A chief suspect in the Birmingham pub bombings was dramatically named at the inquest into the atrocity yesterday amid claims he can never be brought to justice.

Four men were identified as being involved in the mass murder of 21 innocent civilians - but only one of the quartet Michael Hayes remains alive.

A convicted bomber - known only as Witness O - told the inquest that he had been given permission by the head of the IRA to name Hayes and three other men, all now dead, for their involvement in the 1974 attack.

But Witness O insisted that Hayes, 70, who lives in Dublin, could not be arrested or charged as a result of the Good Friday Agreement.

His claim raised the possibility that Hayes may have received a so-called ‘comfort letter’ given to IRA suspects on the run and which has been used to prevent prosecutions in the past.

The names given by Witness O:

Seamus McLoughlin Mick Murray Michael Hayes James Gavin

In contrast, a former British Army paratrooper, now in his 70s, was charged with murder last week over the deaths of civil rights protesters shot and killed in Londonderry during Bloody Sunday in 1972.