Pub bomb families win judicial review
FAMILIES of those killed in the Birmingham pub bombings have won their battle for a judicial review of a coroner’s decision that the forthcoming inquest will not address the issue of who planted the bombs that brought death to the city centre.
Campaigners in the Justice4the21 group have long argued that the hard-won new inquest should inquire into the identity of the bombers who made up the IRA ter- ror cell operating in the region the time of the 1974 atrocity.
But coroner Sir Peter Thornton has already ruled that the issue of the perpetrators would not be within the scope of the inquest, saying that it is “not in the public interest for these investigations and inquests to pursue unachievable, or indeed unlawful, objectives.”
Now permission has been granted for a judicial review of that ruling, offering fresh hope that the scope of the inquest may yet still be widened.
KRW Law, which is representing the families of ten victims, called it at an “important achievement in the ongoing quest for truth, justice and accountability for our clients”.
The firm confirmed that its application for a judicial review of the scope of the inquests had been granted, and would take place on November 27.
Anurag Deb, of KRW Law, said: “Being granted permission to challenge the ruling on scope of the coroner will enable us to pursue the perpetrator issue before the judges in the Divisional Court, which will engage important points of law relating to the investigations of historic human rights violations, which are all too real to those who are relatives.”
The inquests will explore the circumstances of the deaths of 21 people killed in the IRA bombings of two pubs in 1974.
On the night of November 21, the IRA planted two bombs which ripped through the Tavern in the Town and nearby Mulberry Bush pubs, injuring 182 people.
A botched police investigation into the attacks led to the wrongful convictions of the Birmingham Six, one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in British legal history.