Wednesday 20 October 2010

Behind the Scenes of the Aldgate Explosion, at 11 minutes to 9

So we can say with confidence that the explosion at Aldgate occurred at that moment, 08.49.00
J7's submission to the Coroner, detailing questions and anomalies that have arisen regarding this event, can be downloaded here. and our analysis of the events at Aldgate can be viewed on the J7 website here.

Week Two of the 7/7 Inquests has concentrated on the issue outlined in the Provisional List of Factual Issues as:
The explosions and the immediate aftermath
3. Circumstances at each of the four scenes immediately following the explosions
The first scene under scrutiny is Aldgate.

Compared to the first week of the inquests, this second week has been particularly harrowing, hearing the reports about those who died and the stories of others who were severely injured. Tales of humanity and heroism have also emerged, along with inspirational accounts of overcoming horrendous injuries.

Mr Hugo Keith QC, Counsel to the Inquests, opened the proceedings by reading a statement which has not yet been released onto the Inquest website. Reading statements to the Inquests presupposes that none of the information it covers is contentious and the author will not be open to questioning. This following statement was prepared by Mr John Porter, a London Underground power control room manager, written on 26 July 2005, and followed by a supplementary statement dated 29 September 2010:

"When the device on the train between Liverpool Street and Aldgate stations exploded, it damaged three power assets, an 11-kilovolt feeder cable number 642", which is the feeder cable to which I made reference in my opening "running along the tunnel wall and its associated pilot cable, pilot number 62, and a signal main cable between Moorgate and Tower Hill which provided the power for the signal supplies between Moorgate and Aldgate. "The danger to the number 642 feeder cable caused the 11-kilovolt electrical feeder to trip at Moorgate substation at 08.48.40. This in turn caused the 22-kilovolt coupling transformers, which supply the Mansell Street distribution network, to trip at 8.49.02. This caused widespread power disruption to a significant area of the London Underground network."

To illustrate the widespread disruption caused by the loss of power at Mansell Street. this image was shown and released as evidence:

We'll let Mr Keith off with the 20 seconds between the "11-kilovolt electrical feeder tripping at Moorgate substation at 08.48.40" to allow him to remain confident of his opening statement, after all, what's 20 seconds in the grand scheme of things? Perhaps he has a pressing need for this first event on 7 July 2005 to have the significance of occurring at 11 minutes to 9?

Keith reiterates the 08.49 timing:
"... and would explain that the times referred to are approximate times recorded by the power control operation in the handwritten logs. The times I have referred to are the actual times extracted from the power system computerised event logs. "In summary, the times recorded by the power control room are 08.49 in respect of Aldgate East, 08.49.43 in respect of Edgware Road and 08.49.52 in respect of King's Cross/Russell Square."
London Underground runs a train monitoring system called Trackernet. TrackerNet is one of London Underground's key operational systems that monitors the whereabouts of every single underground train on the network. The system received a lot of coverage earlier this year when TfL lifted all restrictions on the commercial use of its data and provided access to real-time train information.

Tim O'Toole, the Managing Director of London Underground at the time of the events of 7 July 2005, released a series of Trackernet images at a press conference on July 9th, saying:
"You can see what has happened is the track circuits on all of those other lines, you can see the orange lines indicate that an event has occurred to trip out the power system. And that was almost certainly the blast. And this software allows us to confirm the timings."
Copies of these Trackernet images can be viewed on the J7 website and were included in our Submission to the Coroner. Curiously, the Trackernet images from Aldgate on 7 July 2005 don't appear to have made it into the Inquest bundle of evidence, or at least not yet, although the Trackernet images of Edgware Road have. Over to Hugo:
My Lady, we don't have, in fact, a trackernet image for the eastbound Circle Line train, but in respect of train 216, its last movement was timed at approximately 8.49.46 and we have a trackernet image for that train.

Quite what the Trackernet image for train 216 at Edgware Road has to do with the Provisional List of Factual Issues, 3 and the "Circumstances at Aldgate immediately following the explosions" only Keith knows.

After five years of dedicated and dogged research J7 might hazard a guess that the reason for this could perhaps be that the explosion didn't actually occur at Aldgate at 08.49, despite all Mr Keith's efforts to make it so.

This Trackernet image of the time of the explosion has been annotated by J7 using the Working Time Table for the London Underground, which we obtained through a Freedom of Information Request. The information it contains may well be the reason Mr Keith hasn't shown any Aldgate Trackernet images at the 7/7 Inquest.

