43 years after blast, IRA bomb maker says sorry
He’s still a coward, insists sister of Birmingham pub attack victim
AN IRA bomb maker who has been linked to the Birmingham pub attacks was branded a ‘spineless coward’ last night for issuing an apology 43 years later – but refusing to take personal responsibility.
Michael Christopher Hayes, 69, was named as one of five men responsible for planning the 1974 atrocity, in a Granada Television documentary in 1990.
A year later, six men wrongly convicted for the crime were released from prison. Since then, nobody has faced court over the bombings, which claimed 21 lives at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pubs in Birmingham. Hayes, who lives as a free man in south Dublin, said the bombs were made of gelignite and were planted by two people.
But asked by the BBC if he was one of the two, he replied: ‘I’m not telling you.’ He said he had defused a third bomb left on Birmingham’s Hagley Road when the extent of the death toll became clear to the terror cell.
His interview, broadcast last night, comes a week after a coroner outraged victims’ families by ruling that naming prime IRA suspects was ‘not within the scope’ of re-opened inquests due later this year.
Hayes, who previously admitted involvement in the Brighton bombing in 1984, took what he called ‘collective responsibility’ for all the IRA’s actions in England and said he was sorry innocent people had been killed.
But the self- confessed bomb maker was branded ‘ gutless’ by Julie Hambleton, who lost her 18year-old sister Maxine in the Birmingham attack. Miss Hambleton, 54, said: ‘He must have taken legal advice as he is only admitting collective responsibility … the IRA are spineless cowards who do not have the bottle to admit what they have done and pay the penalty for it.
‘We don’t want an apology – anyone can apologise – we want justice. We want the people responsible to face punishment. The police should be issuing European Arrest Warrants to try to bring this man to justice but they are doing noth- ing.’ Asked about Hayes’s admissions, West Midlands Police said: ‘The investigation remains open and we will respond to any new significant information to bring those responsible to justice.
‘An inquest is due to start and we will not be providing any further comment until the proceedings have concluded.’
Hayes said he was speaking out to give ‘the point of view of a par- ticipant’. He claimed the bombs were not meant to kill, but there was an eight-minute delay before police were warned, as one designated phone box was out of action and another was being used.
Hayes said he was arrested and questioned about the bombings in 1974, but was released. He was jailed for three years in 1976 for IRA membership and possession of arms and explosives, and was said to have been involved in planning the Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombs in 1982, the 1983 attack on Harrods and the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing, which together killed 22.
He said he was in the IRA for more than 30 years, adding that he was ‘a participant in the IRA’s activities in Birmingham’.
Hayes said the terror cell was ‘ horrified’ when the death toll became clear as they thought they had given sufficient time for the police to evacuate the buildings.
‘It was only later on that we realised there was eight valuable minutes missed,’ he added. But the warning to the Birmingham Post and Mail office gave information too vague to allow police to adequately evacuate the areas.
Hayes said he will not attend the inquest, adding: ‘I can sleep at night, because I am not a murderer.’ Asked why he kept quiet as the ‘ Birmingham Six’ spent 16 years in jail after wrongful conviction, he said to do otherwise would make him an ‘informer’.
Miss Hambleton said: ‘ He’s admitted nothing. He says he is not a murderer. What does he think he is then? The only other word for him which fits is a liar.’
Last year it was announced the inquests will be resumed following a campaign by victims’ families. They branded coroner Sir Peter Thornton’s decision last week to exclude names of suspects as a ‘whitewash’. Christopher Stanley of KRW Law, which is representing ten of the families, called on the coroner to ‘revisit’ the ruling.
‘Anyone can apologise, we want justice’
‘Should be issuing arrest warrants’