‘Young planter’ revealed details of attack

CHRIS Mullin interviewed another man in connection with the bomb attacks, Michael Christopher Hayes. He said: “I interviewed him in October 1987. Like Gavin, he admitted to a leading role in the IRA’s West Midlands campaign, but denied involvement in the pub bombings.

“Lately, however, he has become more talkative. In Dublin in 2017 he gave an interview to a BBC journalist in which he accepted ‘collective responsibility’ for the bombings, but again denied direct involvement.

“He also made the unlikely claim that he had defused a third bomb in Birmingham that night: it had been left in the doorway of a branch of Barclays Bank in Hagley Road but failed to go off. This may or may not be true, but it does confirm he was active that night.”

Mr Mullin said by the time he interviewed the ‘young planter’ who he still refuses to name, the suspect was in his 30s.

He says this is what the young planter told him: “On the evening of the bombings a person came to see me and said, ‘You’re needed for an operation.’ I went with him to a house.

“We went by car. The bombs were in the parlour, behind the sofa. One was in a duffle bag and the other was in a small brown luggage case. I was given the duffle bag and a pistol. I put the gun in my coat pocket. The other man carried the case. We walked into town. It was a good mile. The other fellow told me the targets ten minutes before we arrived.

“He said: ‘The one in the Tavern is for the tax office and the one in the Mulberry Bush is for the Rotunda.’ He added: ‘There’ll be plenty of warning.’

“Believe it or not I accepted it. I didn’t want the stigma of cowardice attached to me. He kept saying, ‘Don’t worry, those people will be well out of there.’

“Just before we arrived we stopped in the entrance to a row of shops. The other guy opened the case and was fiddling with something. Then he reached inside my duffle bag. That was when the bombs were primed. We crossed the road without using the under pass because the police were sometimes down there.

“We did the Tavern first. Up

New Street. Past the Mulberry Bush. The other fellow went to the bar and ordered two drinks. I took both bags and found a seat. I was s******* myself. The other person came back with the drinks. We took a sip and then got up leaving the duffle bag under a seat.

“At the Mulberry Bush the procedure was the same. This time I ordered the drinks. The other person found a table at the back. The bomb was left by a telephone.”

Last year an ITV documentary named ‘the young planter’ as Michael Patrick Reilly, an allegation he denied.