“Absolutely nothing in our training ever covered a bomb that is burning”
Content warning: this episode contains references to death and suicide which some listeners might find distressing.
In the next instalment of season two of the award-winning Inside Counter Terrorism Policing podcast, we’re introducing you to ‘Tom’, who heads up the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) unit at CTP London.
Tom went from a career in the British Army – which saw tours in Northern Ireland responding to pipe bomb threats, as well as deployments in Afghanistan – to responding to the Parsons Green and Fishmongers Hall terror attacks.
During his 24-year military career, Tom became one of the British Army’s most distinguished explosives officers, leaving the military with a gallantry medal under his belt.
In this episode, Tom talks candidly about what it was like to diffuse explosives in warzones – something he calls “routine” but acknowledges is not, in fact, “routine” at all given the deadly potential of every IED – and the pressures he’s felt during his career.
Providing first-hand accounts of some of the UK’s terror attacks, and the pressures that come with his role, Tom’s episode brings you behind the blue line of one Counter Terrorism Policing’s most high-stake role
A new episode will be available on Acast, Spotify and Apple every Thursday. They are:
- Clara (out now): From hostage negotiator to hostile environments
- Tom (out now): from diffusing bombs in warzones to keeping the streets of London safe
- Jenna (out on 26 March): what it’s like working with convicted terrorists in the community
- Grace (out on 2 April): Thwarting attacks through online intelligence
- Alex (out on 9 April): from city lawyer to national security incidents
You can find and listen to these, and the episodes from series 1, wherever you get your podcasts https://shows.acast.com/inside-counter-terrorism-policing/episodes