Coroner: 7/7 terror victims 'unlawfully killed'

Inquest into London terror attacksvar cnnWindowParams = window.location.toString().toQueryParams();if(typeof cnnWindowParams.video != "undefined") {if(cnnWindowParams.video) {cnnLoadStoryPlayer('world/2011/05/05/uk.terror.inquest.cnn', 'cnnCVP1', '640x384_start_art', playerOverRide, T1);}} else {$('cnnCVP2').onclick = function() {if ($$('.box-opened').length) {$$('.box-opened').each(function(val){Element.fireEvent(val, 'click');});}cnnLoadStoryPlayer('world/2011/05/05/uk.terror.inquest.cnn', 'cnnCVP1', '640x384_start_art', playerOverRide, T1);};$('cnnCVP2').onmouseover = function() {$('cnnCVP2').className = 'cnn_mtt1plybttn cnn_mtt1plybttnon';};$('cnnCVP2').onmouseout = function() {$('cnnCVP2').className = 'cnn_mtt1plybttn';};}Coroner expected to recommend some change to emergency response procedures
Inquest heard two of the bombers identified before the attack in separate investigation
But security service rejected any suggestion of intelligence failings
52 people died in four bombs on July 7, 2005 -- three on underground trains, one on a bus

London (CNN) -- A British coroner has ruled that 52 people who died in a string of bomb attacks on London's transport system on July 7, 2005 were unlawfully killed.

Following a six month inquest into the deaths on three tube trains and a bus, coroner Justice Heather Hallett paid tribute to the blast survivors, rescue workers, and the families of the dead.

After reading out the names of all the victims, Hallett told the court that it was important to recognise that each of them would have died, no matter what time emergency services workers reached them.

One of the key questions of Hallett's inquiry was whether any of the deaths were caused by any delayed reactions of emergency services, due to fears of secondary explosions or over-regulated safety guidelines.

As well as stories of great courage and great fortitude, the inquest heard reports of police officers apparently reluctant to board the wrecked bus on Tavistock Square in central London as badly injured people screamed for help.

There were similar stories of firemen unwilling to enter an underground tunnel until certain it was safe to do so.

Some recommendations from the coroner about the rigidity of procedures by the emergency services are likely, but sweeping criticism is not expected, according to one analyst.

"It's very easy to say in retrospect that people held back and therefore they were cowards," said Jennifer Cole, from think tank the Royal United Services Institute.

"In different situations they might have gone forward into the path of a secondary device and probably would have been martyred heroes but they would have been dead. In the grand scheme of things it's much better that they hold back than go forward and put themselves in danger."

The inquest heard from 300 witnesses, including those caught in the explosions, London Underground staff, police and emergency personnel.

But perhaps the most significant witness was a senior figure from the security service MI5, who was asked to account for how it was that two of the four bombers -- three British males of Pakistani descent and a Jamaican-born man -- were photographed as part of a separate terror investigation, but not followed up.

Witness G, as he was known, expressed regret that MI5 had missed the significance of Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, but rejected any suggestion of intelligence failings.

Among the bereaved who took part in the inquest was John Taylor, whose 24-year-old daughter Carrie died on a train approaching Aldgate tube station.

Unhappy with previous explanations of exactly what happened on 7/7, Taylor decided to represent himself at the inquest, listening to harrowing details of his daughter's final moments, and putting questions directly to those who tried to save her life.

The questions he asked, he told CNN, came from the heart.

"The day Carrie came back to Billericay in a coffin I remember sitting in the chapel with [my wife] June and my son Simon and making a promise to Carrie to find out as much as I possibly could," Taylor told CNN.

CNN's Pete Wilkinson, Andrew Carey and Bryony Jones contributed to this report.

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