PC Stephen Gould

"I was on night duty at East Ham with one other officer. As soon as we booked on duty we were tasked to King’s Cross. We went on blue lights and two tones. On arrival we saw a mass of blue lights from ambulances, fire engines and police vehicles.

“After parking our vehicle I was tasked to go down into the station and conduct a search of the area for personal property. I remember the smoke still hanging in the air and the smell.

“I recall after being down there for some time. I had found some personal property, but I wasn't sure what to do with it.

“I went upstairs and I was directed to the temporary mortuary which was in a hall opposite the station down one of the side streets. On entering the hall floor was covered in bodies, I'm not sure how many but it must have been at least 20. I handed the property over to someone and went back to the station, various times.

“While I was down there I was walking past some members of the LFB; they spoke to me and said ‘will you be going back upstairs at all?’. I replied that I would be at some time. They asked me if I could take something up for them and I said ‘yes , what is it?’. They replied ‘someone’s hand’. I asked them if they were joking but they said they weren't. So I went up to the temporary mortuary again, but this time all the bodies had gone. I went to the FHQ incident vehicle to try and find out what to do with the body part. They directed me to the local hospitals, but eventually I was directed to St Pancras mortuary, where I passed it over.

“When I got back to the station and I got stood down, which I believe was about 9 o’clock. I remember seeing a Salvation Army wagon there and eating two Cornish pasties and having a lovely cup of tea.

“Incidentally, some years later I was an Explosive Search Dog Handler still with BTP, where I attended Kings Cross on 7/7 and having to search again, this time I had to search the train where there were 26 bodies on board.”