SAS hero of Iran Embassy siege forced to live in B&B ...because council can’t find him home
AN SAS hero who led the Iranian Embassy siege was forced on to the streets because the council failed to offer him a suitable home, it was claimed last night.
Bob Curry, 64, who served for 16 years in the Special Air Service and had a 17-year military career, is now said to be living in a B&B paid for by his old regiment.
He asked Herefordshire Council for accommodation on five occasions, but was only offered a hostel full of drug users and a home four miles away from a shop, it was alleged.
This meant he was forced to live on the streets until the SAS regimental association decided to pick up the bill for him to stay in a B&B.
In May 1980, Mr Curry was one of the first to break into the besieged embassy in west London after 26 people were held hostage by six armed Iranian dissidents.
The soldier, aged 27 at the time, was watched by millions on the TV news as he abseiled down the building and smashed open a window with a sledgehammer, allowing his colleagues to storm the embassy.
He was said to have ‘eliminated several targets’.
Former sergeant Trevor Coult, who was awarded the Military Cross in 2006 for his bravery in a machine-gun ambush involving suicide bombers in Baghdad, was made aware of Mr Curry’s plight.
Last night, Mr Coult, who has spoken to the veteran, told the Mail: ‘This hero abseiled in and went through one of the windows with a charge and cleared rooms. He eliminated targets in the embassy.
‘It is a disgrace this veteran is not being looked after. If we can’t sort out these veterans in Herefordshire, where they lived, then what hope is there for other heroes?’
In 2015, SAS veteran Mr Curry put his medals up for sale for £25,000 so they could be enjoyed by collectors. Mr Curry was born in Cambridgeshire in 1953 and enlisted in the Royal Anglian Regiment as a 15year-old junior soldier.
After serving in Northern Ireland, he passed the selection course for the SAS in 1979. Following the Iranian Embassy siege he served with the SAS in the Falklands War and Northern Ireland. Discharged in 1985, he spent three years working for the Al Fayed family, including one year as the personal bodyguard of Dodi Al Fayed.
It is understood he was made homeless after he split from his wife last year. The council has offered him two homes – but he is thought to have said they were not suitable.
A spokesman for Herefordshire Council said: ‘Unfortunately, to date the individual has not provided all the documentation needed to legally register for housing.
‘However, the council’s housing team has found and offered two different forms of accommodation which have subsequently been turned down. We are continuing to work with the individual to help them secure appropriate housing.’