‘We could have killed Prince’

THE man who orchestrated a 1960s bombing campaign claims the terrorist group he led could have killed Prince Charles during his Investiture in Caernarfon 50 years ago.

John Barnard Jenkins led Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Movement to Defend Wales) or MAC in the 1960s which did its utmost to disrupt the royal ceremony, held in Caernarfon Castle in July 1969.

In a new biography of Jenkins, by historian Wyn Thomas, the former British Army soldier claims he could have killed the Prince of Wales in the lead up to the historic ceremony.

He says in the book, John Jenkins: The Reluctant Revolutionary: “We could have killed him... For one thing, I was a sergeant in the British Army’s Dental Corps, and was on duty in Caernarfon that day.

“I could have carried a rifle and I could have shot him there and then if I wanted.

“Furthermore, if I’d said: ‘Right, I want a couple of people who are prepared to do something and not come back from it.’

“I know at least two who would have volunteered.”

On the evening before the Investiture, two members of MAC, Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, were killed when a bomb they had been intending to place outside Government offices in Abergele exploded. Many believe the actual target was the railway line at Abergele, a claim that has always been denied by the leadership of MAC.

The following day two other bombs were planted in Caernarfon, one in the local police constable’s garden which exploded as the 21-gun salute was fired.

Another was planted in an iron forge near the castle but failed to go off. This bomb later exploded when a 10-year-old boy stood on the bomb when they retrieved a ball. He was badly injured but survived.

The final bomb on Llandudno Pier was designed to stop the Royal Yacht Britannia from docking. This also failed to explode.

Jenkins, now 85, from Wrexham, insists their intention had been only to attack infrastructure and not to injure anyone. The campaign was undertaken in the belief that the political voice of Wales was being ignored in the wake of the flooding of Tryweryn and the Aberfan disaster.

The biography, published by Y Lolfa, was launched at Waterstones, Wrexham on June 22. A similar event will be held at midday on June 29 at Palas Print, Caernarfon.