Hyde Park suspect faces court at last as families win legal aid
AN IRA terrorist could be hauled before the courts within months over the Hyde Park bomb attack.
Relatives of the soldiers killed in the July 1982 atrocity have finally been given legal aid to try to bring John Downey to justice.
The Legal Aid Agency caved in after throwing out five requests for around £300,000 in funding. Downey, 66, is accused of murdering four soldiers and injuring 31 in the nail bomb attack.
Lance Corporal Jeffery Young, 19, was killed alongside Squadron Quartermaster Corporal Roy Bright, 36, Lieutenant Anthony Daly, 23, and Trooper Simon Tipper, 19.
A criminal case against Downey collapsed in 2014 following a string of blunders by police and civil servants.
But he could now face a civil action brought by the families at London’s High Court this year.
It would seek to establish what role he might have had in the bombing. Downey was convicted of being a member of the Provisional IRA in 1974.
The Legal Aid Agency had claimed funding the relatives’ court battle was not in the public interest. It even suggested they should go cap in hand to the Army or military charities instead.
The stance was in stark contrast to the £22million paid out to lawyers actwould ing for jihadists and other terror suspects.
Sarah Jane Young, the 40year-old daughter of Lance Corporal Young, said: ‘When I heard the news, I burst into tears. It’s the best day I’ve had in years. I only dreamed we’d ever get to this moment, but now anything’s possible.’
Mark Tipper, the brother of Trooper Tipper, said: ‘I am elated that we have got this far. There has been a lot of fighting to get to this day.
‘I honestly didn’t think we get legal aid. When you have been refused five times, you just don’t think it will ever come about. ‘Now we are at the stage where the funding is in place and we can start for the first time really looking forward and trying to get chief suspect John Downey into a civil court.’ Danny Kinahan, a former Ulster Unionist MP who has been supporting the families, said: ‘For over three decades the families have lived in the hope that they would see justice being delivered for their loved ones. I hope that day has now come one step closer.’
The civil claim against Downey seeks tens of thousands of pounds in damages for personal injury, as well as aggravated and exemplary damages.
The blast killed four members of the Royal Household Cavalry on their way to a Changing the Guard ceremony. Seven horses also died but an eighth, Sefton, survived and became a national hero. A nail bomb containing 25lb of explosives was hidden in a blue Morris Marina car and detonated by remote control as the soldiers passed.
Downey, from Donegal, was due to stand trial at the Old Bailey, but was told he would not face prosecution because he mistakenly received a ‘comfort letter’ saying he was not wanted by police. The letters were issued under the Good Friday Agreement of 1999.
A Legal Aid Agency spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that legal aid has been awarded to families of the victims.’