Families hail ruling on IRA bombing

JUSTICE: The families of the Hyde Park bombing victims have urged the Government to meet them after a High Court judge ruled convicted IRA member John Downey was involved.

Relatives of the four Household Cavalrymen who died in the July 1982 blast launched civil legal action after a criminal case collapsed in 2014.

THE FAMILIES of the Hyde Park bombing victims have urged the Government to meet them after a High Court judge ruled John Downey was involved in the IRA attack.

Relatives of the four Household Cavalrymen who died in the July 1982 blast launched civil legal action against the convicted IRA member after a criminal case collapsed at the Old Bailey in 2014.

Lawyers representing SarahJane Young, whose father, Lance Corporal Jeffrey Young, was one of those killed and who brought the civil case against Downey, said justice had finally prevailed.

Her solicitor, Matthew Jury, said in a statement after the ruling yesterday that the victims’ relatives invited the Government to meet them to “ensure it never fails them or other victims or veterans again”.

Mr Jury said: “Sarah-Jane Young was a victim three times over – the first time by the IRA and John Downey when they detonated the bomb that killed her father. The second when a catastrophic failure by the British government led to Downey being issued an ‘on-the-run-letter’ – a guarantee against prosecution.

“The third when Downey’s criminal trial collapsed as a result.

“Sarah-Jane and the families here today were told they’d never get justice, that they should put the past behind them and move on. They, and thousands whose lives were devastated by the IRA, are the forgotten victims.”

The on-the-run letter was official correspondence from the Government, saying that Downey was not wanted over any crime during the Troubles.

L/Cpl Young was 19 when he was killed, along with Squadron Quartermaster Corporal Roy Bright, 36, Lieutenant Dennis Daly, 23, and Trooper Simon Tipper, 19, as they rode through the park to attend Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The blast also injured 31 people.

Ms Young, who has suffered psychiatric harm, was four and in a nursery at the barracks when she witnessed wounded soldiers returning.