Justice and the IRA

Yesterday’s High Court ruling that IRA activist John Downey was responsible for the 1982 Hyde Park bombing, which killed four British soldiers, raises fresh questions about the Blair government’s decision to grant immunity to terrorist suspects as part of the Good Friday Agreement. Mr Downey was previously charged with responsibility for the bombing after he was arrested while transiting through Gatwick Airport in 2013. But the trial dramatically collapsed the following year after defence lawyers produced a written assurance from Tony Blair’s government that he was no longer wanted as part of its controversial On The Runs (OTRS) scheme.

This prompted relatives of the four Royal Household Cavalrymen who died in the attack to bring a civil action against Mr Downey, and yesterday’s High Court ruling unequivocally ruled that he was an “active participant” in the atrocity, which was designed “to kill or at least cause serious harm to members of the Household Cavalry”.

While the court will now determine the amount of damages to be awarded against Mr Downey, yesterday’s ruling raises broader questions about the wisdom of awarding the OTRS in the first place. Mr Blair has previously claimed that the Northern Ireland peace process would have collapsed if he had not caved in to Sinn Fein’s demand for immunity for IRA gunmen. But his failure to make similar provision for British service personnel has resulted in the unedifying spectacle of elderly former soldiers, many suffering from chronic illness, now looking at the prospect of facing trial, a grave injustice that the Government must address as a matter of urgency.