Hyde Park blast: vital court win for families
VICTIMS of the Hyde Park bombing have won a crucial victory in their bid to fund a private prosecution against the chief suspect in the 1982 atrocity.
IRA man John Downey was accused of murdering four soldiers from the Household Cavalry and injuring a further 31 in what was one of the terror group’s most notorious attacks.
But the criminal case against the 64-year-old over the nailbomb blast, which also killed seven horses, collapsed two years ago.
And in March, the director of the Legal Aid Agency, Shaun McNally, ruled out funding a civil case against him – claiming it was ‘not in the public interest’.
Now a High Court Judge has ordered a judicial review of that refusal. Mr Justice Davis, sitting in London on Thursday, ruled: ‘In my judgment, bringing to account someone who was responsible for the murder of at least four people and for injuring many others potentially could amount to real benefit to the general public.’
Two years ago Downey, from Donegal, Ireland, walked free from the Old Bailey when it emerged he – and 200 other IRA men – had been sent a letter by Northern Ireland police telling them they had immunity from prosecution for any offences.
The letters were issued under a secret agreement between then Prime Minister Tony Blair and IRA leaders as part of the Good Friday Peace Agreement.
The application this week for review of the legal aid decision was brought by Sarah Young, who was just four years old when her father Lance Corporal Jeffrey Young was killed at the age of 19.
Miss Young, 38, said: ‘I am delighted that I am at last on the road to getting my day in court facing the man who is believed to be responsible for killing my dad.’