here,

and I can hear the noise."

I said, "What sound are you hearing?"
He said, "Come and see."

So, I came out of my stall,

and it was going… [rhythmically]
"Tinkum, tinkum, tinkum, tinkum, tink--"

That was just the sound in that black bag.

[stopwatch ticking]

[man 4] It could've been gold bullion.
It could've been loads of drugs.

It could've been loads of money.
It weren't our bag.

I opened it up, I had my face in it

and then we're like, "It's a bomb."

[stopwatch ticking]

Then it's like, "Is it a bomb?"
I'm not a bomb expert,

but I knew it was a bomb when I see it.

And I'd never seen a bomb before.

It was like a cartoon bomb, you know?

-Yeah.
-With a clock, ding-a-ling, and all that.

-So, you kinda just know.
-The alarm clocks with the old bells.

With the bells on.

-The round face clock in a Tupperware box.
-It was like that.

[man 5] And outside-- Coming out the box
was wires, and they were going…

-[man 4] Into a brown block-- box.
-[man 5] …into a box full of nails.

I said, "Call the police, call the police"

because we don't know what was happening
or who kept the bag there,

because there was nobody there.

So, I walked back into my stall
by the time--

to attend to my customers.

I remember walking off,
going, "I ain't having none of this,"

and then coming back.

I remember the guy,

like, people was going,
"Oh, don't be so stupid."

"Put it in the bin, wheel it down there,
never happened."

It was mad--
It was like no one knew what to do.

[clock beeps]

No one would believe this story.
I've told this story many times.

A crackhead took the bomb out of the bag
and nicked the bag.

"Nah, you're joking me."

"No way did it happen."

"Yes, I swear down. It happened, man."

-Even now there's crackheads--
-The crackhead come from this angle.

[whistles] He come kind of from, like--

from around the stall, picked it up.

At this time, we're going, "Leave
the fucking bag, you nutter. It's a bomb."

Where he's touching the bomb,
everyone's going, "What are you doing?"

Everyone can see the bomb now,
he took it out.

It's there, it's blatantly there,
and he just gradually--

He just went like that… [clicks tongue]
…took the bag, and walked off up the road.

He wanted the bag.
He just took the bag. I mean--

The security guard phoned the police,
the police come over--

As the police walked over I went,
"That's a bomb."

-[explosion]
-[high-pitched ringing]

[people screaming distantly]

[sirens wailing]

[officer, on megaphone]
Everyone move back, please! Thank you.

[crowd clamoring]

[clamoring continues]

I don't remember landing
or getting thrown off my feet.

-All I remember is getting off the floor.
-[man 4] Exactly.

Just getting off the floor.

-I could hear you shout at me.
-Yeah.

-He was screaming out my name.
-That was after.

[man 5] I found him on a stretcher
underneath, um, a bus stop.

"I'm over here, Lee."

[people clamoring]

I had to dodge…

under my trolley.

I didn't think anybody survived,

because it was like the whole building
collapsed on everybody.

[explosion]

[uneasy music playing]

I got a little nail in the leg.

I can't believe he didn't get hit.
He was in front. That's mad.

There's people with, like, limbs missing,
with nails in their head, I thought,

"Why do I need to waste a stretcher
going to hospital with a nail?"

-[man 5] They cut his jeans up.
-[Lee] It hit me in the leg.

So, me mum just bought me these
for me birthday.

"Don't cut my jeans! My mum got me these
for my birthday." I'll never forget that.

[Talent] There were glasses
all over the place.

Because I wasn't hurt,

I was grateful for that.

Most people around there,

there were lots of casualties.

Everybody were running all over the place

trying to find out
if their loved ones are safe.

It was a horror in the day.

[suspenseful music playing]

[tape recorder clicks]

[Johnstone] Did you think
of the consequences?

[suspect] No.

On the train,
I just kept imagining it exploding.

I had to do it.

I was like a robot.

[Johnstone] Did you think of the…

the people?

[suspect] No.

Not at all.

[tense music playing]

[man 6] Thirty-nine people were injured,

including a child with a four-inch nail

embedded in their skull.

[sirens wailing]

The combination of burns
and blast injuries

with severe shrapnel injuries
is a very difficult thing to deal with.

This bomb was designed

to kill as many people as possible,

and it is miraculous
that nobody lost their life on that day.

The whole design of a nail bomb

is-- is to do the maximum amount of harm

to the maximum number of people,
to kill as many people as possible.

Putting fragments of metal inside a bomb

and-- and then exploding,

it's going to carry this metal

300 miles an hour.

Nails are accompanied by anything else

that the blast wave picks up on the way.

And as it moves through different people,

it can carry bits of one person

into another.

So, you end up with very complex wounds

where bits of somebody's leg

can end up… end up in their chest,

or they can end up in the chest
of the next person.

We had never seen anything
quite like this before.

You join me in the heart of Brixton

where the mood is one of rising anger

against whoever was responsible
for the nail bomb.

[man 7] Brixton is a very tense area.

We just want to sort out
what happened Saturday,

and we take it from there.

With me now is Mike Franklin.

He's from the community police
consultative group.

Mike, I've seen today how high tensions
are running here.

