Emma Craig
Britain fell silent on Tuesday to remember the victims of the London bombings on their tenth anniversary.
Survivors and the families of the 52 victims killed gathered for a service at St Paul’s Cathedral, where the names of every person who died was read out.
There was then a national minute of silence at 11.30am: Tube trains and buses were stopped, while even the tennis at Wimbledon was delayed.
After the silence, petals were released from the dome of the cathedral and four candles were lit to symbolise the four blast site.
The morning began with a wreath laying by David Cameron, the prime minister, and London Mayor Boris Johnson laid wreaths at the Hyde Park memorial to those killed in the bombings.
The tributes were laid at 8.50am, around the same time a decade ago that there were three almost simultaneous explosions on the Underground.
A four bomb detonated shortly afterwards on a London bus in Tavistock Square.
Together the four suicide bombers carried out the single worst terrorist atrocity on British soil when they attacked London’s transport network.
In a note attached to his wreath, Mr Cameron wrote: “To the victims of terrorism in London 10 years ago today. We grieve your loss and will honour your memory for ever.”
Speaking before the service, Mr Johnson said the four suicide bombers had “failed in their aim”.
He said the terrorists “didn’t in any way change the fundamentals of London and what makes this city great”, adding: “Indeed, it’s gone from strength to strength in the 10 years since.
“I think most people would say that London has become even more cosmopolitan, even more welcoming.”
Later Prince William joined survivors and families of victims as hundreds of people gathered at the memorial at Hyde Park for a service featuring music and readings.
Emma Craig, who was 14 when she was caught up in the Aldgate blast, wept as she spoke to the crowd.
Now 24, she said: “All of us lost our innocence on that day, our naivety, the thought that ‘something like that could never happen to me’ or even to London.”
In a deeply moving moment, she said: “Quite often, people say ‘it didn’t break us, terrorism won’t break us’.
“The fact is it may not have broken London, but it did break some of us. Sometimes I feel that people are so hell-bent on trying to make a point about terrorism not breaking us that they forget about all the people that got caught up in it.
“Not for my sake, but for those who were killed on that day and their families …may we never forget.”
What happened on 7 July 2005?
Thursday 7 July 2005 had dawned with London still elated from learning the previous day that it had won the 2012 Olympics – but within hours, the country was consumed by horror and grief.
Suicide bombers Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19, met at Luton station that morning.
They took a train to King’s Cross in London, hugged and separated to carry out their missions.
Within three minutes of 8.50am, Tanweer detonated his bomb at Aldgate, Khan set his device off at Edgware Road and Lindsay blew himself up between King’s Cross and Russell Square. Hussain detonated his device on a bus at Tavistock Square at 9.47am.
It later emerged the four men – all British nationals – had spent time at al-Qaida training camps.