We’ve given them ‘freedom’, but what about justice?

raise £20,000 within days to pay for legal representation.

Closure for the group, which represents 10 pub bombings families, will not happen for them until they know who perpetrated the atrocities in The Tavern in The Town and The Mulberry Bush public houses on November 21, 1974.

I again had the privilege of meeting spokeswoman Julie Hambleton, her brother Brian and members of some of the families in the Justice4the21 the campaign group. Julie and Brian’s sister Maxine, then aged 18, was among the victims.

The money is needed to challenge the decision by Coroner Sir Peter Thornton to exclude the topic of the perpetrators from the scope of a new inquest.

The families need in excess of £50,000, part of which will fund the judicial review and permission has now been granted for a hearing in the High Court scheduled for next month.

The determination to get to the truth of Julie and the families remains undiminished and the granting of the Freedom of Birmingham to the victims has now put the full weight of the city behind them.

And to demonstrate that solidarity, Birmingham’s ten Members of Parliament were sent an “it’s time to stand together” invitation to this week’s memorial service.

The horrific events of November 21, 1974 have cast a long shadow over our city and it’s time to put that right.

The city showed its support at this week’s memorial service and the families ask that anyone who wants to support them make a pledge to their Crowdjustice site: www.gofundme. com/justice-for-the-21

Posthumous honours and vocal support may well provide a source of comfort, but what the families really deserve to see is some tangible progress in their quest for the truth. Without the ability to broaden the scope of these inquests, that progress is stifled.

There has been justice of sorts for the so-called Birmingham Six who were wrongly convicted for the bombings. Sentenced to life imprisonment, they were released in 1991, when their convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Now it’s time to seek justice for the 21 who died and their families by ending the legal wrangling and tell them who murdered their loved ones. Paul Faulkner is chief

executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of

Commerce

What they really deserve to see is tangible progress in their quest for the truth