Yes, uh, people are angry.

This was a-- a-- a cowardly,
callous attack on innocent people

going about their lawful
daily business in Brixton on Saturday.

Limbs amputated,

shredding injuries
from-- from-- from nails.

People that-- deafened, blinded.

It wasn't a bomb,
a bit of a loud noise down the road.

This was--
This-this ruined people's lives.

Police were very, very careful
not to jump to conclusions.

You know, they wanted to say,
"We're keeping an open mind

about what the motivation of this is."

[tense music playing]

I thought it was a racist attack.

Instinctively.

You live--
live down here and that happens,

and you normally have an idea.

And you had police officers
saying things to you like, you know,

"We wanna catch the bomber
as much as you do."

And you'd say to them, "No, no, you don't,
because, like, where do you live?"

"You're not living in an area
that's a target for this."

And the fact that the bomber
didn't kill anybody the first time around,

there's a possibility he might come back.

[man 8] You know,
London had had bombings before.

The IRA campaigns, you know,
weren't that distant a memory.

[reporter 1] This morning,
evidence taken from the wrecked building

is being minutely examined
by the bomb squad.

One theory is that the attack

was a calculated act of defiance
by the IRA

after the discovery in Southampton…

But what we hadn't had experience of

was a bomb of that type

in the middle of a pedestrianized
shopping high street.

[phone ringing]

Annette, hi. Simon Foy here.

I was the young,
fresh-faced, inexperienced,

quite aspiring,

probably slightly naive

potential commander to Brixton Division.

It was the most challenging place
to… to work.

[uneasy music playing]

It was quite a tense atmosphere.

There was lots and lots of speculation

about what was going on
and who was responsible for it.

A whole load of reasons
went through my mind.

We knew there was some gang violence
brewing up,

and there had been some shootings
fairly recently.

Was it that?

And people were sort of saying,
"Come on, then…"

You know,
"What are you gonna do about it?"

[man 9] Don't you think, sir, it is time

to come clean and say
you have not got enough police officers

to do the job that is necessary
within this community?

[Franklin] People felt under-protected
and over-policed.

We'd all been through
the Brixton riots of '81.

Deaths in custody,
we'd been through all that stuff,

so a lot of us in the community

weren't that happy or comfortable

working with the police,
'cause we didn't trust them.

[man 10] The police are harassing members
of our community through stop and search.

The police announced
that they're going to swamp our area

because of the bombing.

[Franklin] Police stop and search was
a real issue when I was young growing up.

Going into Brixton
on a Saturday afternoon with friends,

to record shops, things like that.

One of the things
that would happen most Saturdays

is you'd be stopped and searched
by the police.

[reporter 2] The senior policeman
who runs this area was telling me

that the advice he'd give you lot

is to think seriously
about joining the police force.

-He hasn't got enough--
-[youths laughing]

[Franklin] Friends got taken
to the police station,

come out with bruises,

and they'd tell you they got punched
in the face by a police officer.

That was-- That was fairly normal.

[crowd shouting]

Those were the things
that sowed the seeds of antipathy

between the community and the police.

Now to the day's other news.

Detectives investigating
yesterday's bomb explosion

in Brixton in South London

say they're keeping an open mind
about who planted the device.

The attack has not been linked
to a known terrorist group.

Were you here last Saturday?

[man 11] We've had lots of people
that have come forward,

uh, but no one has been able to tell us

anything particular, uh, about the bomber
at this moment in time.

[man 12] No one really had a clue
of anything.

Was it a group of people?
Was it one person?

It created real fear.

The police were not really monitoring
the far right at that time.

They say they were and people
were getting picked up every now and then,

but there was a mindset at the top
of the security services

saying that the far right
weren't a threat.

They just wrote about these things,
they weren't going to carry it out.

You know, just a bunch of hooligans.
Why are we having to look at these people?

Searchlight was
a private intelligence operation.

We infiltrated and monitored
fascist groups.

[crowd chanting] Rights for whites!
Rights for whites!

[man 12]
We'd been warning about it for years.

Terrorist movement
defending the last stand,

taking on the system.

Kind of an underground guerrilla army.

And it was all about terrorism.
All about killing people.

[crowd chanting] Sieg Hiel! Sieg Hiel!

Sieg Hiel! Sieg Hiel! Sieg Hiel!

[man 12] These were dangerous times,
and we wanted to stop these people.

The more we can find out
what they're up to, the more we can…

stop what they're doing,

draw attention to what they're doing.

And then, we were contacted by someone

volunteering to get involved.

Hello, Searchlight.

Said he was a young lad in his early 20s,
who was political,

very, very anti-racist.

Obviously, from my perspective,
the best thing he could do

was to go inside the far right.

And that's what he did.

[siren wailing in distance]

[man 1] Is it important
to still keep your identity a secret?

[man 2] Yeah.

'Cause, like, these guys
really are dangerous.

[man 1] And they still believe
that you're a Nazi?

[man 2] Yeah.

[man 1] Why did you do it?

[man 2] I like being a spy. It's, um…

[exhaling]

It's a buzz.

[man 1] Can you start at the beginning,
Arthur?

