A taxi driver can still smell the burning from a terror attack a year after his miracle escape.
David Perry, 46, suffers with PTSD after his Ford Focus Estate taxi was blown up by Emad al-Swealmeen outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday last year.
A year on from the bomb blast, David told the Mirror how he has flashbacks and is still finding bits of the bomb in his body. The 46-year-old said he also feared other terrorists would come looking for him in the weeks after the explosion. Even on the evening of the attack, he remembers staying up late with his wife to see his attacker’s face unveiled on the news.
READ MORE: Detectives say Liverpool bombing motive 'remains a mystery' a year on
He said: “I wanted to see who it was, I wanted to know if I recognised him or if I’d seen his face, but when I saw him it was just another lunatic to me, another evil person.
"Paranoia takes over, you start thinking people are coming to finish you off, you’re round the bend, you’re looking out the window, you don’t sleep, you are permanently glued to the telly, you’re addicted to the news, you’re waiting to hear if anyone is involved.
“I didn’t sleep for months. And then you kind of slip away and all the psychological problems start kicking in PTSD and everything else, you can’t cope and you can slip into a hole. I call it the hole, it’s like depression, things start getting on top of you, it’s like a battle trying to get yourself out.
"It was a really bad place, not just for me, but for my wife and kids, everyone was struggling.”
Life became a battle for David, who didn’t get professional help until six months after the attack. He added: “It wasn’t until people like my wife started saying listen something is not right here.
“When you’re down you don’t realise the way you are. Everything is a battle, getting up is a battle, having a shower is a battle.”
David’s back was fractured in three places, his body had multiple burns and shrapnel injuries and he was bleeding from both ears with both eardrums burst. His left ear had been almost blown off.
Later at home David recalls: “It wasn’t really until I’d had a bath that everything came off me and even then it took weeks. Bits of bomb, bits of flesh, bits of hair.”
He remains haunted by the odour, adding: “Every now and then, because we live by the docks, there will be a smell of burning plastic. I think I’m back in the car with the smell of him burning on me.”
Just weeks later David had to have tests for HIV and hepatitis, as blood and body parts from the bomber had been blasted into him. The tests all came back negative but it was yet another stressful period for the devoted family man.
As the first anniversary approaches, David said his nightmares of being threatened have become more frequent. He said: “The last couple of nights, the closer I’m getting to the weekend, the tinnitus has been getting louder and louder and the nightmares kick-in. It is all part of stress.”
But it's not all been bad news. After his miraculous escape from a bomb less than a metre away, David is still defying doctors who predicted his ‘decimated’ eardrums would “never grow back”.
He said: “I went back and they were in disbelief, the doctor said they have grown back, someone is still looking over you.”
It means that while he will need a hearing aid, he won’t need any surgery.
While he has been unable to return to work, David hopes he may be able to get back behind the wheel of a taxi in the future.
For now, his days are spent mentally and physically recovering from the ordeal, enjoying family time and taking care of the dogs.
And he’s been able to make ends meet during the cost of living crisis thanks to a generous Go Fund Me page. David said: “I’ve not been in a position where I’ve been able to (work) mentally.
"I keep playing with the idea that I want to go back to taxi-ing. I don’t know why, it is kind of wanting to prove people wrong that I can do it.
“You miss it, you miss talking to people. You miss your regular customers. You don’t miss the bad parts but you miss the good days."
Instead he’s focusing on being a dad, and is taking small steps by taking his family car out for short spins. “I’ve started driving over the last couple of months, not far, to the shops or to my mum’s.
“The first couple of months I didn’t know how I would cope driving, you don’t know how you are going to react. The thought of someone sitting behind you isn’t a great thing but it is a fear that you have to get over.”
Even 12 months on David is overwhelmed by the support he’s had from his friends, family, his home city and the general public. He said: “The support I got from the whole world was unbelievable, I was getting thanks and messages from all over the world.
“Even when you're out people come up to you and say ‘wow you’re amazing’. I’m not really. It's a strange thing, it's hard to accept people coming and applauding you for something you don't feel you should be getting applauded for.
“The whole of Liverpool was amazing but that's what Liverpool people do: they stick together and battle through.”
The dad feels more aware of terrorism now, and is still ‘wary’ after everything he went through, but showered the counter terror police with praise for their work. He said: “We only hear a fraction of what goes on around the country. The terror response is that good that the public don't realise what's actually going on.
“We only ever hear about the bad things, the one or two that have slipped through. But the job they’re doing is unbelievable to stop the majority.”
The police have kept David fully briefed on the investigation, although he can’t tell us much. And one day, when he’s back to full health, he’d like to meet the medics who cared for him again.
In a heartfelt message to the nurses and doctors at both hospitals he added: “I’m just so grateful, I want to say thanks. They’re just amazing special people.”
READ NEXT:
£5m dealer bragged about joining golf club and shopping at Louis Vuitton
Britannia's decade of shame: bloodstained sheets, mould and filth
'Notorious criminal' accused of links to Altcourse fire attacks
Man who walked free from court for attacking girlfriend murdered her two weeks later
