First picture of bomber 'within two weeks'

CCTV pictures of the July 7 bombers could be available to police within two weeks, according to predictions by a terrorism expert today.

Analysing thousands of hours of CCTV footage was likely to about a fortnight, an estimate based on the previous case of London nail bomber David Copeland, Dr Andrew Silke said.

Copeland was identified by his boss and a cab driver after police released an image taken from a CCTV tape outside Brixton station in south London on the day he planted his first bomb in April 1999.

Criminologist Dr Silke said: “It took just over three weeks to find David Copeland from CCTV and there was less footage available.

“I think police will identify these bombers in a similar time because the systems involved are much better.

“We should within two weeks have those pictures released to the media – at least some images of some of the bombers.”

Unconfirmed reports that security cameras aboard the No 30 bus which blew up in Tavistock Square were defective would, if true, be a serious blow to the investigation, he said.

“It is a real pity as these would have been the easiest ones from which to identify the bomber,” said the academic from the University of East London.

“That is a real loss.

“The good thing about the Tube’s system is that it has so many cameras and even if a couple were down it will still be on there somewhere.

“It will take a lot longer to analyse images from the Tube, however.”