Guildford pub bomb inquest: Witness describes flash, then darkness

Two bombs went off on 5 October 1974 in the Horse & Groom (pictured) and Seven Stars

A woman has told an inquest how she was gripped with fear when an IRA bomb exploded in a pub in 1974, five minutes after she walked in.

Helen Wood, who was 18 when two pubs were attacked in Guildford, said there was a big orange flash "then everything went dark".

The former Women's Royal Army Corps soldier said she then feared another explosion would soon follow.

Four soldiers and a civilian died, and 65 people were injured in the bombing.

The Guildford Four and Maguire Seven were wrongly-convicted before the IRA claimed responsibility.

Ms Wood, whose maiden name at the time was Atkins, said: "In the back of my mind, I thought oh my God - is it going to go off again. Is there going to be another explosion?

She remembered how she heard someone shouting "everyone out", adding: "I was frightened, just frightened at the time. Everyone was just moving towards the door."

She said two men, who she thought were soldiers, stood either side of the entrance "dragging everyone through".

Ms Wood, who was not injured, said she couldn't see the damage caused by the bomb inside the pub because it was dark and there was dust coming down.

"I felt like choking," she said. "I just wanted to get out."

Caroline Slater, 18, Ann Hamilton, 19, William Forsyth, 18, John Hunter, 17, and plasterer Paul Craig, 21, died in the first explosion at the Horse and Groom

Another former soldier, Alexander Connor, had left the same pub, the Horse and Groom, with two friends, Rowland Rehill and Ronan Timkew, before the bomb went off. He said: "If we had stayed in there, it would have been us."

They were in the Three Pigeons, six or seven miles away, when they heard the explosion and went out shortly after to see the pub "in pieces", the inquest heard.

On hearing the explosion, Mr Rehill looked at his watch and told Mr Connor it was 20:50 GMT exactly, the inquest heard.

Mr Rehill, who had lived in Belfast before he joined the army, said he knew the explosion was a bomb as soon as he heard it because "they were virtually going off every 15 minutes" in Northern Ireland.

He described what he saw looking at the Horse & Groom: "I remember looking at the actual hole which was at the table we were sitting at."

He said he remembered thinking that was "lucky".

Rob King, pictured in the 1980s, went on to work for national newspapers

Earlier, Charles King, father of the late journalist Rob King, who was then working at the Surrey Advertiser, told how his son went to the scene. The inquest heard he was the first reporter there.

He said he had believed the time of the blast to be 20:30 because his son had filed copy to the news wires before he phoned his father at 20:50.

Mr King said that was 10 minutes before the news on television at 21:00.

However, Oliver Sanders QC, counsel to the inquest, said there was no 21:00 news on BBC or ITV - the BBC news went out at 22:00.

Rob King had in interviews said the bomb went off at 20:50, and a control room note of a 999 call by the Surrey Arms pub also gave the timing as 20:50.

Mr King said: "I totally accept what you have told me."

Those who died in the bombing were 21-year-old civilian Paul Craig and soldiers Ann Hamilton, 19, Caroline Slater, 18, William Forsyth, 18, and John Hunter, 17.

The hearing continues.