[Arthur] In 1999,
I was undercover in the BNP.

[Tyndall] For the new century,
we need a new ideal,

a new kind of politics.

[Arthur] The British National Party
was the law and order party.

[Tyndall] We must stop immigration,

and we must help the immigrants
return home.

[Arthur] We projected ourselves
as being decent,

honorable, law-abiding citizens.

We were the good guys.

To build a movement,
which in the coming century

will put the "great" back into Britain.

[Arthur] But behind that,

you'd be going to, like, a BNP meeting

at a church hall or, like,
a back room of a pub.

Fuck off.

[Arthur] And people were, like,
distributing hit lists,

overtly Nazi propaganda,

bomb manuals.

It was their dream that someone
would go out and blow up

someone they've suggested to target.

So, it was pretty extreme.

My assumption was

that they'd keep the Nazi thing

out of the way for new recruits,

but straight away they were saying
killing Jews was a good thing.

-[man 1] First day?
-[Arthur] First day, yeah.

[man 1] What did you think?

[Arthur] The thing was, I was shocked.
I was scared, but I was also excited.

And also, like, the fact
that they were so overtly Nazi,

that's more reason to carry on, isn't it?

[man 1] Did you feel people
were checking you out?

Were they sussing you out?

[Arthur] Not really, no.

I guess they were thinking that

why wouldn't any white man
want to join their organization?

-[crowd shouting]
-[car alarm blaring]

[Arthur] Obviously, the anti-fascists
had no idea I was on their side.

So, there were a few times I got whacked.

The worst time was actually--
It was, like, a girl,

and, um, like, she was smashing me
over the head with, I think, a hammer.

This was my reality.

[unsettling music playing]

[suspenseful music playing]

[tape recorder clicks]

[Boland] What do you believe in, son?

[suspect] We've got so many
poor white people in this country.

You get all this bullshit,

everything has to be equal,
everything this…

It just puts white--

It demeans the white man
in this country now.

People like me.

[Boland] So, you wanted
to put some bombs down?

[suspect] Yeah, yeah. As many as I could.

One a week.

[Johnstone] Why did you put nails in them?

[suspect] It means they'd smash windows,
stick into people, and maim people.

And kill people.

[somber music playing]

[stopwatch ticking]

[brooding music playing]

[clock beeps]

[recorder playing scale]

[explosion]

[car alarm blaring]

-[crowd screaming]
-[car alarm blaring]

[sirens wailing]

[reporter 3] The second weekend
in the capital,

it appears that ethnic communities
have once again been targeted

in an attack without any warning.

[reporter 4] Brick Lane
is sealed off tonight,

and as well as a sense of shock,

there's also a sense of relief
that nobody was actually killed.

This strikes at the heart
of the-- the Bengali community.

We have a problem,
which is tantamount to racial terrorism.

[camera shutters clicking]

These things are… are outrageous,
that we will not tolerate,

and we'll make every effort
to find out who-- those responsible.

They'll be prosecuted
and brought to justice.

No doubt about that.

With me is Siddy Shivdasani,
who's the editor of Eastern Eye newspaper.

We've received, uh, death threats
even today at our offices.

We actually warned our readers last week.

if you live in a Black or Asian area
to be aware.

Whilst politicians and the police

were dithering about
whether it was a racial crime,

in the meantime,
they were planning their next attack.

[Shivdasani] I was just trying
to get my message out there

of my personal frustration
with the police.

You know, try and do the right thing.

That's what I was trying to do then,
to do the right thing.

I was editor of a British Asian paper
at the time.

We faced a fair bit of racism.

[scoffs] Oh, you just got
used to it after a while,

and it was just a bit mindless, really.

But then we got this letter.

It was from some group called
the White Wolves.

I knew that an Asian area
was gonna be targeted next. I felt it.

But the police gave us no advice
to look for anything suspicious

or to be vigilant. Nothing.

We felt like they didn't give a fuck.

[news jingle playing]

The homemade bomb
that exploded in South London on Saturday

seemed to have been an act of lunacy.

Tonight, you can help, and this is how.

This is the quantity of nails
packed around the explosives.

Who bought this lot?

It wasn't a regular customer,
wasn't a regular builder.

Who came in
for this sort of quantity of nails?

Alan Fry is head
of the Anti-Terrorist branch.

Alan, has it taken you any further,
what you've got so far? Do you know?

I'm-- I'm sure it has,

although it's-- it's too soon,
uh, to be able to, uh, be particular

in regard to a--
a particular line of inquiry.

Well, if there's any way that you think
you can help, please, please do.

There's a £10,000 reward. That may go up.

[woman 2] There weren't many
serial killers in this country,

let alone there'd never been
a serial bomber.

You know, people were afraid.

People were afraid.

[tense music playing]

I was the senior investigating officer.

The responsibility was huge.

I had no experience
in-- in terrorism investigation.

It brought the pressure to a different--
a completely different level.

[reporter 5] Police are viewing
hours of tape

from closed-circuit TV cameras

in the hope that the person
who planted the device

will have been caught on film
and someone may recognize them.

The quality of the CCTV in 1999

wasn't great.

