Nail bomber David Copeland today admitted causing

Nail bomber David Copeland today admitted causing the explosions that killed three people and injured more than 100 during almost a month of Nazi inspired terror in London.

The deranged tube engineer admitted planting the three devices in Brixton, Brick Lane and the Admiral Duncan gay pub in Soho.

Copeland, 23, who was pictured at BNP meetings, left Asians blacks and gays fearing a war against against minority groups in the capital.

The neo-nazi groups Combat 18 and the White Wolves had initially claimed responsibility for the explosions.

But today (thurs) Copeland, of Sunnybank Road, Cove, near Farnborough, Hants, admitted three charges of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility and three of causing explosions

Flanked in court today by a number of burly male nurses, faces three charges of causing explosions and three of murder all relating to the blast at the Admiral Duncan.

tracksuit bottoms and a grey shirt, spoke only to answer his name in the brief hearing.

The first attack on April 17 last year hit Electric Avenue, Brixton, injuring 39.

Another seven were injured exactly a week later when an identical device detonated in Brick Lane, Whitechaple.

Then on April 30 pregnant Andrea Dykes, 27, of Colchester, Essex, was killed when a bomb ripped through the Admiral Duncan Old Compton Street, Soho.

Her husband Julian, 25, was critically injured with severe burns and nails lodged in his lungs.

But the best man at the Dykes wedding John Light, 32, who managed a bingo hall in Wokingham, Berks, was killed.

Another friend Nik Moore, 31, from Felixstowe, Suffolk, also died.

They were all on their way to see a musical when the bomb went off.

The bomber’s arrest on May 1 last year came a day after detectives released a CCTV still photograph showing Copeland, wearing a white baseball, just before the Brixton bomb went off.

The terror spree began shortly after 5.

25pm on Saturday April 17 as dozens of shoppers made their way down Electric Avenue.

Stall holder Gary Shilling suddenly noticed a brand new glraming sports hold-all lying near Iceland supermarket and he joked that it might be a bomb.

Mr Shilling took the bah over to trader George Jones, 42, and he unzipped it hoping the contents would offer a clue to its owner’s identity.

But inside Mr Jones spotted a clock in a plastic bag wired up with batteries and overed in tape, with red and black wires leading to a cardboard box containing nails weighing 10 pounds.

Mr Jones moved the bag over to a brick wall in a bid to stop people getting hurt while others, including Iceland manager Paul Maskell, 42, set about warning shoppers.

A moment later there was a huge explosion as nails, shards of glass and concrete flew through the air.

An eerie silence then followed only to be replaced by the screams of shocked and injured shoppers caught up in the blast.

Women and children were among the 53 injured by the shrapnel – the youngest being a 23-month-old boy who was rushed to a hospital with a four-inch nail in his skull.

He underwent an emergency one-hour-and-a-half hour operation to remove the tip embedded an inch into his brain.

Mr Jones, from Brockley, southeast London, was one of the 53 injured after four nails hit him in the legs.

The next day at dawn a man claiming to representing Combat 18 – given the name to reflect the initials of Adolf Hitler – claimed responsibility for the attack in a 999 call from a phone box in Eltham, southeast London, yards from where Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death.

On April 24 just before 6pm the second nail bomb went off in Brick Lane in the heart of the capital’s Bangladeshi community.

Again the device had been left in a sports bag in the street.

It was being taken to a nearby police station by a concerned motorist when it exploded.

Six people were injured by flying glass and shrapnel but no one was badly hurt.

Again someone from Combat 18 called to claim responsibility.

But Copeland’s final and most devastating outrage came six days later when another nail bomb ripped through the packed Admiral Duncan pub.

Drinkers and tourists in the heart of London’s West End were maimed and burnt as the blast tore through the building.

Killed in the blast were Mrs Dykes, who was four months pregnant at the time, Mr Lights and Mr Moore.

Copeland later told police he had enough targets lined up across London to keep his reign of terror going for a year.

Each time he planted a bomb, Copeland would race through the capital by car or train and case another street.

At the time of the Brick Lane blast, he was in Soho plotting the following week’s attack.

Copeland was caught after a suspicious work colleague recognised him from the Brixton CCTV footage, and tipped off police.

He told officers of his plan to blitz London for a year – and bragged that he was doing it for notoriety.

Copeland said he had no respect for people who achieved little in life, and hoped his bombing campaign would help him to leave his mark.

A source close to the case said: ‘Copeland believed this was his big chance of fame.

‘He said there was no point in going through life achieving nothing.

He wanted to be known for something, and decided a bombing campaign was the best way.

‘It was deliberately planned to gain maximum exposure in the media.

‘

Copeland also told officers the only victim he had any sympathy for was pregnant Andrea Dykes.

The source added: ‘Copeland is pretty ruthless, but even he admitted being slightly upset when he heard his bomb had caused her death.

‘

ends

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