15th anniversary of Soho bombing to be marked today
By Will Stroude
A short memorial will be held later today (April 30) to mark the 15th anniversary of the Admiral Duncan nail bomb attack.
The attack at the Admiral Duncan pub on Old Compton Street in London’s Soho left three people dead and 65 injured on the evening of April 30, 1999.
The bomb was planted by David Copeland, a neo-Nazi who had already attacked ethnic minority communities in London earlier that month in an attempt to stir up ethnic and homophobic tensions.
Friends John Light, 32, and Nik Moore, 31, died in the attack, alongside Andrea Dykes, 27, who was four months pregnant at the time.
Copeland was later convicted of three murders and three offences of planting bombs, and given six life sentences.
On 2 March 2007 at a hearing at the High Court, Copeland’s minimum sentence was increased to 50 years on the grounds that it was “necessary for the protection of the public”.
The 15th anniversary of the attack will be marked this evening with a short memorial. Survivors and family and friends of those affected by the bombings will gather at 5pm outside the Admiral Duncan, before walking to St Anne’s churchyard at 6.20pm for an act of remembrance.
A three minute silence will be observed at 6.37pm to mark the moment when bomb was detonated.