However, we started to find images

that-- that might be the bomber.

There was someone
wearing a white baseball cap

who was carrying over their shoulder

what appeared to be a sports bag.

The only difficulty was

he wasn't recognizable.

We went to all sorts
of different agencies.

We even went to the Americans
and-- and the military.

I mean, we sent it out there hoping,

uh, that-- that someone could enhance it.

Um, they couldn't.

We had to just keep looking.

I started working with the police.

I mean, I did joint press conferences.

So, when they produced this picture
of an individual

who may be the bomber,

there was arguments with me
about whether it should be published.

Because it's grainy.

Um, it's an inconclusive picture.

My view was, "No. If that was a member
of somebody's family, they'd know it."

"Put it out now. Put it out today."

"We can't do that."

[clears throat]

I said, "Well, while you're prevaricating,

the bomber is preparing the next bomb."

"It's urgent. Put it out now."

"Don't waste time."

"What are you gonna say to me

if a bomb goes off while we're here
having this conversation?"

"And I'm telling people
that you could've stopped it."

"Put the fucking picture out."

But nobody did.

[man 12] Police were coming to us,
"Had we heard anything?

What was our view?"

We were asking people the same questions.

Who's going to be targeted next?
Are people gonna get killed?

By that stage, people were taking credit
for it around the country. White Wolves.

There were letters were being circulated
out of the East Midlands.

We went into overdrive.
I remember at the time, it was like

24/7 trying to figure out who could it be.

Drawing up lists, who-who… who could
have been doing this sort of thing?

No-- no one had heard anything.

[somber music playing]

[man 1] What were you doing
to try and find the bomber?

I was just finding people.

Pretending, first of all,
that I was happy,

and I was saying, like,
"Any idea who it is?"

That sort of thing.

But no one had a clue.

No one had a clue.

It's quite difficult to be in a situation
where you're… you're spying on people

and you-- you try to switch that-- that,

like, the voices off in your head,

but it's not easy.

I--

I became immune to-- to the racism

and the fascism.

We'd-- we'd-- we'd look up to… heroes

within our movement,
like the Waffen SS,

Hitler, of course.

For a racist,
it was an inspiring environment.

[man 1] Did you feel yourself
being brainwashed?

[Arthur] I'd love to say I thought
it was all bullshit.

But--

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah, they indoctrinated me. Yeah.

It was like you--

Yes, I doubted the Holocaust happened.

And I was even thinking

that maybe I was naive

if I followed the mainstream view

that it did happen.

If they can get inside my head,

imagine what it was doing to other people.

-Come on!
-[crowd shouting]

When you're ready!

[crowd chanting]
Rights for whites! Rights for whites!

When you were in that bubble,

you were with like-minded people.

They had the same grievances as you,

they had the same background as you,
a lot of them.

You were, like, insulated from reality.

I was part of it back then.

This is our country!

Our own race traitors,

who are trying to destroy this country,

they are the enemy!

[crowd cheering]

[man 14] A guy called John Tyndall
was our leader.

He was a very high-profile
right-wing politician at the time.

Tyndall was a magnet for misfits,

lunatics, and losers, really.

That's what he wanted,

'cause he could… he could control 'em.

He would never say,
"Go out and blow people up,"

or "Attack people,"
but he was very clever with words.

His speeches were quite rousing,
you know.

We will fight on, work on,
march on, and struggle on

to build a country for which they died

and give Britain back
to the British people!

[crowd applauding and cheering]

[man 14] We used to go
to different meetings,

and they were always in pubs.

And so, you had all these
violent young men,

intoxicated,

being told that they're being threatened
by these hordes of immigrants,

and they're gonna murder you in your beds
and rape your wife and eat your children.

[crowd shouting]

[man 14] After the meeting,
there would always be violence.

-[rioter] Come on then, you wanker!
-[cheering]

Are you all right? Can I get vitals?

[man 14] You've got this rage
inside you all the time, and…

anger and frustration,

and then it just--

You can-- you can spew it all out.
You know what I mean?

You can vent it on someone else.

I remember after one particular meeting,

I had a transit van.

It toured the area

and dragged Black people off the street.

Kidnapped them, basically,

and they were subjected
to some pretty awful violence.

If the BNP didn't have that meeting
in the pub…

and tell everyone that
they were under threat and in danger,

they wouldn't have gone out
attacking people.

You know, they-they incited them to do it,
and then they'd wipe their mouth

and go home to his…

million-pound pile in Surrey
or wherever it was and…

we'd go back to our shitholes
in Stockwell, you know what I mean?

Job done, then.

That's-- that's how it happens.

That's how they manipulate people
and use people, and--

Yeah, I've done some pretty…
pretty shit things, really.

Really bad things.

[machine whirring]

[Johnstone] When did this come
into your head that you wanted to do this?

[suspect] Oh, don't know. A few years ago.

[Boland] 'Cause you're only 22 now, right?

[suspect] Yeah, so I was about 20.

[Boland]
You've heard in the newspaper, no doubt,

and it's been printed, about this White…
White Wolves organization.

[suspect] I don't know who they are.
I-I don't know who they are.

I-I don't care who they are.

