IRA victims' fury over scrapped plan to pay compensation from Gaddafi fortune

Victims of IRA bombings in London today condemned Theresa May’s Government after it killed off a bid to pay compensation from a fortune stashed in Britain by terrorist-backing former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Anger erupted after a Conservative whip used an obscure Commons procedure to derail a Bill that could have helped Londoners with serious injuries including paralysis, blindness and brain damage.

Numerous IRA atrocities were carried out with Semtex high explosive supplied by Gaddafi, including attacks on Harrods, Hyde Park and Canary Wharf.

Campaigners want £9.5 billion in assets moved by Gaddafi to Britain to be spent on compensation to victims and their families. But the Government insists the Gaddafi assets, including cash, properties and investments, cannot legally be touched as they are frozen under a United Nations resolution.

The issue came to a dramatic climax in the Commons when a cross-party group of MPs brought forward the Asset Freezing (Compensation) Bill to release some of the money. At its second reading, a government whip — said by MPs to be Robert Syms — was heard to shout “object”, which under Commons rules stopped the measure.

Fellow Tory MP James Cartlidge immediately stood up to protest on a point of order, saying: “Throughout the IRA’s reign of terror, much of the explosive they used to kill was supplied by Libya. The Bill has the support of victims of IRA terrorism. Are you able to give any advice to those of us who want to put on record ‘the anger of those victims that the Bill has been objected to’?”

Susanne Dodd, the daughter of a hero police officer killed in the 1983 Harrods bombing, accused Mrs May of personally ordering the Bill to be killed.

“Not only has the Prime Minister refused to meet me, she sent a government minister to object to the second reading,” she said. “It is disgraceful how the Government are treating the victims. They can pay a terrorist millions of pounds out of taxpayers’ money, but can’t help victims that need new wheelchairs or support in their daily lives.

“The Government needs to look at what they are doing to the victims.”

A government spokesman said it is trying to obtain compensation: “We are determined to see a just solution for UK victims of Gaddafi-sponsored terrorism and the Foreign Office continues to encourage the Libyans to engage with UK victims. We will continue to support victims in their attempts to seek redress from the Libyan authorities once stability returns.”