Circle Line train 204 has left Liverpool Street and is in the tunnel on its way to Aldgate station. All other trains in this image are also in their correct places, according to the Working Timetable, if the time of this explosion is 08.46.30, the time that train 204 was in transit to Aldgate, not 08.49. Unless all these trains were running late on the London Underground, Circle Line train 204 would have been in transit between Aldgate and Tower Hill at 08.49. Train 204 appears to have been running on time; a FOI Request to TfL, asking for the time that it was at King's Cross received the response of 08.35 - corresponding to the timetable.

The time of 08.46.30 is also confirmed by the only CCTV footage that has been released to date from any of the stations that were affected that morning, showing Liverpool Street station as Circle Line train 204 arrives and leaves, and the moments when smoke billows from the tunnel whilst commuters run back along the platform in reaction to the noise:


As Circle Line 204 was due into Liverpool Street at 08.44 and the CCTV footage is showing a timestamp of 07.44.20, it is likely that this footage is one hour out due to the adjustment for British Summer Time rather than the time being out by the odd figure of 1 hour and 3 minutes claimed by DI Kindness in an exchange with Mr Keith:
A. [DI KINDNESS] This footage will show the frontal view of the 204 train number, Circle Line train pulling into Liverpool Street station, and it's coming towards the camera at the moment.
Q.MR KEITH] Officer, this is Liverpool Street. It stands to reason that the bomb, if it entered the train at King's Cross, is already on that train.
A. That's correct, sir, yes.
Q. As is the bomber.
A. That's correct. This image shows the last -- the first carriage of the train.
Q. The timing in the top left-hand corner, although the CCTV itself shows 07.44, did your researches show that, in fact, the CCTV system itself was one hour and three minutes slow?
A. That's correct, sir, yes.
Q. So we mustn't be misled by that timing. The timing of this is, in fact, 08.47 or thereabouts?

Incorporating the adjustment for British Summer Time, Circle Line train 204 leaves Liverpool Street at 08.45.40, and the explosion happens (according to the smoke & passengers running) at 08.46.35. (Note: There are 39 seconds of footage missing). This is exactly the time estimated by J7 for this explosion according to the Trackernet image, evidence which Mr Keith has chosen not to exhibit.

To ensure that even the British Transport Police officer, DI Baker, present at Aldgate on 7 July 2005, has got his timings wrong, and to ensure Mr Keith can maintain his confidence in his and the narrative's timing of 08.49, there is also this exchange during the Inquests:
LADY JUSTICE HALLETT: Sorry, can we just go back? The time of this second call?
MR KEITH: According to the transcript, my Lady, it's 08.52.40. There has been a certain degree of confusion, I think, in the past as to whether or not that time indicates the beginning or the end of the call. These transcripts have been revised now a number of times to reflect the accurate time of each call. My learned friend Mr Gibbs might be able to assist in relation to whether or not that time indicates the beginning or the end of the call now.
MR GIBBS: It indicates beginning of the call.
LADY JUSTICE HALLETT: Right, so it indicates that a call is made by Mr Baker at 08.52.40 and a second or two into
MR GIBBS: That's right. Whether that timing is accurate is a matter still of some conjecture, but that is the timing that we have.
LADY JUSTICE HALLETT: Well, Mr Baker, on the question of timing, given we know what time the explosion occurred, does 08.52.40 seem to be about right for when you made the second call?
A. [DI BAKER] It does. We were there pretty much instantly and trying to ascertain what was going on, so it was merely a few minutes.
LADY JUSTICE HALLETT: Thank you.
MR KEITH: My Lady, if it assists, may I just refer you to the Aldgate time line, which is at INQ10426 [INQ10426-1]? The first entry you may recall from the opening is at 08.47.38, which is a BTP call from London Underground, but we know from the absolute time at which the explosion occurred, which was 08.49.00, that that call, which is taken from the same exhibit, BTP167 must therefore be about one minute and 40 seconds out, and that is our best estimate as to the accuracy of those transcripts.
LADY JUSTICE HALLETT: So if that was right then this call is about 08.54?
MR KEITH: Absolutely.

Editing transcripts? Adjusting CCTV timings? Withholding Trackernet images? All to make the 08.49 timing fit? Fixing the evidence to fit predetermined facts? Whatever next?

This is insulting to the bereaved and survivors who deserve the truth, and is not the role of the Inquests which, if it is to fulfill the proper function of an Inquest, should be examining the evidence to uncover the facts, particularly when one fact, based on the available evidence is:
The explosion at Aldgate on Circle Line Train 204 DID NOT occur at 08.49. It occurred between 08.46.30 and 08.47.
After just two weeks into a five month hearing, can anyone have any faith in this Inquest process?

Accounts of power surges and electrocution and whether Shehzad Tanweer was actually sighted on train 204 to follow.

