Engineer angered by Manchester attack died in Syria
Mother tells of pride at son killed on bomb disposal mission after being spurred to join the fight against Isil
A BRITISH engineer was so angry about the Manchester terrorist attack that he travelled to Syria to fight Isil, an inquest has heard.
Ollie Hall, 24, who was killed searching for booby-trap bombs in Syria, was described as an “outstanding example of courage and self-sacrifice” by the coroner in Portsmouth.
The telecoms engineer left for Iraq via Germany on Aug 18 last year and met up with the Kurdistan People’s Protection Units (YPG), training in Rojava, northern Syria, for five weeks before working to clear explosives in Raqqa, where he died on Nov 25.
Jonathon Duncan, a friend, said Mr Hall had been planning to go for about six months and had given up smoking and drinking, and got fit before leaving.
He said terrorist attacks in the UK had inspired him to volunteer, adding: “The one in Manchester was a bit too close to home. Europe is close but as soon as the attacks came over here, if anyone isn’t going to do anything we have to do it ourselves.”
Jane Lyndon, Mr Hall’s mother, said her son had not told her of his plans until he had arrived in the Middle East.
On the day he left, he gave her £20 to pay for a taxi to get home from work. “He said ‘I love you Mum’ and I said ‘I love you’, and that was the last time I saw him,” Mrs Lyndon, a nurse, said.
She said her son was angered by terrorist attacks and his belief the Government was not taking action, adding: “I knew he was mad about them but we had no idea he felt so strongly.”
She said she had been told he went into a house after an elderly man and his daughter had been concerned about booby-trap bombs.
Another volunteer told her “he and Ollie were going through the house, they kept saying to each other ‘look out, look out’ and two minutes later there was an explosion, he shouted out ‘Oliver, Oliver’ but there was no sound”.
Coroner David Horsley recorded a narrative verdict, saying Mr Hall died “on active service with Kurdish forces. He gave his life to protect the safety of others.”
He added: “He was someone who felt deeply about the world and its prob- lems and resolved to do something about it himself to bring an end to terrorism and repression.”
Speaking after the inquest, Mrs Lyndon said that she was proud of her son for standing up for his beliefs, but added that she hoped others would not follow in his footsteps.
She said: “I wish he had never gone, but we are proud of what he did. We wouldn’t want other people to go out
‘He was someone who felt deeply about the world and its problems and resolved to do something about it’
‘I just had this feeling that I am not going to see him again. I couldn’t be mad with him’
there. From everyone I speak to out there, he was very popular and well liked.”
One friend said he was not a soldier when he went out to Syria, but he became a soldier “and then some”.
“A few of the people have said he was the only one they would trust with their life, which showed how hard he worked out there.”
Describing how she felt when he told her by text message that he had travelled to the Middle East, she said: “I was absolutely devastated, I just had this feeling that I am not going to see him again. I couldn’t be mad with him, he was in Syria and I didn’t want to lose communication with him.”