David Copeland

David John Copeland (born May 15, 1976) is a former member of the British neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, who became known as the "London nailbomber" after a 13-day bombing campaign in April 1999 aimed at London's black, Asian, and gay communities. Frontal photo of David Copeland File links Source File links The following pages link to this file: David Copeland ... May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... David Copelands membership card for the National Socialist Movement The National Socialist Movement (NSM) is a British neo-Nazi group, best known in the UK for its association with David Copeland, the London nailbomber, who was a member, and local unit leader for his area. ... Look up black in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Asian people. ... GAY can mean: Gay, a term referring to homosexual men or women The IATA code for Gaya Airport Category: ...

Over three successive weekends, Copeland placed homemade nail bombs, each containing up to 1,500 four-inch nails, outside an Iceland supermarket in Electric Avenue, Brixton, an area of south London with a large black population; in Brick Lane in the east end of London, which has a large South Asian community; and in the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho's Old Compton Street, the heart of London's gay community. The bombs killed three, including a pregnant woman, and injured 129, four of whom lost limbs. No warnings were given. Exterior of a typical British supermarket (a Tesco Extra) Exterior of typical North American supermarket (a Safeway) This Flagship Randalls store in Houston, Texas is an example of an upscale supermarket. ... Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth. ... South London area South London (known colloquially as Saaf of the River) is the area of London south of the River Thames. ... Brick Lane is a street in the East End of London and heart of the citys Bangladeshi community. ... The Admiral Duncan pub The Admiral Duncan is a pub in Old Compton Street, Soho in the heart of Londons gay district. ... Soho is an area of central Londons West End, in the borough of the City of Westminster. ... Old Compton Street street-sign Old Compton Street is located in Soho, London, England. ...

Although Copeland was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and a personality disorder, his plea of diminished responsibility was not accepted by the prosecution. He was convicted of murder on June 30, 2000, and received six life sentences. Schizophrenia (from the Greek word σχιζοφρένεια, or shjzofreneja, meaning split mind) is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by impairments in the perception or expression of reality and by significant social or occupational dysfunction. ... Personality disorders form a class of mental disorders that are characterized by long-lasting rigid patterns of thought and actions. ... For the law in other criminal jurisdictions, see diminished responsibility. ... June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime, nominally for the entire remaining life of the prisoner, but in fact for a period which varies between jurisdictions: many countries have a maximum possible period of time a prisoner may be incarcerated, or require the possibility of parole...

Early life

Copeland was born in Isleworth, Middlesex, and brought up in Yateley, Hampshire, where he attended Yateley School and passed seven GCSEs. He apparently resented that he was small for his age, and was given the nickname "Mr. Angry." After his arrest, he told psychiatrists that he had started having sadistic dreams when he was about 12, including dreams or fantasies that he had been reincarnated as an SS officer with access to women as slaves. He left school when he was 16 to start an engineering apprenticeship, and became involved in petty crime, drinking, and taking drugs, including heroin. He was said in court never to have had a girlfriend, and feared that people might think he was a homosexual. Isleworth is an affluent suburb located in the London Borough of Hounslow alongside the River Thames in west London. ... Yateley is a small dormitory town and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. ... Hampshire, sometimes historically Southamptonshire or Hamptonshire, (abbr. ... Yateley School is a secondary school situated in Yateley, Hampshire, UK. It educates for children aged 11 - 16. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). ... Flogging demonstration at Folsom Street Fair 2004. ... Reincarnation, literally to be made flesh again, as a doctrine or mystical belief, holds the notion that some essential part of a living being (or in some variations, only human beings) can survive death in some form, with its integrity partly or wholly retained, to be reborn in a new... The double-Sig Rune SS insignia. ... Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of skilled crafts practitioners, which is still popular in some countries. ... Bottles of cachaça, a Brazilian alcoholic beverage. ... Drug abuse has a wide range of definitions related to taking a psychoactive drug or performance enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect. ... Heroin, also known as diamorphine (BAN) or diacetylmorphine (INN), is a semi-synthetic opioid. ... Since its coinage, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ...