23 comments:

  1. ...all of which begs the question why would it be important to anyone to shift the reported time of an explosion by a couple of minutes?

    Only the people responsible for the shifting would know for sure but are there other elements of the 7/7 State Narrative which are dependent on this timing?

    ReplyDelete
  2. One things for sure, this Inquest is raising more questions than it has answered.

    CCTV missing? Viewing Luton footage before they had identified the 4 accused at KX? Adjusting timings? And we're only 2 weeks in!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a difficult business J7 is engaged in. A discrepancy like this could be dismissed by defenders of the official narrative as being a relatively trivial issue

    On the other hand, it could be connected to something more significant. The fact that some effort seems to have been expended in fixing what could well be an incorrect time does suggest that there was a practical reason for doing so

    One to 'park' on the possibility that its significance becomes clearer in the light of future testimony IMHO

    ReplyDelete
  4. Perhaps we'll hear from the train driver at some point?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mr Keith's time is not only "Atomic", it is "Absolute".

    "... we know from the absolute time at which the explosion occurred, which was 08.49.00 ..."

    "Absolute, true and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature flows equably without regard to anything external - Isaac Newton"

    As they say in exams, show your working.

    ReplyDelete
  6. If you want to know the time, don't ask a policeman.

    ReplyDelete
  7. As they say in exams, show your working.

    Easy enough. Start at the desired conclusion and work backwards.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It should be noted that the read statements of Mr John Porter, the London Underground power control room manager, are 'hearsay' evidence, as he is not present in court.

    The campaign group INQUEST have raised their concerns with the use of 'hearsay'/'Rule 37' evidence in their response paper of July 2010 'Ministry of Justice consultation paper Reform of the Coroner System Next Stage: Preparing for implementation (CP06/10)'
    (available here:http://preview.tinyurl.com/3xdkqp2 )

    [quote]=======================
    PDF page 13

    #55. We fully endorse the views of the Divisional Court in the Paul11 case that the current
    Rule 37 needs to be urgently revised. In particular it needs to be clarified whether it
    extends to both expert and factual documentary evidence and codified with regard to the
    coroner’s power to admit hearsay evidence in any event.

    #56. Guidance also needs to be given on what constitutes “a reasonable time” when
    determining whether or not the maker of a statement can give oral evidence of the
    contents of his or her statement and the necessity for a witness to provide evidence as to
    why he or she cannot give evidence in person.
    [/quote]=======================

    Why can't Mr John Porter appaer in court to be subject to counsels, other than Hugo Keith's , questioning?

    ReplyDelete
  9. This gives us some idea of why some statements are being read and some called. Cherry picking?

    BBC - Barling's London: 7/7: Quest for justice

    ReplyDelete
  10. The 11-kilovolt feeder cable tripping at 08:48:40 does not necessarily mean that the explosion occurred then. It could have taken time for the damage to the cable to develop into breakdown.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ^ The trip occurred after the damage to the 11-kilovolt feeder cable number 642 - how long after we don't know - but certainly before 08.49.

    ReplyDelete
  12. More references to the call logs/time of the explosion in the transcripts:

    11.10.10 PM p31
    "This document on the screen is a call timed at 08.47.06, but, again, an illustration of the difficulties of the times logged at the time of some of these documents, plainly couldn't have been a call at 08.47 because, for the reasons that I've explained, we know for certain that the first bomb explodes at precisely 08.49.00. This is a call which therefore must have occurred two minutes later, or thereabouts, at 08.47.38:
    "Police emergency.
    "Hello, mate. Liverpool Street here. We've had
    a loud bang on the platform. We've got smoke at the moment in Liverpool Street underground here. We are evacuating."

    11.10.10 PM p33
    "The London Ambulance Service log of that call is timed approximately two minutes later so that would seem to support the idea that these logs are two minutes out in terms of their timings, which is consistent with the first call being received, apparently, but wrongly two minutes in advance of the first explosion at Aldgate.

    11.10.10 PM p53
    "But we can see at 08.47 the reference there to the call to British Transport Police about the loud bang on the platform, at platforms 1 and 2 on the Metropolitan Line, and that was one of the calls that we saw on the British Transport Police hard copy transcript of landline calls. At 08.48.40, there's a reference to the tunnel telephone trip. 08.48.42, the outer rail tripping, and then, at 08.48.43, the track alive indications beingextinguished. All those obviously postdate -- they are subsequent to the explosion which, as I said, occurred at 08.49.00, but they precede the explosion on this time line, my Lady, because those are the times given in the contemporaneous documentation, but they must obviously be wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  13. re: 08:49

    Probably stretching for an answer, but perhaps evidence will be introduced to suggest that there was a mechanical or electronic timing device attached to the bombs - with an argument attached to the introduction of such evidence saying that these were timings devices. Any synchronisation would then leave the timings of the explosions less then a minute outside of each other. But it could be that the devices actually allowed for remote detonation. Although numeral was around for the whole, I think, of Clifford Todd's testimony in the Theseus trial, it could be that the 'organic peroxide explosives' angle was sufficient for the purposes of the prosecution and no further detail needed to be entertained. However, the inquest would demand a fuller description. Trying to convince that they were timing devices would be much harder if the timings weren't within a minute of each other.