[Boland] So, they would have
no idea who you are?

[suspect] No. No idea at all.

[Boland] So their claims
are purely fictional?

[suspect] Made up.

Just trying to, you know, take my glory.

[machine clicks, whirring]

[suspect] My aim was political.
To cause a racial war in this country.

[unsettling music playing]

[Johnstone] What does that mean?

[suspect] There'll be the uprising
and all that.

You know, the racial violence
in the street, whatever.

[Johnstone]
What was your intention at that point?

[suspect] I was thinking of a target
I was gonna blow up.

[Johnstone] Had you decided at this time
where you were going to put the bomb?

[suspect] Yeah.

Soho.

[reporter 6] Two bomb attacks in London

have understandably led to fears
in the capital that there is more to come.

Racists, we are told,
were probably behind the bombs,

and they probably
intend to strike again.

["Alice From Above"
by Dave Antrell playing]

♪ Alice from above ♪

♪ Has a face that makes you
Want to fall in love ♪

♪ Fall in love ♪

♪ All I wanted is a… ♪

[man 15] Nobody knew which community
was gonna be targeted next.

Would it be the Chinese community?

Would it be the Jewish community?

There was a lot of discussion.

But the early conversations
were all about race, all about ethnicity.

Nobody was thinking about, uh, the fact

that this could go wider
to the gay community.

[dance music playing]

[man 15] The visible part
of the gay community was in Soho,

and probably Old Compton Street.

You could kind of barhop

from one bar or one gay venue to another.

They were thriving, they were energetic,

they were full of life.

It felt very free.

It felt as if you could be in those spaces
and be yourself.

[dance music continues]

When the second bomb went off,
things became very clear very quickly.

This was somebody who hated difference.

They hate people who are different,

who-- who don't fit their perception
of normal society.

We began having conversations
with the police at quite a senior level.

We were told that it was a--
a racial issue.

And we raised our concerns,
and it was met with some skepticism

and some disbelief at Scotland Yard.

So it was really pretty much down to us

to ring round the managers
of the key venues,

the pubs, the clubs, the coffee bars,
the restaurants, to say…

"This could come to us.
Please be aware. Be vigilant."

[suspenseful music playing]

We will defeat the people
who are responsible for these bombs.

We will catch them.

We don't have specific corroboration
for any particular group,

uh, who are responsible
for these outrages,

but clearly, it is--
it is most likely to be, um,

far-right extremists
who are targeting minority groups.

[man 12] Everyone was kind of blind to it,
'cause no one knew where it was coming.

But everyone was expecting
for it to happen.

I'd meet Arthur in places
where we thought

other people who knew him
or knew me wouldn't be.

Tourist hotels in London,

meet outside London.

He understood what his mission was.

And he understood
that he had to stop them.

[Arthur] I'd meet my contact

and go through all these names
of people I knew already…

and mentioned this guy

who I'd referred to as "Dave from Barking"

because he-- he mentioned
that was where… where he was living.

We were a similar sort of age,

bonded a little bit,

talked about music

and the fact he didn't like people
with brown faces very much.

I last saw him at the annual rally

when, um, he was acting like a-a steward.

He had, like, a steward's armband.
He stood next to John Tyndall.

I think Tyndall got quite badly beaten up
by anti-fascists.

After that, Dave just, like, disappeared.

And I didn't think anything of him.

[projector clicking]

[uneasy music playing]

[tape recorder clicks, whirring]

[suspect] After Saturday at Brick Lane,

I got a taxi to Soho to do a bit of recon.

[Johnstone] Roughly what time
would this have been?

[suspect] Must've been about 7:00.

[Johnstone] Right. So, what was
your intention at that point?

[suspect] I was thinking what pub
I was gonna blow up.

I went down to Old Compton Street.

I wanted to make sure it was the right pub
'cause I was after a queer one.

A gay one or whatever you wanna call it.

[Boland] Have you got a problem
with gays, then?

-[suspect] Yeah, I have.
-[Boland] Why?

[suspect] I'm just very homophobic.

That's pretty-- You know, I just hate 'em.

[Johnstone] Why?

[suspect] I don't know. You just do.

[Johnstone] There must be a reason.

[suspect] I got a thing about homosexuals.

I just don't like talking about it,
you know what I mean?

I chose the gays 'cause I hate them.

You know? I mean, that was personal.

[Johnstone] The tape doesn't pick this up,
but when we speak to you about the gays,

you-- you have to close your eyes,
and you seem quite intense there, David.

[David] Yeah. I just don't like them.

I just don't like them, yeah?

[stopwatch ticking]

I'm completely straight.
Don't worry about that.

[Johnstone] No, no, no.
It's not a problem, but it upsets you.

You know? I don't know why it upsets you.

It upset you enough to plant a bomb.

But I don't know why.

[unsettling music playing]

[reporter 7] After the two
Saturday afternoon bombings in London,

police forces around the country
are warning people

who could be potential targets
to be vigilant this weekend.

Detectives fear the Brick Lane
and Brixton bombs

could be the start of a nationwide
racist terror campaign.

Police say they don't want to spread panic

but want everyone to be aware
of the possible threat

of another bomb this bank holiday weekend.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Foy] There were two things
that drew attention to the suspect.

