A former policeman from Barnet cheated death by 15 minutes when he esaped the impact of a suicide bomb blast in Israel on Tuesday night (April 29).

Barry Gilbert, 45, who emigrated to Israel last year but still owns a house in Links View, Finchley, was playing a keyboard on stage at a bar in Tel Aviv, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance, at around 1am, after failing to get past a security guard. Two of Mr Gilbert's friends were among four people killed. Another friend, one of more than 50 injured, had a hand blown off.

Speaking from Israel, he said: "I was playing with a full band and the next minute there was a big orange flash from the front of the bar. Then there was a big bang. To start with, I thought one of the spotlights had fallen off the ceiling. Then I realised, when I smelt the burning hair, that it was a bomb.

"Two of my friends were lying dead in the street and it was total carnage out there. People had been blown apart, literally. One of them was the guitarist in my band, who had just taken a break. Someone else had taken his guitar while he walked out to get a breath of fresh air.

"Fifteen minutes before, we had both been sitting in my car, which was parked bang outside the front entrance, having a chat. He ended up on the floor underneath my car. He's left a wife and two kids."

April 30, 2003 17:00