John Smeaton: The Mail Sets Out To Get Its Hero
HEADLINES like “John Smeaton Wins War On Terror”, “Great Scot!”, “Gordon Brown: John Smeaton Is Courage Personified” may have created an impression that John Smeaton was some kind of hero.
John Smeaton received the Queen’s Gallantry medal for foiling the attack on Glasgow airport. He picked up an Outstanding Bravery Award at the Pride Of Britain Awards, “before a celebrity audience including Dame Shirley Bassey and Jamie Oliver”. Such is how we treat our heroes.
The Mail recalls the “VIP trips to New York, first in October 2007, for a tour of Ground Zero and an official audience with NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg and, earlier this month, to pick up a CNN heroism award”.
Smeaton was invited to the BAFTAs? Says he: “Yeah. They went on for hours – I just made sure I was near to the door so I could nip out for a fag. But I had a nice chat with Viggo Mortensen [The Lord Of The Rings actor].” Thanks to Smeaton’s smoking habit, 
make believe heroes like Mortenson could rest easy within.
Many see Smeaton’s actions as a triumph for the anti-smoking lobby, who know that had Smeaton been allowed to smoke indoors, the terrorists would have got away.
As such, you may have thought Smeaton was some kind of hero. But today the Mail brings readers: “Super fraud or super hero? Why baggage handler John Smeaton is under fire as a Walter Mitty.”
The Mail hears “a bitter outburst” from taxi driver Alex McIlveen, who had also waded into the terrorists on June 30. He “branded Smeato a liar and a fraud who never hit anyone and only stubbed out his cigarette and got involved when a woman called for help, pulling one of the other injured people out of the way.”
Indisputably, there were at least three other civilians who helped foil the attack – McIlveen, 45, who “kicked a burning terrorist so hard in the b***s that I tore a tendon in my foot”; Stephen Clarkson, 42, a groundsman, who knocked the burning man to the ground; and Michael Kerr, 40, a heating engineer, whose efforts ended in a broken leg and bloody mouth – “I flew at the guy a few times, but he wouldn’t go down. Then he punched me so hard he knocked my teeth out and sent me flying so hard I broke my leg.”
The Mail wonders: “So is Smeato the genuine article, or just a bit of a chancer, enjoying the fame while he can?”
To find out the Mail journeys to Glasgow and asks him, featuring the report in its newspaper, and so adding to the Smeaton legend.
Having heard the evidence, the Mail concludes: “Whatever did happen in the panic and confusion of June 30, it will come out at the trial of Bilal Abdullah when CCTV footage of the vital minutes will finally be made public. And let’s hope it is John Smeaton who’s doing all the punching and kicking because, for all his penchant for publicity – and perhaps gilding the lily – you couldn’t ask for a more likeable superhero.”
But he never said he was doing all the punching and kicking. But, no matter, the Mail got its hero, and not sets out to get him all over again…
Pictures: Here, here, and here.
Posted: 22nd, March 2008 | In: Tabloids Comments (5) | TrackBack | Permalink
