Ex-IRA man could be questioned over pub bombings, court told

SELF-confessed IRA man Michael Hayes could be questioned by the British authorities in connection with the Birmingham pub bombings, judges have heard.

Two senior judges were told Dublin-based Hayes (right) may also be spoken to by lawyers acting for the coroner in the currently suspended inquests into the deaths of the 21 victims.

Hayes previously told a BBC interview he accepted “collective responsibility” for the IRA’s activities in England, including the pub bombings.

He also claimed to have defused a third bomb placed outside Barclays Bank on the city’s Hagley Road when the scale of the bloodshed on the night of November 21, 1974 became clear.

Speaking in July, when asked if he had planted either bomb in the Tavern in the Town or the Mulberry Bush, he replied: “No comment. No comment.” Hayes had also made remarks about the explosives’ timers and the telephone warning given prior to the blasts, Lord Justice Simon and Mrs Justice Carr heard.

Last month West Midlands Police secured a court order to obtain unbroadcasted material from the BBC interview as part of the criminal investigation. Ten of the victims’ families were at the High Court in Birmingham yesterday in a legal bid to overturn coroner Sir Peter Thornton’s ruling banning the identification of suspects at fresh inquests. The relatives are asking for a judicial review of that decision.

Progress on the hearings is currently suspended, pending a legal ruling on the issue.

In submissions for the coroner opposing the families’ application, his barrister Peter Skelton said coronial and criminal processes were entirely separate.

In court Mr Skelton said the criminal process was continuing, and raised Hayes as an example of the police’s ongoing work.

Mr Skelton said: “The West Midlands Police must go about their own function and the coroner will not seek to in any way compromise that.”

He added: “It is conceivable that if there was a criminal lead during the coroner’s hearing the inquest would again be suspended. A person could be charged and prosecuted during those proceedings.

“For example, Michael Hayes. That is a possibility and it will remain a possibility throughout the inquest.”

Lord Justice Simon asked what the aim of the coroner would be in viewing the unbroadcast footage, given the perpetrator issue had so far been ruled out of the inquests’ scope.

Mr Skelton said: “No, the coroner isn’t investigating whether Mr Hayes perpetrated the attacks, but whether the IRA perpetrated the attacks. It may be Mr Hayes is interviewed in due course by the coroner’s legal team to further those issues.”

Lord Justice Simon reserved judgment until the new year.