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Ministers have rejected the idea of establishing a national probe into the IRA's 1974 Birmingham bar explosions.

This Horrific Attack

Back on 21 November 1974, 21 civilians were murdered and 220 wounded when explosive devices were set off at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an incident largely thought to have been orchestrated by the Irish Republican Army.

Legal Consequences

No one has been convicted over the incidents. In 1991, six defendants had their guilty verdicts reversed after spending over 16 years in detention in what is considered one of the gravest miscarriages of the legal system in United Kingdom history.

Relatives Push for Truth

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

Official Response

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, announced on recently that while he had deep compassion for the loved ones, the administration had determined “after careful review” it would not establish an investigation.

Jarvis said the government thinks the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, set up to investigate fatalities connected to the Troubles, could investigate the Birmingham bombings.

Activists Respond

Advocate Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was killed in the explosions, stated the announcement showed “the authorities show no concern”.

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

“We see no true impartiality in the panel,” she stated, noting it was “tantamount to them assessing their own homework”.

Demands for Evidence Disclosure

For decades, bereaved relatives have been requesting the disclosure of files from government bodies on the incident – especially on what the state was aware of prior to and after the bombing, and what evidence there is that could lead to prosecutions.

“The whole British establishment is resisting our relatives from ever knowing the facts,” she declared. “Exclusively a legally mandated judge-directed open inquiry will give us access to the papers they claim they lack.”

Official Powers

A official open investigation has specific legal powers, such as the authority to require participants to appear and disclose details associated with the investigation.

Previous Investigation

An investigation in 2019 – secured by bereaved relatives – ruled the those killed were illegally slain by the IRA but failed to identify the names of those accountable.

Hambleton commented: “Government bodies advised the then coroner that they have absolutely no files or information on what continues to be England’s longest open mass murder of the 1900s, but currently they aim to pressure us down the route of this new commission to disclose information that they state has never been available”.

Political Criticism

Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for the local constituency, described the administration's ruling as “deeply, deeply disheartening”.

In a statement on Twitter, Byrne stated: “After such a long period, so much pain, and so many let-downs” the relatives merit a mechanism that is “independent, court-supervised, with comprehensive capabilities and fearless in the pursuit for the reality.”

Continuing Grief

Speaking of the family’s ongoing pain, Hambleton, who chairs the Justice 4 the 21, remarked: “No relative of any atrocity of any sort will ever have peace. It is impossible. The pain and the anguish remain.”