AN OXFORD woman whose sister was killed in the July 7 terrorist attacks on London five years ago hopes to discover whether more could have been done to prevent her death when an inquest opens today.

Esther Hyman’s sister Miriam died when a suicide bomber blew himself up on the bus she was travelling on in Tavistock Square.

The 32-year-old was one of 52 people killed when four Islamic extremists attacked London’s transport system in the morning rush hour.

Miss Hyman, who lives in Cowley Road, East Oxford, said her family had hired a solicitor to ask questions during the inquest to find out whether more could have been done to stop the tragedy.

The 41-year-old said: “We’re happy at the broadening of the scope of the inquest to include the security issues and see if any lessons can be learned for the safety of all of us.

”An issue that’s been raised, is whether or not the entire transport system should have been shut down after the explosion on the Tube.

“The explosion on the bus was nearly an hour later.

“There’s a question over the history during the previous year leading up to 7/7 of the movements of some of the individuals particularly Mohammad Sidique Khan and (Shehzad) Tanweer.

“They were on the radar for a while and then went off the radar.

“There are issues over whether they could have been followed more closely, and whether the security services could have taken more action to prevent the events.”

Miriam – known as Mim – had been on her way to work on the Northern Line of the Underground towards Kings Cross when a bomb exploded on another line.

She was evacuated along with other passengers and spoke to her father, John, on her mobile phone before boarding the bus in Tavistock Square.

Miss Hyman said she and her mum Mavis, 79, and father John, 77, from Finchley, North London, planned to attend hearings during the seven-month long inquest.

Lady Justice Hallett, the assistant deputy coroner for Inner West London does not expect to hear evidence on the Tavistock Square bombing until January.

Miss Hyman said her family had been greatly comforted by the opening of an eye care centre in her sister’s name in the city of Bhubaneswar, in Eastern India.

The Miriam Hyman Children’s Eye Care Centre has treated 18,000 out-patients since it opened in July 2008 after the family’s charity raised more than £220,000 to found it.

She said: “There will always be questions in our minds and we hope that some of them will answered during the proceedings but we don’t expect all our questions will be answered.

“Of course it’s difficult for us but I don’t suppose it’s more difficult than for anyone else who has lost a loved one, it’s just the fact that our loss happened to be in very public circumstances.

“It’s obviously been the most traumatic experience we have ever had to deal with but we’re trying to make something positive come out of it.

“The fact that we have managed to establish the eye care centre means we have a fitting and lasting memorial to my sister.”

Home office spokesman Zoe Paxton said: “We welcome the decision to resume the inquest and we hope the inquest will allow the families of the victims to get to the bottom of the tragic events of July 7, 2005.”