INQUEST COULD NAME PUB BOMBERS
Inquest into 1974 atrocity considers identifying IRA culprits
BOMBERS who killed 21 people in blasts at two Birmingham pubs could finally be ‘named and shamed’ in evidence during the renewed inquest into the deaths, a coroner was told .
Heather Williams QC told coroner Peter Thornton on Wednesday that the new inquest should include the topic of the perpetrators – those who planted the bombs, how they were planted and how it came about.
Ms Williams represents Sean Reilly, the brother of victims Eugene and Desmond Reilly, who died in the attack on The Tavern In The Town.
She spoke as Mr Thornton invited legal submissions about the potential scope of the inquest.
Four areas were debated – the perpetrators, the response of the emergency services, whether an agent or informant was involved, and the issue of the police being forewarned about the attacks.
Ms Williams argued that the perpetrators could be named in evidence during the hearing, although current legislation meant it would not be legally possible to name them in the conclusion.
“So they could be named and shamed in the press without constraint?” asked Mr Thornton.
Ms Williams said the Coroner had the authority to order anonymity at any point.
It was also suggested that inquest evidence could include what Mr Thornton called “relevant evidence” which led to the conviction of the Birmingham Six.
Earlier, Ms Williams had said there was “considerable evidence of arguable failings” of the emergency ser- vices on the night of November 21, 1974, when The Mulberry Bush pub, a short distance from the Tavern, was also bombed. The failings involved the police, fire and ambulance services, she said.
“We are not in any way seeking to cast doubt on the bravery of the individuals who attended,” she stressed. “It is a concern at organisational and systemic level that we are concerned about.”
Matters such as a lack of overall control, lack of direction, lack of sufficent personnel from all three services – specifically at The Tavern in The Town – and lack of first aid equipment were among the concerns.
She added that a senior officer from the time worried that the use of taxis to transport some of the critically injured to hospitals might have cost lives.
She said that in the issue of forewarnings about the bombings, scope should not be restricted to considering the two alleged incidents which Birmingham Coroner Louise Hunt was notified of, and which led to her re-opening the inquest in June 2016.
Her legal team, Liverpool-based Jackson Canter, had been made aware of other alleged warnings.
Addressing the issue of witnesses, she said a concern had been raised that some people who may be called to give evidence had a risk of being re-traumatised by their memories.
“We accept this, but offer the counter-balance that for a number of people it may also prove cathartic,” she said.
Lawyers representing both West Midlands Police and Devon and Cornwall Police made submissions saying the issue of the perpetators should not be considered. Jeremy Johnson, QC for West Midlands Police, said: “It is with real regret and with an acknowledgement that at a human level the families fervently wish for the topic to be within the scope.”
Devon and Cornwall Police carried out two investigations into the flawed criminal investigation by their West Midlands counterparts which led to the wrongful convictions of the Birmingham Six – one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in British legal history.