Government's actions towards terror victims '˜are totally unacceptable'

A woman whose father won a bravery award after being killed in the IRA Harrods bomb has hit out at victims' treatment by the Government.

Suzanne Dodd was only seven when her father, Inspector Stephen Dodd, was killed in the 1983 atrocity which left five others dead and injured 75.

“My father parked his police car right next to the bomb,” she told the News Letter. “He warned Harrods not to evacuate the building because there would have been far too many people on the street.”

“His actions saved over 20 police officers. His car took the full impact of the bomb.”

Ten years later he was awarded an award for bravery.

“But my father was only 34 when he died so my mother only got half of a widow’s pension. She had to work 20 hours a day to support us all.

“But now the Government pays £1.6m compensation to an IRA kidnap gang and tells us we are not entitled to any compensation.

“It is totally unacceptable. One prime minister let them all out of jail but the other one can’t release frozen Libyan assets to compensate us.

“I was expecting my dad home to put up the Christmas tree. Instead, on Christmas Eve, mum told us that he was not coming home and that he was with the angels.

“From age 11 it had a deep effect on my ability to relate to others. I live in a room on my own. I never married or had children.”

This week Ms Dodd visited Scotland Yard with others to press for probes into suspects.