IRA bomb killed drug addict eight months after blast

An Irishman, who survived the IRA bus bomb blast in London last year, died suddenly during treatment for heroin addiction from post-traumatic epilepsy linked to the injuries he sustained in the explosion, an inquest heard yesterday.

Brendan Woolhead, 34, was a passenger on the bus in Aldwych on 18 February when a bomb being carried by a 21-year-old IRA member, Edward O'Brien, exploded by accident. He suffered a double skull fracture, minor brain damage and a fractured hip.

Mr Woolhead had used heroin since he was 21, and had booked into a private hospital last autumn for treatment, Westminster coroner's court heard yesterday. However, 30 hours after treatment began, he went into a convulsion. His heart stopped on 3 October.

"It is obvious he suffered a severe head injury in the past and he had suffered brain damage in association with the skull fracture," Dr Iain West, a pathologist, told the court. "He had suffered convulsions and died as a result of convulsions - that has led to anoxic [lack of oxygen] brain damage. The convulsion is caused by the old head injury. He has undergone detoxification and that will have contributed to his convulsions, as would the presence of morphine," Dr West added.