|
 |
 | | | | | |||||||||||||||||||
| | You are in: UK: England | |||||||||||||||||||||
 | | Thursday, 6 December, 2001, 14:44 GMT Horse injured in IRA blast turns 30  Echo was reunited with Detective Constable John Davies A retired police horse injured during an IRA's bomb attack which killed four guardsmen and seven horses has celebrated his 30th birthday. Echo, a grey Gelding, suffered extensive injuries during the Hyde Park bombing on 20 July 1982. He was reunited with his then rider Detective Constable John Davies at his birthday party of Thursday for the first time since the bombing. Mr Davies, who received shoulder and arm injuries in the blast, presented his former companion with a specially-made apple-and-carrot birthday cake complete with candles. Second explosion Echo was injured when the IRA detonated a bomb, made up of 25lb of gelignite surrounded by four and six-inch nails, as the Household Cavalrymen of the Blues and Royals passed through Hyde Park.
The terrorists sat and watched the front rank of the 16-strong squad draw level with a car containing the bomb. As they rode past at 1044 GMT the nail bomb was detonated by remote control, killing four guardsmen and seven horses. Within a few months Echo, then 11, became a mental "wreck", according to the police. He was one of three horses taken to The Home of Rest for Horses in Buckinghamshire to retire. Echo's former team-mate Yetti, 32, who was also injured during the blast and joined him at the home, was present at the birthday celebrations. The saddle bags worn by Echo on the day of the blast - riddled with shrapnel and nails - were also on display. | |    See also: Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top England stories now:  Links to more England stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||
|
Links to more England stories |
 | | ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII|News Sources|Privacy  |
E-mail this story to a friend