In May 1997, at the age of 21, he joined the British National Party, a far-right anti-immigration party that fields candidates in British elections. Copeland acted as a steward at some BNP meetings, in the course of which he came into contact with the BNP leadership and was photographed standing next to John Tyndall, then BNP party leader. It was during this period that Copeland first learned how to make bombs using fireworks with alarm clocks as timers after downloading a so-called terrorists' handbook from the Web. This article is about the modern party. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. ... John Tyndall John Hutchyns Tyndall (July 14, 1934 – July 19, 2005) was a far-right British nationalist politician best known for leading the National Front in the 1970s and for founding the British National Party in the 1980s. ... The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House illuminated under New Years Eve Fireworks 2005 A fireworks event (also called a fireworks show) is a spectacular display of the effects produced by firework devices on various occasions. ... WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents that runs over the Internet. ...

Copeland was disappointed by the BNP, a legal political party which did not advocate violence, and he left within a year. In 1998, he joined the smaller, violent, openly neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement, becoming its regional leader for Hampshire just weeks before the start of his bombing campaign. It was around this time that he visited his family doctor and was prescribed anti-depressants after telling the doctor he felt he was "losing his mind." ^{[citation needed]} Hampshire, sometimes historically Southamptonshire or Hamptonshire, (abbr. ... An antidepressant, in the most common usage, is a medication used to alleviate clinical depression or dysthymia (mild depression), including in the context of bipolar disorder. ... For other uses, see Mind (disambiguation). ...

Bombings

X-rays show a nail from one of Copeland's bombs embedded in a baby's brain.

Andrea Dykes and her unborn child were killed and her husband Julian injured in the Admiral Duncan pub.

Copeland's first attack, on Saturday, April 17, 1999, was in Electric Avenue, Brixton, part of the so-called "frontline," a street made famous in the UK by the 1981 Brixton race riots that took place there. Image File history File links Copelandnail. ... Image File history File links Copelandnail. ... This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... Foetus can refer to: a fetus, an embryo in later stages of development Foetus, a band fronted by industrial music pioneer J.G. Thirlwell. ... The Admiral Duncan pub The Admiral Duncan is a pub in Old Compton Street, Soho in the heart of Londons gay district. ... April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The Brixton riot of April 11, 1981 was the most serious riot in London of the century. ...

Copeland made his bomb using explosive from fireworks and taped it inside a sports bag before priming it and planting it outside the Iceland supermarket on the corner of Electric Avenue. The market traders became suspicious of it and moved it several times before it detonated just as the police arrived, at 5:25 in the evening. Fifty people were injured, many of them seriously because of the four-inch nails Copeland had packed around the bomb. One victim was a 23-month-old toddler who had a nail driven through his skull into his brain (see right), though he is believed to have made a full recovery. Fourth of July fireworks in San Diego, California New Years Day fireworks at Seaport Village, California Preparing fireworks at Sayn Castle A firework is classified as a low explosive pyrotechnic device used primarily for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. ... Categories: Stub ...

Copeland's second bomb, on the following Saturday, April 24, was aimed at Brick Lane, the centre of the Bengali area in the east end of London. There is a famous Brick Lane street market on Sundays, but Copeland mistakenly tried to plant the bomb on Saturday, when the street was less busy. Unwilling to change the timer on the bomb, he left it instead in Hanbury Street, where it exploded injuring 13 people. Brick Lane is a street in the East End of London and heart of the citys Bangladeshi community. ... Motto: none Anthem: Amar Shonar Bangla My Golden Bengal Capital (and largest city) Dhaka Official languages Bengali (Bangla) Government Parliamentary republic  - President Iajuddin Ahmed  - Prime Minister vacant  - Chief of Caretaker Govt. ...

Copeland's third and final bomb was planted and exploded on the evening of Friday, April 30, in the crowded Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, the centre of London's gay village. Andrea Dykes, 27, who was four months pregnant with her first child, died along with her friends and hosts for the evening, Nick Moore, 31, and John Light, 32, who was to be the baby's godfather. Andrea's husband, Julian, was seriously injured. The four friends from Essex had met up in the Admiral Duncan to celebrate Andrea's pregnancy, when the bomb exploded after being taped inside a sports bag and left near the bar. Seventy-nine people were injured, many of them seriously, with four people requiring limb amputations. The Admiral Duncan pub The Admiral Duncan is a pub in Old Compton Street, Soho in the heart of Londons gay district. ... Old Compton Street street-sign Old Compton Street is located in Soho, London, England. ... A gay village (sometimes called a gay ghetto and increasingly gayborhood) is usually an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of gay and lesbian people, as well as bisexual and transgender people live. ...

