Victims of a Soho gay bar bombing have been remembered 25 years on, as the father of one said he would never forgive the killer.
Andrea Dykes, 27, was on a night out with her husband when a device hidden inside a rucksack exploded at the Admiral Duncan, killing her and their two friends John Light, 32, and Nik Moore, 31.
The blast - containing 1,500 nails - injured 79 others, some of them very seriously in London’s West End on April 30, 1999.
Mrs Dykes’s father Phil Maddock said: “The pain still feels as raw today as it did 25 years ago.”
Mr Maddock no longer travels to London for the annual memorial service and will spend Tuesday at home in quiet reflection.
Self-professed neo-Nazi David Copeland, 22 at the time, was given six life sentences for three counts of murder.
Racist and homophobic Copeland targeted Black and Asian communities in two other explosions in Brixton and Brick Lane weeks earlier, injuring 61 people.
Mr Maddock told the BBC: “I don’t hate [Copeland], I feel sorry for him.
“To go through life thinking like that is so sad and at the same time he’s harmed a whole lot of other people for the sake of his hatred and that’s inexcusable.”
Meanwhile, Admiral Duncan survivor Gary Fellowes, 65, who two years earlier escaped the Hatfield train crash, told the Mirror: “I’ve been back to the pub since - I was determined not to let him win.
“I still refuse to say his name because I believe he wanted fame and notoriety.
“Why would I help him achieve that by saying his name? I hope he never gets released from prison.”
Candles were lit today to remember all those affected and two officers bowed their heads at the scene.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Hate has no place in London.
“With the public’s help the Met can deal with those responsible for hate crime, and is ready to help anyone who has been affected by someone else's prejudice, ignorance or violence.”
