Scholarship fund for blast victim

Helen Jones was a student at Lockerbie Academy

A scholarship fund has been set up in memory of a Scots accountant killed in the London bombings.

Helen Jones, 28, from Annan, died in the Piccadilly Line tube bomb blast on 7 July during pre-planned attacks on the city's transport network.

The fund will help youngsters in Lockerbie, where Ms Jones went to school, study accountancy or finance.

Helen's mother Liz Staffel said she would have been delighted others were being helped in her name.

The fund has been launched by The Scottish Accountancy Trust for Education and Research (Sater) and is assisted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

It is precisely what she would have wanted Liz Staffel Helen's mother

The Helen Jones Appeal Fund has been set up for the former Lockerbie Academy pupil to help students who want to study accountancy or finance courses at university.

Helen's mother Liz said: "Helen left a big impression on everyone she came across and whoever's life she touched.

"She loved being an accountant and the wide spectrum of careers it opened up to her.

"She also loved young people, she was a leader at many Easter and summer camps during her late teens.

Local tragedy

"So I am especially pleased that a scholarship in her name combining both these can go on to help young people from Lockerbie experience the opportunities she so relished."

Ms Staffel added: "It is precisely what she would have wanted."

It is not the first time good has come from a local tragedy. Lockerbie students can already compete for a scholarship set up after the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, which killed 270 people.

The 7 July attacks targeted London's transport network

The academy's rector, Graham Herbert, said he was confident the new award would be keenly sought.

"Helen's death was a tragedy which affected the entire community, but was keenly felt here where she is still so warmly remembered by my pupils and staff," he said.

"If this fund can help a pupil here to be half as successful as Helen was, then that would be a great achievement."

The chairman of Sater, Professor Ian Percy, said: "Helen was popular and talented.

"Sater is delighted to be helping to keep her memory alive in a way which can support talented students from the area where she grew up."