Instead of looking at thousands of people,

your job is to look at all those thousands
of people who might be carrying a bag.

And then once that bag was found,
then there was the hat he was wearing.

But there was hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of hours.

[woman 2] At first, the images were so bad
you couldn't tell who it was.

But then we started to find other images
that were clearer.

The guys were straight down at my office.
"Boss, you've gotta see this."

[Foy] I distinctly remember that moment.

Here's the image. This is the bomber.

[thrilling music playing]

[reporter 8] Before rush hour,
it was on posters at stations

and other key locations
across the capital.

The images have been posted
on the internet

and are being sent
to every police force in the country.

[reporter 9] Even though the police
suspect he may be behind the bombing,

if he's watching this broadcast

and he honestly thinks he's innocent,
then he should come forward.

[tape recorder clicks, whirring]

[David] I heard on the radio
that you had pictures of me.

And at first, I thought,
"That's it. I'm caught."

So, I've immediately gone straight home,
and I've realized I ain't been caught yet.

I built my device, set the time,
I packed it all up.

Waited till about half past four,
caught a taxi up to Soho.

[Johnstone] What time did you set
the timer up for the Soho bomb?

[David] Six thirty.

[clock beeps]

[man 16] It was my day off.

I think I'd been to a gallery,
and I was on my way home.

And it was a Friday,

beginning of a-- a holiday weekend.
The weather was glorious.

I think maybe it was late afternoon.

There were people finishing work,
there was an-- an air of gaiety

and, you know,
it was like a holiday weekend.

There was an atmosphere.

And I'd been into the Admiral Duncan
once before, I think.

Um, didn't really remember it
all that well,

and I was passing by, and I thought,

"Fancy a half a beer."

It was a small pub. Narrow.

And it-it was sort of beginning
to be buzzing.

You know?
And people were arriving all the time.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Arthur] It was a Friday afternoon.

And I had heard the police
had identified footage from Brixton.

I saw copies of the Evening Standard.

Pretty much straight away, I thought
that it might be Dave from Barking.

And then my contact at Searchlight phoned,

and I just said,

"It could be David Copeland."

[Foy] We started going through
our own records,

all the stuff that Arthur
had told us over the years,

and, you know, there we found
Copeland's name

in a number of different meetings,
a number of different events.

So a colleague of mine
contacted the police.

[clock beeps]

[siren wailing]

[suspenseful music rising]

[David] Looked at my watch.
I still had, what?

An hour to go before the ignition?

I sort of waited by the telephone box,

making it look
like I was waiting for the phone.

I went in there about I'd say ten--

ten to six.

Ordered a drink.

When I was in there, I seen the people
I was gonna maim and kill.

I didn't feel joy about it.

I didn't feel sad.

I just didn't feel anything.

[Johnstone] And how long were you here for
at the end of the bar, you said?

[David] Fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes.

[Johnstone] Is that right?
You had a glass of Coke or something?

[David] A glass of Coke.

I left it there and I asked one of the men
in there if there was a bank nearby.

[Johnstone] And this is just as you left,
was it now?

-[David] Yeah.
-[Johnstone] Yeah.

[Boland] How many people
were actually in the public house

when you actually put the bag down?
Do you remember?

[David] Between 15 to 20 people.

I struggled to actually
get out of the place.

I had to go around people
and ask them to move.

I knew that people would be killed,
but I had to do it.

[clock beeps]

[dance music playing distantly]

[man 16]
The noise level was getting louder.

Ordered the beer.

I don't know whether I even sipped it.

-And then…
-[snaps fingers]

[music stops suddenly]

[high-pitched ringing]

I couldn't hear anything.

Something's really strange.

I felt really strange.

Everything switched off.

I don't feel right.

And I think that I was still
leaning on… on the bar.

And I looked across to where the optics
and-- and-- and things--

and the bottles should have been,
and there was nothing.

Just darkness, wisps of smoke,

and nobody.

I-I couldn't see anybody,
couldn't hear anything.

And I can remember turning

to-- to look to see what was going on,

and then the next memory is of being…

looking up at a-- a young woman,

and I could see her mouth opening
and closing, screaming, I think.

[somber music playing]

I learnt later, if you're in a bomb,
your eardrums get blown.

I think that I was dragged outside
and there was a guy

who was with me and--
who said that I was talking to him.

I could tell him where I came from.

I don't remember any of that.
None. None of it.

I was taken to hospital.

They didn't know whether I was gonna live.

They had me on some pretty strong drugs.

And I remember, sort of, dreaming
and things like that

while they were altering, um,
the level of-- of pain medication.

I was having this dream about being
in a nightclub, and everybody was rats.

And the rats were dressed
as human beings.

[eerie music playing]

There were rats in the wall.
I could hear them.

There was a-- a biplane.

You know, one of those planes
that goes onto the water?

That arrived at the… at the nightclub.

Rats, rats, and more rats.

[rats squeaking]

[liquid pouring]

I learned later that, um, Copeland
had let his rats--

He had pet rats.

And he let them, um, run across the stuff
that he was packing the nail bombs with.

