🔗 Share this article

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

This Tragic Incident

Back on 21 November 1974, 21 individuals were lost their lives and 220 hurt when bombs were exploded at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town pub venues in Birmingham, in an assault widely believed to have been carried out by the IRA.

Legal Aftermath

No one has been sentenced over the bombings. In 1991, 6 men had their sentences reversed after enduring over 16 years in prison in what stands as one of the most severe failures of the legal system in British history.

Victims' Families Push for Truth

Relatives have for years fought for a open probe into the explosions to discover what the authorities knew at the moment of the event and why nobody has been prosecuted.

Official Statement

The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, said on Thursday that while he had deep empathy for the families, the government had decided “after careful deliberation” it would not authorize an investigation.

Jarvis said the administration thinks the reconciliation commission, created to examine deaths connected to the Northern Ireland conflict, could examine the Birmingham attacks.

Activists Respond

Activist Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was killed in the attacks, stated the announcement demonstrated “the government don't care”.

The 62-year-old has long fought for a public inquiry and said she and other grieving families had “no plan” of participating in the new body.

“We see no genuine independence in the body,” she said, adding it was “equivalent to them assessing their own homework”.

Calls for Evidence Release

Over the years, grieving families have been requesting the release of documents from government bodies on the event – particularly on what the government was aware of prior to and after the bombing, and what information there is that could lead to legal action.

“The entire British establishment is against our families from ever discovering the facts,” she said. “Exclusively a legally mandated judge-led open probe will give us access to the papers they assert they don’t have.”

Official Capabilities

A statutory open investigation has distinct legal capabilities, encompassing the authority to compel participants to attend and provide evidence related to the investigation.

Prior Investigation

An inquest in 2019 – campaigned for grieving families – ruled the those killed were unlawfully killed by the Provisional IRA but did not determine the names of those culpable.

Hambleton said: “Intelligence agencies told the coroner at the time that they have zero files or evidence on what is still England’s most prolonged unresolved atrocity of the 20th century, but currently they aim to force us down the route of this new commission to share details that they assert has not been present”.

Political Reaction

Liam Byrne, the MP for the local constituency, characterized the administration's announcement as “profoundly unsatisfactory”.

In a statement on X, Byrne wrote: “After such a long time, such immense grief, and countless let-downs” the relatives deserve a process that is “independent, court-supervised, with comprehensive powers and unafraid in the search for the reality.”

Enduring Grief

Reflecting on the families' persistent pain, Hambleton, who leads the advocacy organization, stated: “No relative of any tragedy of any type will ever have peace. It doesn’t exist. The pain and the anguish remain.”