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Authorities have rejected the idea of launching a national probe into the IRA's 1974 Birmingham city bar bombings.

This Tragic Incident

On 21 November 1974, twenty-one civilians were killed and two hundred twenty wounded when explosive devices were exploded at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pub establishments in Birmingham, in an incident largely thought to have been carried out by the Provisional IRA.

Legal Consequences

Not a single person has been convicted for the attacks. Back in 1991, 6 men had their guilty verdicts quashed after enduring over 16 years in detention in what remains one of the worst failures of justice in British history.

Families Push for Answers

Loved ones have for decades fought for a national investigation into the bombings to uncover what the state was aware of at the time of the tragedy and why not a single person has been brought to justice.

Official Statement

The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, announced on Thursday that while he had deep compassion for the families, the cabinet had concluded “after detailed deliberation” it would not establish an investigation.

Jarvis explained the administration considers the reconciliation commission, created to investigate fatalities connected to the Northern Ireland conflict, could look into the Birmingham attacks.

Campaigners Respond

Advocate Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was killed in the bombings, said the announcement showed “the authorities show no concern”.

The 62-year-old has long pushed for a public probe and stated she and other bereaved relatives had “no plan” of taking part in the commission.

“We see no real impartiality in the commission,” she said, noting it was “tantamount to them marking their own work”.

Requests for Document Release

For years, grieving loved ones have been requesting the disclosure of papers from security services on the event – especially on what the state knew prior to and after the bombing, and what information there is that could lead to legal action.

“The whole British establishment is opposed to our relatives from ever discovering the facts,” she said. “Only a statutory judge-led open inquiry will provide us access to the files they state they don’t have.”

Official Powers

A official public probe has specific official capabilities, such as the power to oblige participants to appear and provide information related to the inquiry.

Prior Inquest

An hearing in 2019 – secured by grieving families – determined the victims were unlawfully killed by the IRA but did not establish the identities of those responsible.

Hambleton stated: “Intelligence agencies told the coroner at the time that they have zero records or information on what remains Britain's most prolonged unsolved multiple killing of the 20th century, but at present they aim to push us to engage of this new commission to share information that they assert has not been present”.

Official Criticism

Liam Byrne, the MP for the Birmingham area, described the government’s announcement as “deeply, deeply disappointing”.

Through a message on Twitter, Byrne said: “Following such a long period, so much pain, and so many let-downs” the relatives deserve a process that is “autonomous, court-supervised, with full capabilities and fearless in the pursuit for the truth.”

Continuing Sorrow

Reflecting on the families' ongoing pain, Hambleton, who heads the Justice 4 the 21, stated: “No relative of any atrocity of any sort will ever have closure. It is impossible. The suffering and the sorrow persist.”