And, um, so, from what I can tell,

the guys that were
in the same hospital as me,

um, we all got these weird infections,

and they couldn't figure out
what was wrong with us.

And it was all because
he let these rats…

you know, like, urinate and defecate

all over whatever it was
that he was jamming in there.

-[sirens wailing]
-[somber music playing]

[man 6] As these patients
came in one at a time,

we began to realize
just how serious this was.

They had quite horrific injuries.

This was like a war scene.

Patients came in with extensive burns,

unconscious,

one after another.

And perhaps the most difficult thing
I've had to do in my career

was dealing with a patient
who had come in unconscious,

and he remained unconscious
for a few days.

As he came round gradually,

we realized that we had to speak to him

to give him the worst possible news.

Two friends had both died

and tragically his wife and unborn child

had also been killed.

[somber music playing]

It's been revealed that a pregnant woman
and the best man at her wedding

were among the three people killed
in the explosion.

Andrea Dykes was killed almost instantly.

Her husband, Julian,
is in a critical condition in hospital.

[Arthur] I was at home when I heard.

It was just complete shock.

And helplessness.

You know, we were--

We were, uh, close,

um, in terms of--

You know, we felt we were getting
very close to catching the perpetrator.

[siren wailing]

We'd tracked down a-- an address
that he was possibly living at.

[siren continues wailing]

[machine clicks, whirring]

[David] Honestly, I wanted to get caught.

[Boland] Why?

[David] I'd be famous in some sort of way.

[Johnstone] And what does fame
mean to you?

[David] It's existence.

[Johnstone] What's that mean?
I-I don't understand.

[David] If no one remembers who you were,
you never existed.

[Johnstone] All right.

It would be remiss of us not to ask…

why you did it?

[David] To spread fear,
resentment, and hatred.

I am a Nazi.

I admit that.

Yeah.

[machine buzzing]

[Boland] David, that is the buzzer

indicating that the tape
is about to finish,

so we will finish at this moment in time.

[machine stops whirring]

Yes, ladies and gentlemen,

in the early hours
of Saturday the 1st of May,

unarmed officers from
the Organized Crime squad Flying Squad

arrested a 22-year-old man
in Cove, Hampshire.

[ominous music playing]

[man 17] The man is not a member

of any of the groups
which have made claims of responsibility

for the bombings.

It is understood that he was working alone

for his own motives.

[booming, dark music playing]

[reporter 10] The start
of David Copeland's murder trial

was attended by more
than three dozen of his victims

and the relatives of those he killed.

The 24-year-old defendant
denies three murder charges

due to diminished responsibility.

[man 14] Copeland wouldn't be
the first person

who thought he could get away with murder
by claiming he's mad.

I've got a massive problem with people

who harm women or children.

And so when Copeland happened--

For-- He's murdered that woman,

and he's murdered an unborn child.

You know, I was never gonna let him
get away with it.

His only option really

was to plead diminished responsibility,

so I needed him to confess
that he was perfectly sane.

But these days, you've got
these pedophile hunters on the internet,

and they pretend to be a male or a female,

and a pedophile
will get in touch with them,

they'll arrange to meet,
then they give the evidence to the police.

Well, if you like, before the internet,

um, I was doing
a different version of that.

[woman 3] Dear David, you don't know me,

but I've been hearing about you
in the news.

How can they call people monsters and evil
without even knowing them?

I believe everyone is innocent
until proven guilty.

Anyway, I hope you don't mind me
writing to you.

Patsy.

[David] Dear Patsy,
thank you for your letter.

I'm 5 foot 8, 23 with brown hair.

My mum says I'm handsome,
but I don't know. [chuckles]

I can't picture what you look like.

Please send me a picture.

[man 14] With Copeland,
he's gonna wanna be in control,

so I invented this girl
called Patsy Scanlon.

Patsy was like these girls you see

in the 1940s propaganda films.

You know, she's lithe, blonde, beautiful.

Someone who'll do what they're told
without question.

Someone who's vulnerable.

Totally airhead, do you know what I mean?

I knew he'd go for that
one million percent.

I just knew it.

[reporter 10] For the survivors,

it was a day of harrowing evidence.

As the horrific injuries
caused by the explosions were described,

several people were visibly distressed.

The trial was about
whether he was mad or bad,

and he had a barrage of lawyers.

He had, you know, more on-- on his side

than what were on the other side,
than the-- than the Crown.

[reporter 10] David Copeland
pleaded not guilty to murder,

but said instead he was guilty
of manslaughter

because of diminished responsibility.

It's now for the jury to decide
his state of mind.

[man 14] Essentially, what I needed
was a smoking gun.

I needed him to say, you know, something

that showed he was playing a game
with the doctors,

but I didn't have a lot of time
to get him.

[Patsy] Dear David,

I hope you're not too worried
about your trial.

It must be a stressful time for you.

[David] Dear Patsy,

you are a very attractive young lady.

[laughing]

Oh, you know.

My plan was to build Copeland up.

By doing that, get him to open up.

[Patsy] I hope you're feeling confident
and thinking positive thoughts.

[David] It feels strange being famous.

[Patsy] Dear David,

I saw your picture in the papers
the other day.