Capture and conviction

The Anti-Terrorist Branch of the Metropolitan Police Service identified Copeland from CCTV footage of Brixton. The image was given wide publicity on Thursday, April 29, which caused Copeland to bring forward his bombing of the Admiral Duncan to Friday evening. Paul Mifsud, a work colleague of Copeland's, recognised him and alerted the police about an hour and 20 minutes before the bombing. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is the Home Office police force responsible for Greater London, with the exception of the square mile of the City of London. ... The usage of surveillance cameras is increasing rapidly. ...

Copeland was arrested that night once the police obtained his address, a rented room in Farnborough, Hampshire. He admitted carrying out the three bombings as soon as he was arrested. His mental state was assessed at Broadmoor Hospital, but remained a matter of dispute at his trial. Farnborough is a town in the Hampshire borough of Rushmoor in South East England. ... Broadmoor Hospital is a maximum secure psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne in Berkshire. ...

The jury convicted him of three murders and three offences of planting bombs, and he was sentenced to six life sentences on June 30, 2000. The trial judge spoke of his doubt that it would ever be safe to release Copeland, and effectively recommended that he should not be released for a very long time, if ever. On March 2 2007, reviewing the sentence as part of new legislation, a High Court judge recommended that this should be a minimum of 50 years. Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime, nominally for the entire remaining life of the prisoner, but in fact for a period which varies between jurisdictions: many countries have a maximum possible period of time a prisoner may be incarcerated, or require the possibility of parole... June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Her Majestys High Court of Justice (usually known more simply as the High Court) is, together with the Crown Court and the Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of England and Wales: see Courts of England and Wales. ...

Motivation

Though some groups did claim responsibility for the bombings, Copeland maintained he had worked alone and had not discussed his plans with anyone, which the police accepted.

During police interviews, he admitted holding neo-Nazi views, and talked of his desire to be famous, to "spread fear, resentment, and hatred throughout" the UK, and to "cause a racial war" in the UK. When asked why he had targeted ethnic minorities and the gay community, he spoke of his belief that ethnic minorities are "inferior", and of his hatred of gay people. The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... Race war is a slang term referring to developing hostilities between ethnic groups divided on the basis of race. ... In sociology and in voting theory, a minority is a sub-group that is outnumbered by persons who do not belong to it. ... GAY can mean: Gay, a term referring to homosexual men or women The IATA code for Gaya Airport Category: ...

See also

• David Myatt
• National Socialist Movement
• Combat 18
• Neo-Nazism
• White supremacy

David Myatt David Wulstan Myatt (born 1950), also known as Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt, is a British neo-Nazi and Islamist, and author of numerous pamphlets and articles advocating neo-Nazism, Islamism, occultism, and what he calls The Numinous Way of Folk Culture. ... David Copelands membership card for the National Socialist Movement The National Socialist Movement (NSM) is a British neo-Nazi group, best known in the UK for its association with David Copeland, the London nailbomber, who was a member, and local unit leader for his area. ... </gallery> Logo taken from combat 18 website on entry Combat 18 (or C18) is a British neo-Nazi organisation formed in 1992 after meetings between the group Blood & Honour and football hooligans such as the Chelsea Headhunters. ... The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... White supremacy is a racist ideology which holds the belief that white people are superior to other races. ...

References

• "David Copeland: a quiet introvert, obsessed with Hitler and bombs" by Nick Hopkins and Sarah Hall, The Guardian, June 30, 2000
• "Nailbomber 'followed Nazism'", BBC, June 15, 2000
• Documents about David Copeland, website maintained by Bernard O'Mahoney, a former neo-Nazi
• "Life sentence for London nailbomber", The Job, published by the London Metropolitan Police, June 30, 2000
• "Profile: Copeland the killer", BBC, June 30, 2000
• "The Nailbomber", transcript of BBC Panorama documentary, aired June 30, 2000
• "Celebration that ended in deaths of three friends" by Jeevan Vasagar, The Guardian, July 1, 2000
• "Admiral Compton Bomber", Rainbow Network, July 21, 2000
• "Operation Marathon", London Metropolitan Police website, including photographs of Copeland's bedroom and excerpts of interview transcripts
• "Nail bomber must serve 50 years", BBC, March 2, 2007

Further reading

• Novelist Toby Litt on discovering that he had lived above Copeland