🔗 Share this article

Ministers have ruled out launching a national investigation into the Provisional IRA's 1974 Birmingham bar bombings.

The Horrific Attack

Back on 21 November 1974, twenty-one civilians were killed and two hundred twenty hurt when explosive devices were exploded at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town establishments in Birmingham, in an assault widely believed to have been orchestrated by the Irish Republican Army.

Legal Consequences

Not a single person has been found guilty over the attacks. Back in 1991, six men had their convictions overturned after serving over 16 years in prison in what stands as one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in United Kingdom history.

Relatives Push for Answers

Loved ones have for decades campaigned for a public probe into the explosions to discover what the state knew at the moment of the incident and why nobody has been held accountable.

Official Decision

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, stated on Thursday that while he had profound sympathy for the loved ones, the government had concluded “after careful consideration” it would not authorize an inquiry.

Jarvis explained the authorities considers the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, set up to look into fatalities related to the Troubles, could examine the Birmingham attacks.

Advocates Respond

Activist Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was murdered in the explosions, commented the announcement showed “the authorities don't care”.

The 62-year-old has long campaigned for a public inquiry and said she and other grieving relatives had “no plan” of engaging in the investigative panel.

“We see no genuine independence in the body,” she remarked, noting it was “equivalent to them grading their own homework”.

Calls for Evidence Disclosure

For years, bereaved families have been calling for the disclosure of documents from intelligence agencies on the event – especially on what the government was aware of before and following the attack, and what proof there is that could lead to legal action.

“The entire UK government system is resisting our relatives from ever discovering the reality,” she declared. “Exclusively a statutory judge-directed public investigation will grant us entry to the documents they state they don’t have.”

Legal Powers

A official public inquiry has distinct judicial capabilities, such as the power to require individuals to appear and disclose information related to the probe.

Earlier Hearing

An inquest in 2019 – campaigned for bereaved relatives – ruled the victims were murdered by the Provisional IRA but failed to identify the names of those culpable.

Hambleton stated: “Intelligence agencies informed the then coroner that they have no records or information on what continues to be the UK's most prolonged unresolved mass murder of the 20th century, but at present they intend to force us to participate of this Legacy Commission to disclose evidence that they state has never been available”.

Political Criticism

Liam Byrne, the MP for Hodge Hill and Solihull North, described the cabinet's decision as “deeply, deeply disheartening”.

Through a message on Twitter, Byrne said: “Following such a long time, such immense pain, and so many failures” the families are entitled to a procedure that is “independent, judicially directed, with complete authorities and courageous in the quest for the reality.”

Enduring Pain

Discussing the families' enduring sorrow, Hambleton, who heads the campaign group, stated: “No family of any horror of any type will ever have closure. It is impossible. The grief and the sorrow continue.”