🔗 Share this article

Ministers have rejected the idea of establishing a open investigation into the Provisional IRA's 1974-era Birmingham city bar bombings.

This Devastating Incident

On 21 November 1974, 21 individuals were lost their lives and two hundred twenty hurt when explosive devices were exploded at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town pub establishments in Birmingham, in an assault largely thought to have been carried out by the Irish Republican Army.

Legal Aftermath

Nobody has been convicted over the incidents. In 1991, 6 defendants had their convictions quashed after serving over 16 years in jail in what stands as one of the worst failures of the legal system in UK history.

Families Campaign for Truth

Families have long pushed for a open inquiry into the bombings to find out what the government was aware of at the moment of the incident and why no one has been held accountable.

Government Statement

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, announced on recently that while he had sincere empathy for the relatives, the cabinet had concluded “after careful review” it would not establish an investigation.

Jarvis explained the government thinks the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, established to examine fatalities connected to the Northern Ireland conflict, could look into the Birmingham bombings.

Activists Express Disappointment

Activist Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was murdered in the bombings, stated the announcement showed “the administration are indifferent”.

The 62-year-old has for years campaigned for a national investigation and explained she and other grieving relatives had “no plan” of taking part in the new body.

“There’s no true independence in the commission,” she stated, adding it was “like them assessing their own performance”.

Demands for Evidence Release

Over the years, grieving relatives have been calling for the disclosure of files from security services on the event – specifically on what the government knew prior to and following the incident, and what evidence there is that could result in prosecutions.

“The entire UK government system is against our families from ever knowing the facts,” she stated. “Exclusively a legally mandated judicial public inquiry will give us entry to the documents they state they lack.”

Legal Powers

A statutory public inquiry has particular judicial powers, including the power to require witnesses to testify and reveal details related to the probe.

Previous Investigation

An inquest in 2019 – secured by bereaved relatives – determined the victims were unlawfully killed by the IRA but did not establish the identities of those responsible.

Hambleton commented: “Intelligence agencies informed the then coroner that they have zero files or documentation on what is still the UK's most prolonged unsolved atrocity of the 20th century, but at present they want to pressure us to participate of this new commission to share information that they state has never been available”.

Official Reaction

Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for Hodge Hill and Solihull North, characterized the government’s announcement as “profoundly unsatisfactory”.

Through a message on social media, Byrne wrote: “Following so much period, so much grief, and numerous disappointments” the relatives merit a mechanism that is “autonomous, judge-led, with comprehensive authorities and courageous in the quest for the facts.”

Continuing Pain

Speaking of the families' enduring sorrow, Hambleton, who heads the Justice 4 the 21, remarked: “No relative of any atrocity of any kind will ever have closure. It doesn’t exist. The suffering and the sorrow remain.”