Dr John Drury

The emergency services could not have saved those killed in the London bombings of 7/7, according to a Sussex psychologist. 

Dr John Drury, who is an expert in crowd behaviour in emergencies, makes the comments as the coroner publishes today (6 May) her report from the inquest into the terrorist attacks. 

Coroner Lady Justice Hallett gave verdicts of unlawful killing for all the bombing victims. The examination of the emergency service response formed a large part of the inquiry, but the coroner concluded that the problems encountered had not led to any deaths. Lady Justice Hallett said: "I'm satisfied on balance of probabilities that each victim would have died whatever time the emergency services had arrived." 

Dr Drury studied the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings extensively. Before the inquest, he was confident that the emergency services would be exonerated from some of the criticisms leveled against them.

Dr Drury says: "The fire service were criticised for not acting as paramedics when they didn't go down the tunnels immediately.

"The important point is that, had the emergency services acted differently, no more lives would have been saved. This is of interest to me as a psychologist as it accords with the conclusions of my own research into the event. 

"It was the public and indeed the survivors themselves who acted as the first responders in this case (as they in fact do in many emergencies). Complete strangers provided the practical and emotional support and agency within the crowd of 'victims'. Resilience was a function of crowd membership. 

"There is an increasing argument (not just from me and my colleagues) that this natural collective resilience needs more (official) recognition, and the coroner's report has been an opportunity to highlight this." 

Dr Drury has a blog giving more detail about his research and response to the 7/7 investigations.

Further information: http://drury-sussex-the-crowd.blogspot.com/2011/05/narratives-of-7-7-and-their.html