‘I lost my daughter in the London 7/7 bombings, this is her story’
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‘Who wrote the opera Fidelio?’ Jenny Nicholson texted her mother Julie on July 6, 2005. It had been a day of joy for the 24-year-old. With thousands of other excited Londoners, she had flocked to Trafalgar Square to mark the city’s successful Olympic bid. The Red Arrows left a trail of red, white and blue across London’s grey skies as British flags waved beneath. To wind down later that day, Jenny settled down with a crossword and texted her mother for help with a question about the opera. It was the last message Julie would ever receive from her daughter.
![[Jenny Nicholson - Undated handout photo of Jenny Nicholson, 24 who is feared to be among the victims of the London bombings, Monday July 11, 2005. Jenny has been missing since the four bomb blasts in the city on Thursday, which claimed the lives of an estimated 49 people. Her parents, who live in Bristol, now face an agonising wait for information. Miss Nicholson graduated from Bristol University with an MA in music, and was working for a music publisher in London. See PA story POLICE Explosion Nicholson. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Photo credit should read: Western Daily Press/PA]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PM_12337111-6903-e1735829856327.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=643)
On July 7, 2005, Jenny left the Reading home she shared with her long-term boyfriend James and travelled into London again. The talented musician worked as an advertising sales executive at Rhinegold Publishing and was based in the heart of the city near Holborn.
![[A police officer runs towards members of the public to keep them away from the area around Edgware Road station Thursday 07 July 2005 following a bomb explosion which killed 5 people. It was one of a series of attacks in the capital today. EPA/DANIEL DEME]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PM_12268817-3352.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
There were issues with the Bakerloo line that morning, so Jenny was forced to take the Circle Line. She stepped off the station platform and into the second carriage of the six-carriage train as it trundled through Edgware Road. It was there, at 8.49am, that terrorist Mohammad Sidique Khan detonated a bomb.
Nearly 280 miles away in Anglesey, Jenny’s mother made breakfast. ‘It was a pretty wonderful day,’ Julie, 71, tells Metro over Zoom. ‘I was a parish priest in Bristol for the Church of England and had taken a few days off to drive my parents to visit family in North Wales. We’d had a couple days of really heavy rain, but the morning of the 7th was so sunny. It was quite a lazy morning and we didn’t have the TV or the radio on. Everything seemed glorious, until the dominoes started to fall.’.
