Bali bomb victim families ‘may sue government’

THE brother of one of the Bali bombing victims yesterday said the relatives are considering taking the British government to court over their handling of the tragedy.

Tobias Ellwood, 36, from Bournemouth, was speaking outside the inquest into the deaths of 18 Britons who died in last year’s terrorist attack.

A total of 26 Britons were killed in the atrocity when two bombs tore through two busy nightclubs.

Mr Ellwood’s brother Jonathan, a 37-year-old teacher, was at a conference on the island when he was killed in the blast.

Yesterday Mr Ellwood said he was furious the Foreign Office travel warning had not been increased after MI5 received new intelligence.

“MI5 were guilty. They had the information, they should have increased the threat level and, had they done so, my brother would be alive today,” he said.

Mr Ellwood said he was meeting lawyers today to discuss the possibility of taking the government to court.

He said: “No one has ever taken MI5 to court. We want to know whether or not this is possible.”

Families of the British victims used yesterday’s inquest, held in Hammersmith Town Hall, west London, as an opportunity to highlight their frustrations over the handling of the aftermath of the bomb blasts, which killed 202 people on October 12 last year.

Many loved ones accused British officials of lacking organisation and failing to help as grieving relatives tried to confirm identities and organise their return.

Mr Ellwood said: “The British officials’ absence was breathtaking, there is no other word to describe it. There was a deficiency of British help in Bali.

“It was not until the media got involved that the government gave the British citizens the support they deserved.”

Overseeing the hearing, the coroner for the western district of London, Alison Thompson said it was important families were airing their views.

She said to Mr Ellwood: “I hope it is through you expressing your views that things will come through and be improved. The real issue is on communication and starting up co-operation between governments to enable these processes to be put in place.”

Detective Chief Inspector John Macbrayne, of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorism branch, told the families: “We have learnt from New York and we will learn from this.”

Polly Miller, 30, survived the blasts but suffered horrific burns and lost her husband Nathaniel, also known as Dan, and her best friend Annika Linden. Mrs Miller told the inquest she was extremely angry as she spent 10 weeks in hospital in Australia but was never given a family liaison officer.

Back home she now has one, but she said: “From Scotland Yard down, I didn’t seem to exist. This was extremely distressing.”

Mr Ellwood said he had to sign countless different forms to certify his brother’s death and had to find the embalming team himself to make the necessary preparations to his brother’s body to fly it home.

“When I found them,” he said, “they had their feet up listening to ZZ Top because they had nothing to do. They were expecting the work but there was no organisation to get people to them.”

Mr Macbrayne said the first device was believed to have been a suicide bomb which detonated at 11.07pm in Paddy’s Bar on the fateful night when around 150 people were inside.

He said that as survivors made their way out, the second and much bigger blast was detonated outside the adjoining Sari Nightclub, this time from a Mitsubishi van.

During the afternoon session of the inquest, details emerged about each individual who perished in the devastating bombings. As the cause of death was read out, friends and family supported each other in their loss.