CARRIE Taylor was one of seven people to die when a suicide bomber blew up her Circle Line Tube train at Aldgate as she made her way to work at 8.50am on July 7, 2005.

A total of 52 died as a result of the four terrorist attacks in the capital that day, as suicide bombers struck on the Tube at Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square and on a bus at Tavistock Square.

Ten years on from the terrible events of 7/7, Carrie’s mother, June Taylor, 67, of Upland Road, Billericay, has vivid memories of the day and her desperate struggle for news of her daughter.

She said: “We got a train from Billericay to Liverpool Street which gets in at 8.25am. I worked only ten minutes’ walk away and I went one way, while Carrie had to use the Tube.

“I know she wanted to purchase something. It was her friend’s sister’s wedding and she needed a few things.

“She wasn’t sure whether to go and get the stuff or go straight to work. It meant she wouldn’t get the train she normally got and would have missed the one the bomber was on.

“We just parted company, and said we’d meet up for our return journey that evening.

“When I got to work, there was something on the TV about a power surge on the Tube, so I called Carrie to leave a message and let her know what was going on and the reason she was going to be late for work.

“I didn’t hear back from her, but I thought she’d get the message when she got to Embankment.

“My husband, John, was at home, so I told him Carrie was going to be late for work because of this power surge.

“It got to about 10am and I still hadn’t heard from her. As each site unravelled, Russell Square, Edgware Road, I thought it was a bit off there would be a power surge in all those places and then they realised it was more serious.

“I phoned her workplace, the Royal Society for Arts, just off the Embankment, and they said she hadn’t arrived. We didn’t hear from her. Like other families, we thought the chances of her being involved were pretty slim until we got told otherwise.

“Carrie’s brother, Simon, was living in London at the time. I went to his flat and we just waited, because by 5.30pm we still hadn’t heard anything from anybody.

“We were worried and ended up back in Essex at 7.30pm. We were just watching Sky News to see if they knew anything.

Most of the information we found out came from the TV.

“It went on that way for days. I was anxious, frustrated and on the Friday – the day after – we were still told nothing.

“We found out where they had taken people and started calling the hospitals.

There was a burns unit at Chelmsford, so I called asking if they had anybody from London they couldn’t identify, but they said they had no one.

“We got in the car and travelled to London and went around to all of the hospitals with a picture of Carrie, asking the nurses or anybody if they could help.

“It was chaos. There were so many people and they were trying to establish who had died and who hadn’t, but they were so helpful.

“We felt there was little more we could do than wait for a call from the police.

“Eventually, they came over with a family liaison officer and took things from Carrie’s room to do DNA tests with.

“They had her dental records, but at the age of 24, she’d never had a filling in her life, so they couldn’t do anything with them.

“You have to stay hopeful.

There were so many people burned, but alive and they couldn’t tell who they were.

“As much as you don’t want them to be burned, we didn’t want her to die.

“At the end of the first day, John said to me, ‘I think we’ve lost her’, and that was hard. I said ‘let’s not think that yet’, because we had to stay positive. We went for a walk every day, but we couldn’t go far. It became quite oppressive, we didn’t want to miss any information, so we used to have all the TVs the house turned on.

“After ten days, they identified her. She was the second from last one.

“When they finally came back and they confirmed she was gone, my first thought was, ‘no, don’t tell me that. I don’t want to know that’.

“After ten days spent hoping, fearing the worst but hoping for the best, the reality kicked in that she wasn't coming back.”

Echo:

CARRIE Taylor’s family are convinced more could have been done to save her after her Tube train was bombed.

An inquest into the 52 deaths related to the four bombings formally ruled none of those who died could have been saved, even if the emergency services had arrived sooner.

However, June Taylor, and Carrie’s dad John, 66, who represented the family at the inquest if she’d been treated more quickly.

Mrs Taylor said she also could not forgive the terrorists who robbed her of her daughter.

She said: "The bomb went off at 8.50am and Carrie didn’t die until 9.25am.

“I will never be convinced that if the ambulance had got to her sooner, they could have done something for her. It took them 35 minutes to get to her. Who would survive after that long?

The chances are pretty slim.

“I don’t think Carrie died from the explosion. They said it was the impact on her chest and lungs, but I’m convinced it was loss of blood.

“If they’d got to her sooner, she might have stood just a chance. They didn’t do their best.”

Mrs Taylor said she had changed as a person as a result of losing Carrie.

She explained: “I got justice just by the fact that the bombers all died. If they had survived and if it had gone to a trial that would have been crucifying for me.

“I couldn’t have stood seeing them in court.

“I had a family and no one thought about that when they blew my Carrie up.

“It’s made me a nastier person in some ways and changed how I feel about things. It’s made me a different person, one I’m not exactly proud of.”

Nevertheless, Mrs Taylor, her husband, John and their son, Simon, have taken comfort from the kindness of one stranger, who stayed with Carrie until help arrived.

The Taylors made a point of personally thanking fellow passenger Steven Desborough for comforting Carrie before she died.

Mrs Taylor said: “The only person who made me feel better was Steve Desborough. He stayed with Carrie from the moment the bomb went off until the moment they got her off the train.

“He is the only person that gets my gratitude. He refused to leave her and there were other people like him who stayed. They didn’t have to. People were leaving, but he stayed. They were the real unsung heroes.

“It was a total comfort to me he was with her. I didn’t like the thought of her dying on her own.