Your mum is right.
You really are handsome.

[David] Dear Patsy,

I can't get you out of my mind.

All I do is dream about you
and when we can finally meet.

And he signed that "Love, Dave,"
which was an escalation of things, really.

The whole mood
of Copeland's letters changed.

[David] Dear Patsy…

[man 14] I had a…
a flurry of letters at that point.

[David] Your letters are the only things
that are keeping me going here.

I lie on my bed at night
and think of you.

Promise me, Patsy,
you'll never forget about me.

-Hope I'll hear from you soon.
-[man 14] Then, finally, I had him.

[David] Dear Patsy, this place is a joke.

So are the doctors.

They think they're clever,

but they're as stupid
as the fools in here.

Things are not looking too bad
for my trial.

I can't believe that I fooled
all the doctors.

"I can't believe that I have fooled
all the doctors."

The jury looked at the correspondence
in its entirety.

Saw it as I saw it.
Saw it as the psychiatrist saw it.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with him.

Copeland was showed photographs
of these horrific injuries

and all the misery and pain he'd caused,

and not once did he show
a sign of emotion.

But then when the prosecutor read out

that, um, the girl he wanted to marry

was actually a… an hairy-arsed bouncer
from Essex called Bernie,

you know, he put his head in his hands
and slumped in the dock.

You know, his-- his world ended.

[reporter 11]
David Copeland, the young fanatic

who worshiped Adolf Hitler
and planted nail bombs across London,

is in Broadmoor tonight
starting six life sentences.

He was convicted of murdering three people
and injuring nearly 150 others

in a bombing campaign
that targeted Blacks and homosexuals.

The jury rejected his plea

that he wasn't responsible
for his actions.

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[camera shutters clicking]

[dramatic music playing]

[crowd cheering]

[reporter 12] For two of the survivors,
a poignant moment outside the Old Bailey.

David Copeland has not achieved his aims
of fame and power.

Today's verdict prove he--
proves he is a dangerous, pathetic nobody

who is now where he belongs.

-Thanks, fellas.
-[reporter 13] Thanks.

[crowd cheering]

Everybody was saying, "Come on,
we'll go out for a drink" and "Yeah."

And I can remember thinking… [scoffs]
"Nothing to celebrate here. Really."

[man 18] Oh, beautiful.

To new beginnings.

[man 16] I've always had this real
overwhelming sense of, um,

what a bloody waste.

What a waste of human life.

His included.

'Cause he'll never get out,
he'll never be any use to anybody.

And what he's done
to all these people, you know?

Hundreds and hundreds of people.

[somber music playing]

[Arthur] I wish…

I wish we'd been able to stop it.

Just, like, stop those people
from being killed and injured.

[man 1] So, there's some sort of guilt
that exists, is there?

[Arthur] Yeah.
Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

Definitely.

I think about that a lot.

I thought I'd got over it.
[laughing] And then it came back.

[sighs]

I, you know, well--

Joining the BNP, I wanted, like,
the excitement of, like, being a spy and…

all that, and, like,
taking on, like, the bad people.

But when something on that scale happened,

I wish-- I wish we'd been able
to stop what happened sooner.

Yep.

[somber music playing]

[man 12] Arthur was someone
who was motivated by doing something good.

At the time, there was a reward.
There was a reward put out by the police.

Seventy-thousand pounds
for his identification.

Arthur was never interested in a penny.

And even now. I mean--
There were some people in his family,

only on the 20th anniversary
of the London nail bombings

that some of his family found out
what-- what he had done.

That he wasn't a Nazi after all.

Arthur had been inside for 10 years,

you know, week in, week out,
going to British National Party meetings,

being chased down the street
by anti-fascists,

being attacked by anti-fascists,

going to concerts with Nazis,

and he'd done all of this and--

Of course, you know, he did far more
than just identify Copeland.

He played a major role

in the British National Party not building
on their successes in East London.

Tyndall failed to take hold
across the country because of Arthur.

The police say that the BNP presence does
introduce an element of racial tension--

Oh, "The police say,
the police say, the police say."

-So you don't believe them.
-No, we don't accept it at all.

And you don't accept the courts and
the convictions that your members have.

I've told you before,

our members have no greater proportion

of convictions
than any other party members.

Okay. Thanks very much.

Right. Get your stuff out of here
with the minimum delay.

You people are true to form.

You're exactly the way that, uh,
we've learned to expect, and…

[introspective cello music playing]

[activist] They're trying
to drive us apart,

and the message
we're giving them here today,

that it's the reverse effect.

We're coming together!

-In a way you've never seen us before!
-[crowd cheering]

Let's march to fulfill this day!

I think that someone like Copeland,

someone trying to do what Copeland did,
will never succeed.

What gives me hope

is that there are still more good people
than bad people.

And-- and the haters can never win.

In the long-- in the long term,
the haters can ne-- can never win.

And it must be… it must be horrible
to be consumed with hate.

You know?

Think about all the things you can't enjoy
'cause, you know, you're full of hate.

No. Today's Friday.
I'm gonna go home and have a beer.

[laughing]

⇒ Sub By SRJ

[somber music playing]