Homeless SAS hero finally gets a council house
AN SAS hero of the Iranian Embassy siege has found a permanent home after hundreds of thousands of wellwishers petitioned his council to find him a place to stay.
Bob Curry, 64, was left homeless and had to rely on his old regiment to fund his bed and breakfast accommodation after a longterm relationship broke down, leaving him without a place to stay.
But the veteran has been offered a bungalow after 400,000 people signed a petition urging Herefordshire Council to find Mr Curry a home. He told The Sun: ‘It’s absolutely brilliant.’
Mr Curry, 64, was pictured in a dramatic image of the 1980 siege in London, leading comrades into the South Kensington building after 26 people were taken hostage.
He was nicknamed ‘Backdoor Bob’ after entering the rear of the embassy – as other SAS comrades abseiled down the front of the whitewashed property.
His homeless plight was in stark contrast to that of Fowzi Nejad, 61, the only terrorist to survive the siege. He avoided being sent back to Iran following his release from prison a decade ago, and is believed to have survived on handouts while living in council accommodation in London.
Last May, a friend of Nejad said he ‘lives off benefits and is on disability because he has a bad back’.
Nejad was captured after pretending to be a hostage. The SAS killed the other five dissidents from the Democratic Revolutionary Front for Arabistan, a group who opposed the Iranian regime led by Ayatollah Khomeini.
Herefordshire Council previously offered Falklands hero Mr Curry accommodation at two properties – a hostel populated by drug addicts or a house said to be four miles from the nearest shop – which he declined.
Mr Curry told The Sun: ‘I’ve been in tough spots through my career but with my health now I wouldn’t have survived long on the streets – SAS training or not.
‘I was sat in the council offices explaining my life to someone who looked at me as though I was nothing.’
Mr Curry thanked those who signed a petition supporting his struggle to find a home. He told the paper: ‘I thank them from the bottom of my heart. The support they showed me served to put my situation and the plight of other veterans in the spotlight and it has made things happen.
‘I’m over the moon. I had been told I could have been on the waiting list for weeks or even months. The bungalow is perfect for me.’
Mr Curry’s new home is three miles from Hereford city centre. The veteran, who served in the SAS for 17 years, also revealed he has been offered to work at a security company as a sub-contractor.