    08 July 2005

    Police also have recovered what they believe are the remnants of timing devices on the subway explosions, leading them to believe they were not suicide bombs but explosives planted in packages or bags and left behind.

    British police today said that they had recovered two packages that they at first thought were unexploded devices. The packages were exploded purposely by the police to see what they were and turned out not to be unexploded bombs but just packages that had been left behind.

    The bomb parts and timing mechanisms should provide important evidence that could help determine who was behind the attacks, sources told ABC News.

    Officials now believe that all the bombs on subway cars were detonated by timing devices. Earlier today, British investigators had believed that the bomb on the bus was the work of a suicide bomber, sources said.

    ABC News


    08 July 2005

    How the bombs were detonated remained an open question Friday.

    A U.S. law enforcement official said Thursday that investigators believe some of the bombs were on timers, based on evidence recovered from the rubble. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, would not further describe the evidence, and London police declined to comment on the statement.

    CNN


    10 July 2005

    Brian Paddick, deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, said: "We can clarify that the three bombs on the Underground exploded almost simultaneously.

    "Clearly there are two possibilities here: either you have people with the explosive devices who synchronised watches or whatever, and they have detonated their devices at the same time, or it could be these devices were triggered by timing devices that were co- ordinated to go off at the same time."

    Paddick said that the new information "lends more towards timing devices than people, actually with the bombs, manually detonating [them]", but refused to rule out either possibility.

    Sunday Herald


    09 July 2005

    Police believe the terrorists used timing devices, possibly mobile phone alarm clocks, to set off the bombs. The are not thought to have triggered them remotely by mobile phone calls - like the Madrid bombings - because the signals cannot be picked up on the Tube.

    Mirror

    ReplyDelete
  14. continued

    08 July 2005

    Investigators found fragments of timing devices that may have been used in the three train blasts, but no such fragments have been found in the bus explosion, U.S. law enforcement sources told CNN.

    "The cause of the bus explosion right now is problematic. We don't know yet what we're dealing with as the cause there," one law enforcement official told CNN.

    However, police commissioner Blair said investigators have found no evidence of timing devices "because we haven't reached that point in the investigation."

    CNN


    They also tried to heavily argue that Hussain was buying a battery to repair his bomb.

    The Official Account doesn't give a definite answer on timing devices:

    11 May 2006

    There is no evidence at the bomb sites of remote detonation, nor of any material at the bomb factory which would suggest that they intended to construct remote detonators. The fact that Hussain seems to have bought a battery that morning may provide further indication that they were using self-detonating devices.

    Report of the Official Account of the Bombings in London on 7th July 2005


    09 July 2005

    The police say the Tube explosions took place at 8.50am - and the synchronisation could suggest bombs used in the attack were triggered by timing devices.

    High explosives were used in the attacks and were not home-made, say the police.

    BBC


    21 July 2005

    Police sources have told the BBC they have not recovered any timing devices from the bomb scenes, possibly indicating that detonation was by hand

    BBC

    ReplyDelete
  15. The section posted by Kier above is worth repeating, simply because it's so completely incredible, counter-factual and counter to any sense of reason anyone might have.

    There were six bits of evidence from the day of 7 July 2005 adduced with regard to timing:

    1. "A call timed at 08.47.06"
    2. "A call... at 08.47.38
    3. "08.47 the reference there to the call to British Transport Police about the loud bang on the platform"
    4. "At 08.48.40, there's a reference to the tunnel telephone trip."
    5. "08.48.42, the outer rail tripping,"
    6. "and then, at 08.48.43, the track alive indications being extinguished."

    So, we have six timings, all taken from operational logs, and all of which are before the official "narrative" time of 08.49.

    But no matter, because of all of these timings are completely ignored in favour of that tried and tested trick of fitting the facts to the policy.

    [Hugo Keith QC] "All those obviously postdate -- they are subsequent to the explosion which, as I said, occurred at 08.49.00, but they precede the explosion on this time line, my Lady, because those are the times given in the contemporaneous documentation, but they must obviously be wrong."

