Government Rule Out Public Inquiry into Birmingham City Pub Attacks

Government officials have rejected the idea of launching a open investigation into the IRA's 1974-era Birmingham bar explosions.

This Devastating Event

Back on 21 November 1974, 21 people were lost their lives and 220 wounded when explosive devices were detonated at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an incident commonly accepted to have been orchestrated by the IRA.

Legal Aftermath

No one has been found guilty for the incidents. Back in 1991, 6 defendants had their convictions overturned after spending more than 16 years in detention in what remains one of the most severe miscarriages of the legal system in United Kingdom history.

Victims' Families Fight for Truth

Families have for years fought for a open inquiry into the attacks to discover what the state knew at the moment of the incident and why no one has been brought to justice.

Official Response

The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, stated on recently that while he had profound sympathy for the families, the government had determined “after thorough review” it would not authorize an inquiry.

Jarvis stated the government thinks the newly established commission, created to investigate deaths related to the Troubles, could look into the Birmingham bombings.

Activists React

Activist Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was killed in the attacks, commented the decision indicated “the authorities don't care”.

The sixty-two-year-old has for years campaigned for a open probe and said she and other bereaved relatives had “no plan” of participating in the investigative panel.

“We see no genuine independence in the panel,” she stated, explaining it was “tantamount to them marking their own homework”.

Calls for Evidence Release

For decades, bereaved families have been requesting the disclosure of files from government bodies on the attack – especially on what the state 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 relatives from ever discovering the reality,” she stated. “Only a official judge-led national probe will give us entry to the documents they state they do not possess.”

Official Powers

A statutory open inquiry has distinct official capabilities, such as the ability to oblige individuals to testify and reveal details connected to the probe.

Prior Inquest

An inquest in 2019 – campaigned for bereaved families – determined the those killed were murdered by the IRA but did not establish the identities of those responsible.

Hambleton stated: “Government bodies informed the then coroner that they have absolutely no records or information on what continues to be Britain's longest unsolved mass murder of the last century, but currently they aim to push us to participate of this Legacy Commission to share information that they state has not been present”.

Political Criticism

Liam Byrne, the MP for the Birmingham area, characterized the administration's decision as “profoundly disappointing”.

Through a message on social media, Byrne said: “After so much period, such immense grief, and countless disappointments” the loved ones are entitled to a mechanism that is “autonomous, court-supervised, with full authorities and courageous in the quest for the reality.”

Continuing Grief

Speaking of the family’s enduring pain, Hambleton, who chairs the Justice 4 the 21, stated: “Not a single family of any horror of any kind will ever have closure. It is unattainable. The suffering and the sorrow remain.”