Guildford pub bombs inquest: Firemen thought blast was a hoax

Victims were found in the cellar where the pub's beer barrels were kept

Firefighters "giggled" on their way to a 1974 IRA pub bombing thinking it was a hoax, an inquest heard.

But arriving at the Horse and Groom pub in Guildford eight minutes after being called, they witnessed a scene of devastation and terror.

The inquest heard Andrew Saunders had helped take two bodies and two other people who later died out from a cellar which had been exposed by the blast.

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

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

The inquest at Woking Coroner's Court heard the fire station was alerted to the explosion at 20:50 GMT on 5 October.

Mr Saunders said: "We were giggling on the way there. We were used to getting hoax calls."

On arrival, he saw the front of the pub blown out and a man sitting outside. Inside, he saw a hole in the floor into the cellar.

He borrowed a lamp and went down into the cellar and saw bodies lying among the rubble and described how a doctor also arrived at the scene.

Oliver Sanders, counsel to the inquest, said: "The doctor said this person is still breathing and he needed a sucker."

He said a nurse handed the doctor the ventilator.

Mr Sanders added: "We think this is possibly Private Caroline Slater."

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

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

The inquest heard Mr Saunders also helped another woman, who was understood to be Private Ann Hamilton, into a sitting position and the doctor used a stethoscope to listen to her chest.

Mr Sanders said: "The doctor said 'this one is still' - and you didn't hear the word - but you think it was 'this one is still alive'. You helped put her on the stretcher and passed her up through the hole."

He said to Mr Saunders: "You helped four people on to stretchers and out of the hole. Possibly two of them were still alive."

The inquest heard a fire brigade report noted the whole pub was cleared of people within 20 or 30 minutes, and Mr Saunders was back outside the pub when the second bomb went off at the Seven Stars at 21:34.

The hearing continues.

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