RUSSELL STREET REMEMBERED Angela had an amazing career in front of her'

Debra was a 21-year old police officer when her colleague's life was taken

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When a life-or-death moment happens, those who survive often describe it as feeling like time slowed down or that their life flashed in front of them.

Debra Richardson, 61, says her experience was a combination of both as her office shook and glass shattered. “I was sitting at my desk when there was this red flash and the room filled with smoke,” Debra tells Woman’s Day.

It was March 27, 1986 and Debra, then 21, was a new constable working at Melbourne’s Russell Street police headquarters.

“I was blown off my chair and all the windows and doors around me caved in. I thought I’d been shot.”

There was no wound, though, and running into the corridor, where she met an equally shaken sergeant, more explosions started ringing out.

“We realised, my God, it’s a bomb,” Debra says. “I ran up and down the corridor, in case anyone needed help, and then we all met in the laneway outside. There were about 100 of us, covered in blood with torn uniforms, all so shocked... I often reflect on that. I can see myself standing there. No one had a clue what to do.”

JUSTICE SERVED