Victims' families 'devastated' by 9/11 report

The families of British victims of 9/11 would be “devastated” by the revelations in today’s report, according to the mother of one victim.

Joy Bennett, who lost her son Oli, 29, in the attack on the World Trade Centre, said: “I know. I think we are very close as a group, I have been with people long enough to know what their reactions would be.

“I’m no different from the rest.

“It is devastating, totally devastating. There were so many errors and so much lack of communication.

“I do believe it could have been prevented. It is a horrible thought.

“I don’t know if I had thought it as strongly until all the errors in this report, for example, people walked through security in airports and were not stopped.

“There was a lot in it that was really dreadful.”

Mrs Bennett, from Amersham, Bucks, whose son was a financial journalist, said relatives of some of the 67 British victims of the 9/11 attacks would be meeting shortly and the report would be discussed.

She said arrogance on the part of the US authorities was a factor and she was “filled with concern” with the report’s warnings of ongoing communication problems.

“Al-Qaida communicates perfectly well,” she added.

But Pauline Berkeley, whose son Graham, 37, was on the second jet that crashed into the second World Trade Centre tower, was more forgiving.

“They used to catch airplanes like buses in America, it is such an open society and a vast country, they used to hop on planes,” said Mrs Berkeley, from Shrewsbury.

“Immediately after it happened we felt really cross, ‘they should have protected them more, particularly the air stewardesses and pilots’. But who would have thought they would have done such a thing?

“With war, you declare war don’t you? This was totally out of the blue. It was unforeseen.

“I don’t think they thought for one minute anybody would do such a thing.

“It was callous, calculated and wicked beyond words.”

Graham Berkeley, an e-business expert and a gifted violinist, was on his way to Los Angeles for a business conference when his plane was hijacked.

Two pilots, seven flight attendants and 56 passengers were on board.