🔗 Share this article

Ministers have decided against establishing a open probe into the Provisional IRA's 1974-era Birmingham pub attacks.

This Tragic Incident

Back on 21 November 1974, 21 civilians were lost their lives and two hundred twenty wounded when bombs were detonated at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town pub establishments in Birmingham, in an attack largely thought to have been carried out by the Provisional IRA.

Legal Aftermath

Nobody has been sentenced over the bombings. Back in 1991, 6 men had their sentences overturned after enduring over 16 years in jail in what stands as one of the most severe failures of the legal system in British history.

Relatives Fight for Justice

Relatives have long pushed for a public probe into the attacks to discover what the authorities was aware of at the time of the incident and why no one has been prosecuted.

Government Decision

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, stated on Thursday that while he had profound compassion for the loved ones, the administration had decided “after detailed deliberation” it would not establish an probe.

Jarvis said the administration considers the reconciliation commission, established to investigate deaths related to the Northern Ireland conflict, could look into the Birmingham incidents.

Activists Respond

Activist Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was lost her life in the attacks, said the decision indicated “the administration don't care”.

The sixty-two-year-old has long campaigned for a open inquiry and stated she and other grieving families had “no desire” of taking part in the new body.

“We see no genuine impartiality in the panel,” she said, noting it was “equivalent to them marking their own homework”.

Requests for Document Disclosure

Over the years, bereaved families have been calling for the release of papers from government bodies on the incident – particularly on what the authorities was aware of before and after the attack, and what information there is that could bring about prosecutions.

“The entire state apparatus is against our relatives from ever discovering the facts,” she said. “Only a official judge-directed public probe will grant us entry to the files they assert they lack.”

Official Authority

A legally mandated open probe has distinct legal capabilities, such as the ability to oblige witnesses to appear and reveal evidence connected to the probe.

Previous Inquest

An inquest in 2019 – fought for bereaved families – determined the those killed were unlawfully killed by the IRA but failed to identify the names of those accountable.

Hambleton stated: “Intelligence agencies informed the coroner at the time that they have zero documents or documentation on what continues to be England’s longest unresolved mass murder of the last century, but at present they intend to push us down the route of this new commission to provide evidence that they state has never been available”.

Official Response

Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for the Birmingham area, labeled the government’s decision as “profoundly disappointing”.

Through a message on social media, Byrne stated: “After such a long time, so much grief, and so many failures” the families merit a procedure that is “autonomous, court-supervised, with full authorities and unafraid in the search for the truth.”

Enduring Grief

Discussing the family’s ongoing pain, Hambleton, who heads the advocacy organization, stated: “Not a single family of any horror of any type will ever have resolution. It is impossible. The pain and the sorrow continue.”