Concerns that police failed to act on two warnings prompt ruling 42 years after 21 people were killed in twin attacks

An inquest into the Birmingham pub bombings, one of the worst terrorist attacks in British history, is to be reopened 42 years after they claimed the lives of 21 people.

Louise Hunt, the senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, said an inquest was needed because she had serious concerns that police may have failed to act on advance warnings about the attack.

In May Hunt said she had received what she described as a “significant” piece of information about the notice given before the IRA bombs exploded.

Relatives for some of those who died have been pushing for the inquest to be reopened following the realisation that the police had failed to identify the perpetrators and that the courts had convicted innocent men, and because they say the investigative process lacked transparency.

Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine died in the blasts aged 18, said: “All we want is truth, justice and accountability.”



The co-ordinated attacks on two central Birmingham pubs, the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town, on the evening of 21 November 1974 also injured about 182 people. Many of them suffered the loss of limbs.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Julie Hambleton, sister of Maxine Hambleton, said she hoped police would not appeal against the coroner’s decision. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

It was a Thursday – at that time, the day when most workers were paid – and the city’s pubs were packed. A third bomb left in the doorway of a bank on the outskirts of the city centre failed to explode.

The following year, six men – now known as the Birmingham Six – were convicted of the attacks and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1991, however, the convictions of Hugh Callaghan, Paddy Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker were quashed, in an acknowledgment of what is now seen as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British legal history.

Hunt rejected suggestions that the police investigation had been designed to protect an informant among the group that had planted the bombs, and also said there was no evidence that there had been a significant delay in the police and ambulance service response.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Wreckage and debris litter the street outside the Mulberry Bush pub in Birmingham, after the bombing. Photograph: Evening Standard/Getty Images

However, she said the police may have missed two opportunities to take steps to prevent the bombings.

Eleven days before the attacks, West Midlands police received a warning that Birmingham was being targeted by the IRA. “There is no indication the police took any active steps in response to it,” she said. “Instead the report was filed away.”

On the days of the attacks, a man whom Hunt described as “Witness B” said he heard a group of Irish men in the Stirchley area of the city discussing a bomb attack. He says he went to a police training centre, where “it took some time before a police officer was available”. When he returned to the pub with two officers, the men had departed.

“I have serious concerns that advanced notice of the bombs may have been available to the police and that they failed to take the necessary steps to protect life,” said Hunt.

Although the IRA has never formally acknowledged responsibility for the attacks, a number of republican figures have admitted that the organisation was to blame.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Birmingham Six outside the Old Bailey in London, after their convictions were quashed. (Left to right) John Walker, Paddy Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Chris Mullen MP, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter and William Power. Photograph: Sean Dempsey/PA

The attacks provoked anti-Irish sentiment among some in Birmingham and elsewhere across Britain, and the government rushed through counter-terrorism legislation giving the police new powers to detain suspects without charge for seven days.

The first coroner’s investigation was adjourned six days after the bombings and closed without reporting. The process was then overtaken by a criminal investigation.

Republican figures have subsequently said the warnings were delayed: the bombers had planted the devices and then found the telephone boxes in the area had been vandalised.

At a previous hearing, Ashley Underwood QC, for the families of several victims, said the bombings were “crying out for a proper, fearless investigation”.

Hunt has questioned whether some of the evidence gathered by police in the aftermath of the bombings has since been lost. As many as 35 of the 168 exhibits used at the trial of the Birmingham Six – including the unexploded bomb – are thought to have disappeared.

West Midlands police have said they do not object to the reopening of the inquest, and are eager to pursue any lines of investigation that could lead to the prosecution of those responsible, but they said at an earlier hearing that there was no evidence to show that reopening the inquest was appropriate.

The Police Federation, representing rank-and-file officers, has questioned whether the passage of time would make it difficult for the coroner to establish what happened 42 years ago.

Hambleton said she and other relatives hoped police and the emergency services did not appeal against the coroner’s decision. “That would be very, very cynical,” she said.

She praised the Belfast law firm, KRW Law, which worked pro bono while making the application to reopen the inquest, and said the families now needed legal aid.

The IRA’s head of intelligence at the time of the Birmingham pub bombings welcomed the news of fresh inquests and said he was willing to give evidence to a coroner.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Paddy Hill, one of the Birmingham Six who was wrongly convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

But Kieran Conway, an IRA activist turned Dublin lawyer specialising in criminal cases, said he would travel to England only if he had assurances from the British authorities that he would not be arrested for past IRA membership.

Conway said otherwise he would be prepared to give evidence via video link from the Irish Republic. He backed the victims’ families’ demand for an independent judicial inquiry following the inquests.

Paddy Hill, one of the Birmingham Six, who was in court to hear the coroner’s decision, said he doubted that West Midlands police would show much candour during the inquest. “Birmingham police couldn’t even spell the word truth, let alone tell it,” he said.

Dave Thompson, chief constable of West Midlands police, pledged to support the new inquests, saying the initial investigation was “the most serious failing in this force’s history”.



He said: “The Birmingham pub bombings of 1974 are one of the most serious terrorist attacks in the UK. West Midlands police not only failed to catch those responsible but caused a miscarriage of justice. I have said and reiterate again, it is the most serious failing in this force’s history.

“It is almost 42 years since these events. I understand families of those who lost their lives are frustrated, disappointed and angry. Since 2012, and directly as a result of the campaign by families of those who died, we have carefully reassessed the opportunities to bring the people responsible to justice. Despite an intense scrutiny we have not been able to see, at this time, a prospect of doing this. That has been an authentic and painstaking search for the truth.

“We have not nor will not close this investigation. West Midlands police will support this inquiry as we have done through the recent hearings by the coroner, which determined whether the inquest should reopen. I hope the new inquest provides answers to families.”