    If all those times "must obviously be wrong", then on what evidence is the time of 08.49 (which, conversely "must obviously be right") based?

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's Kafkaesque. Beyond belief. I'm aghast.

    When I was a kid, I was poor, very poor. I had a treasured, new green pencil. I loved that pencil. To identify it as mine, I put two dent marks in it. Nobody would have noticed them but me.

    A rich kid stole that pencil from me. I saw it and asked for it back. He said "it's mine". I said "it's mine, and my one has two nick marks on it, show me"

    He turned away from me and after a few seconds of struggle, turned around and said "mine has three". A new nick mark had been added with his back turned to me.

    The pain I felt then, knowing that a rich, overprivileged swine had got away, brazenly, hideously, shamelessly with my property is what I feel when I read this QCs disgusting bullshit.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am posting here because blogspot actually works while the rest of the Web is slow to non-existent. Anyone else?

    Mr Keith has to do a large number of things to put the time of the Aldgate explosion at just before 0949. He has to take the time of the power trips as the time of the explosion, he has to make most of the trains in the area about 2.5 minutes late, he has make the Liverpool Street CCTV timestamp one hour and three minutes slow (instead of 1 hour due to its being GMT not BST) and he has to suppress the the Trackernet data for Aldgate.

    The timestamps of various inter-agency calls have to be corrected in the same direction as well.

    There ought to be a law against it.

    Numeral

    ReplyDelete
  18. I hope Mr Keith is being paid well by his masters.

    This is a travesty.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Giving testimony today, the driver of train 447 which can be seen in the Trackernet image at platform 2 at Aldgate:

    18 "I then got on to train 447, which again is
    19 a Metropolitan Line train which was running on time. As
    20 I pulled away,
    I heard an extremely loud bang. At this
    21 point, I was about half a car length out of the station.
    22 I immediately stopped and, at the same time, the
    23 Underground electrical traction current turned off and
    24 the lights in the tunnel turned on.

    M447 was due at Liverpool St 08:48:30. Even more proof that Mr Keith is wrong in his insistence on the 08.49 timing.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thank you all for your incredibly detailed and conscientious analysis - I wish I had more time to follow what is going on, but it is heartening to know that so much scrutiny of the inquest proceedings is occurring.

    Your analysis shows that facts are being fitted to "interests" - as galling as this is, it is 'normal' behaviour for powerful people. However, it seems you have ample evidence here that explosions occurred before the train was bombed. So the question is now, what would be the purposes of explosions in advance of the train itself being bombed? Do you have any insights from this evidence into the purposes that would be served by explosions *in advance* of the train itself being attacked?

    Best wishes
    Rory

    ReplyDelete
  21. Rory that would be a bit of a leap - the issue of explosives will be dealt with at the Inquests around Jan/Feb 2011.

    J7 submission on these issues can be read and downloaded here:

    Provisional List of Factual Issues 7 - 10:

    J7: The July 7th Truth Campaign - J7 Submissions to the 7 July Inquests

    ReplyDelete
  22. From Nick Kollerstrom's site:
    However else one may wish to disagree with the authorities about 7/7 – the times of the explosions recorded by mechanical equipment is something the authorities have got right. It is surely simpler to accept that the clock in question was a minute or so out – rather than follow J7’s harebrained new view (contradicting their own Timeline) of a blast-time which no authorities have ever accepted – and which destroys the general consensus of three-bomb synchrony.

    I suggest to J7 that four-and-a-half minutes to get from King’s Cross to Aldgate is rather silly – and recommend they delete this whole section of their commentary before they suffer a major implosion of their credibility.

    Or, if J7 do wish to make such a claim, I suggest they should first adjust the Timeline on their site that I gave them, which has averred for five years that the first bomb went off at 8.49.

    From the J7 timeline:

    8:46am First report of a "huge bang" at Aldgate East and passengers fleeing from Liverpool Street Station [Source: Evening Standard]
    8.48am The Westbound Piccadilly Line train No. 311 leaves King's Cross.
    8.49am The first report of a major incident at Liverpool Street station was received by the London ambulance service at 0849, within a minute of the blast. [BMJ Diary of Major Incident (PDF)]

    I await his equally absurd claim that we hurriedly changed it to make him look silly.

    ReplyDelete
  23. NK: "I suggest to J7 that four-and-a-half minutes to get from King’s Cross to Aldgate is rather silly"

    204 left KX at 8.35 (adjusted to 8.38 by Hugo Keith) by anyone's math apart from NK's this is 11-and-a-half minutes before the time of 08.46.30.

    ReplyDelete