1999 London nail bombings

Andrea Dykes, four months pregnant, was killed and her husband Julian seriously injured.

At the pub bombing in Soho, Andrea Dykes, 27, four months pregnant with her first child, died along with her friends and hosts for the evening, Nick Moore, 31, and John Light, 32, who was to be the baby's godfather. Andrea's husband, Julian, whom she married in August 1997, was seriously injured. The four friends from Essex had met up in the Admiral Duncan to celebrate Andrea's pregnancy.[7]

Following the Brixton bombing, officials initially emphasised that IRA involvement was unlikely and that it was more likely to be the work of right-wing terrorists following the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry that was released at the time, or a 'copycat' of Edgar Pearce. On 19 April, Combat 18, a far-right organisation, claimed responsibility via telephone.[8] By the time of the Brick Lane bombing a week later, which the police linked with the Brixton bombing, it was clear that a racist entity was behind the attacks. It also ignited fears of racial tensions, particularly after the release of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry in February, and as Brixton was the scene of race riots in 1981.[9]

Although these had been described by the police as specifically race-hate attacks, they had issued a warning that a gay bar could potentially be the bomber's next target, and The Yard – a pub in the Soho area – had displayed a poster warning customers to be alert.[5] On Thursday, 29 April, CCTV footage from the Brixton attack was given wide publicity after an image of the suspected bomber was identified on it. This caused Copeland to bring forward his planned bombing of the Admiral Duncan to Friday evening. Paul Mifsud, a colleague of Copeland, recognised him from the footage and alerted the police about an hour and twenty minutes before the third bombing.[10]

The Admiral Duncan bombing was linked to the previous ones by police, with far-rightists once again the prime suspects. Two hours after the bomb, a person claiming to be from the putative far-right White Wolves organisation called the BBC, claiming the group's responsibility to the attack. It was feared Jews, Chinese and Irish would be targeted next. Some synagogues stepped up security as a result.[11]

Copeland was arrested that night once the police obtained his address, a rented room in Sunnybank Road, Cove, Hampshire. He admitted carrying out the three bombings as soon as he opened the door to the police, telling them, "Yeah, they were all down to me. I did them on my own." He showed them his room, where two Nazi flags were hanging on a wall, along with a collection of photographs and newspaper stories about bombings.[12]

Photograph of Copeland taken after his arrest in April 1999

David James Copeland was born on 15 May 1976, in Hanworth in the London Borough of Hounslow,[13] to a working-class couple. His father was an engineer and his mother was a housewife. Copeland lived for most of his childhood with his parents and two brothers in Yateley in Hampshire, attending Yateley School, where he obtained seven GCSEs before leaving in 1992. Journalist Nick Ryan wrote that, as a teenager, Copeland feared he was homosexual; when his parents sang along to The Flintstones theme on television—"we'll have a gay old time"—he reportedly believed they were sending him a message. As an older teenager, he began listening to heavy metal bands and earned himself the nickname "Mr Angry". Ryan wrote that the staff at his school have no recollection of him during this period, as if he had become invisible.[14]

After his arrest following the bombings, Copeland told psychiatrists that he had started having sadomasochistic dreams when he was about twelve years old, including dreams or fantasies that he had been reincarnated as an SS officer with access to women as slaves.[15] He left school for a series of failed jobs, reportedly blaming immigrants for the difficult job market. Copeland became involved in petty crime, drinking, and drug abuse. His father was eventually able to get him a job as an engineer's assistant on the London Underground.[14]

Copeland's father called him "fairly intelligent" as a child. His parents separated when he was aged 19, and his mother told lawyers and psychiatrists after the arrest that he was a "happy lad" and showed no sign of what was to come. According to psychiatrists, Copeland also had a higher than average IQ.[16] One of the doctors believed his behaviour started to change around 1995 when he was 19, isolating himself from friends and family.[17]

Copeland's mental state was assessed at Broadmoor Hospital. He was diagnosed by five psychiatrists as having paranoid schizophrenia, while one diagnosed a personality disorder not serious enough to avoid a charge of murder. There was no dispute that he was mentally ill, but the extent of this, and whether he was unable to take responsibility for his actions, became a matter of contention. At the Old Bailey, Copeland's plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility was not accepted by the prosecution or jury.[12]

On the 30th June 2000, Copeland was convicted of three counts of murder and planting bombs and given six concurrent life sentences.[1] The trial judge doubted that it would ever be safe to release Copeland.[22]

On 2 March 2007, the High Court decided that Copeland should remain in prison for at least fifty years, ruling out his release until 2049 at the earliest, when he would be 73.[18] Copeland appealed; on 28 June 2011, the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling.[23]

• List of right-wing terrorist attacks
• Right-wing terrorism
• Combat 18
• Tony Lecomber
• David Myatt
• The First Domino, a 2009 play written by one victim of the Soho bomb[25]
• Homophobia
• White supremacy
• Xenophobia