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Ministers have decided against launching a public inquiry into the Provisional IRA's 1974 Birmingham city bar bombings.

This Horrific Incident

On 21 November 1974, twenty-one people were murdered and two hundred twenty injured when explosive devices were exploded at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an assault largely thought to have been orchestrated by the Provisional IRA.

Legal Consequences

Not a single person has been convicted over the attacks. In 1991, 6 individuals had their sentences overturned after enduring more than 16 years in jail in what remains one of the worst errors of justice in British history.

Families Push for Justice

Families have for decades pushed for a open probe into the bombings to uncover what the state was aware of at the moment of the tragedy and why no one has been held accountable.

Official Decision

The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, stated on Thursday that while he had sincere sympathy for the families, the government had determined “after detailed deliberation” it would not establish an inquiry.

Jarvis said the government considers the newly established commission, created to investigate deaths related to the Northern Ireland conflict, could look into the Birmingham attacks.

Advocates React

Campaigner Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was murdered in the explosions, commented the decision demonstrated “the authorities are indifferent”.

The sixty-two-year-old has for years campaigned for a public inquiry and stated she and other bereaved relatives had “no desire” of taking part in the investigative panel.

“There is no true autonomy in the body,” she remarked, adding it was “like them marking their own work”.

Requests for Evidence Disclosure

For years, bereaved families have been calling for the disclosure of files from security services on the event – particularly on what the government knew prior to and following the bombing, and what evidence there is that could lead to prosecutions.

“The entire British establishment is resisting our families from ever learning the truth,” she said. “Exclusively a official judge-directed open probe will grant us access to the documents they claim they don’t have.”

Legal Authority

A statutory national investigation has distinct legal powers, such as the power to oblige participants to testify and disclose evidence related to the inquiry.

Earlier Hearing

An inquest in 2019 – fought for grieving relatives – determined the victims were illegally slain by the IRA but failed to identify the identities of those accountable.

Hambleton stated: “The security services advised the presiding official that they have zero documents or information on what is still England’s longest unsolved mass murder of the last century, but now they aim to pressure us to participate of this investigative body to disclose evidence that they assert has never existed”.

Official Reaction

Liam Byrne, the MP for the Birmingham area, described the administration's decision as “extremely disappointing”.

Through a announcement on social media, Byrne stated: “After so much period, such immense grief, and so many failures” the loved ones are entitled to a procedure that is “autonomous, judge-led, with complete capabilities and unafraid in the search for the facts.”

Continuing Sorrow

Discussing the families' persistent sorrow, Hambleton, who heads the advocacy organization, stated: “No relative of any tragedy of any sort will ever have closure. It is impossible. The grief and the grief persist.”