7/7 families will see MI5 officer

Suicide bombers killed 52 victims and injured more than 700 people on public transport in 2005

A “very senior” MI5 officer will give evidence at the inquests for the 7/7 bombings after a ruling by the coroner.

Lady Justice Hallett granted a request from Home Secretary Theresa May for “Witness G” to appear with anonymity.

However, the coroner refused to rule that the witness should be screened from the families of those who died in the terrorist attacks on 7 July 2005.

Witness G will give evidence on whether the attacks on public transport in London could have been prevented.

Lady Hallett told the hearings at the Royal Courts of Justice in London: “The bereaved families have been waiting over five years to see this witness or a witness from the security service give evidence.

“The issue of preventability is exceedingly important to them. It has been at the heart of most of their submissions to me ever since my appointment as coroner.”

Lady Hallett said she was confident that it would make a “considerable difference” to the bereaved families to be able to see the witness give evidence “rather than hear the evidence come from a disembodied voice”.

In the attacks, four suicide bombers detonated homemade devices on Tube trains at Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square, and on a double decker bus at Tavistock Square. They killed 52 victims and more than 700 people were injured.

The inquests are expected to last until March.

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