By Roddy AshworthSTAFF and customers at a pub where three people from East Anglia were killed in a nail-bomb attack have paid an emotional tribute to the victims.

By Roddy Ashworth

STAFF and customers at a pub where three people from East Anglia were killed in a nail-bomb attack have paid an emotional tribute to the victims.

Pregnant Andrea Dykes, 27, of Tarragona Mews, Colchester, John Light, 32, of Mill Street, Colchester, and Nik Moore, 31, from Felixstowe, died in the blast at the Admiral Duncan pub in London four years ago.

Mrs Dykes' husband, Julian, was left in a coma after the nail bomb exploded and ripped through the busy Soho bar.

Mr Light's boyfriend, Gary Partridge, was also wounded in the blast, but survived only because his partner's body shielded him from the impact. He had been Mr Dykes' best man at his marriage to Andrea in Wivenhoe in 1997.

The group had dropped into the bar on their way to see the Abba musical Mama Mia at a nearby theatre.

The bomb had been delivered to the pub shortly before the early-evening atrocity by 23-year-old engineer David Copeland, who was later jailed for life on a number of charges, including murdering the three East Anglian people.

Copeland, from Cove in Hampshire, had already targeted members of ethnic minorities with bombs in Brick Lane and Brixton before attacking London's gay community.

Mrs Dykes' father, Phil Maddock, joined those yesterday remembering the nail-bomb attack at the Old Compton Street bar of April 30, 1999, which also left more than 50 people were injured.

A minute's silence was held at another gay pub, the Duke of Wellington on Wardour Street, at the precise moment the bomb exploded four years ago.

A statement issued on behalf of the Admiral Duncan said: “Our thoughts are with our staff and customers who were caught up in this terrible event. Many of the Admiral Duncan staff on duty that evening are still working with us.

“We know this fourth anniversary will be a very difficult and emotional day for them and we will be doing all we can to support them.”

roddy.ashworth@eadt.co.uk