- guardian.co.uk, Friday June 9 2000 02.11 BST
As he clutched the live bomb in a sports bag, he answered questions about officers on the beat. Then, he told police in taped interviews, he walked to a spot near Brixton market in south London, and left the bomb close to a bus stop.
It exploded soon afterwards injuring 40 people.
On the tapes, which were played to the jury, Copeland said he found himself in Brixton 90 minutes early because he "messed up" the time.
He said he did some window shopping, went to a library to see if it had a lavatory and into a little park.
He added: "Someone came and gave me an interview about how good police were in the local area. I was just bored. I do not know if it was a police officer. It was like a questionnaire.
"He asked if there were enough bobbies on the beat. It was some sort of survey. He asked a lot of questions but I never signed anything."
Copeland said he targeted a predominately gay pub in Soho, central London, because he knew it would upset Tony Blair and other politicians.
Copeland, 24, an engineer working on the Jubilee Line underground extension, has admitted causing explosions in Soho, Brick Lane in east London, and Brixton during April last year, in which three people were killed and 129 injured.
He is being tried for murder after the prosecution refused to accept his pleas of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
The trial continues today.
