Pub bombing families told to prepare for open warfare in court Lawyers: It is essential that relatives’ fight is funded
RELATIVES of those who died in the Birmingham pub bombings need to be legally represented at new inquests because they have to be “prepared for open warfare in court,” lawyers say.
They can expect to be confronted by “all the might of the state” from police legal experts, they warned.
The warning came from the legal firm which represented 20 of the Hillsborough families at the two-year inquests into the football stadium tragedy.
They spoke out as Hillsborough families called for a “level playing field” and voiced their support for the relatives of the Birmingham terror attacks.
Elkan Abrahamson, director of Broudie Jackson Canter, said: “The families can expect to be confronted by all the might of the state in the form of the police representatives.
“Our experience shows that they cannot rely on anything said in public by the police, and they should be prepared for open warfare in court.
“It is absolutely essential to achieve justice that the families are adequately funded.”
Relatives of the 21 bombing victims who died in IRA attacks in 1974 are still waiting to hear whether home secretary Amber Rudd will approve their plea for legal funding for the new inquests.
Up until now the relatives have been represented freeof-charge by KRW LAW LLP from Belfast, but they cannot continue unless funding support is provided by the Government.
West Midlands Police has already set aside £1 million for legal funding for the hearings – where family lawyers will want to ask questions about how police dealt with the bombing and its aftermath.
Margaret Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said: “It should be a level playing field.
“Having the funding for our new inquests made a huge difference to us and everybody should be entitled to it.”
Mrs Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James died at Hillsborough on April 15, 1989, said: “Things have got to change so families don’t have to fight to get funding. “It should be equal. “I would support the Birmingham bombing families in their fight to get the funding they need.”
Earlier this week the pub bombings families said they might have to withdraw from the inquest process if the Government does not provide funding.