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Ministers have decided against establishing a public probe into the IRA's 1974 Birmingham pub explosions.

The Horrific Event

On 21 November 1974, 21 civilians were murdered and 220 wounded when bombs were set off at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town establishments in Birmingham, in an assault widely believed to have been orchestrated by the Provisional IRA.

Judicial Consequences

No one has been found guilty over the bombings. Back in 1991, 6 individuals had their convictions quashed after spending over 16 years in prison in what stands as one of the gravest failures of the legal system in UK history.

Victims' Families Push for Answers

Relatives have long campaigned for a open probe into the attacks to find out what the state knew at the moment of the incident and why no one has been prosecuted.

Government Response

The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, stated on recently that while he had deep empathy for the loved ones, the government had concluded “after thorough review” it would not authorize an inquiry.

Jarvis said the administration considers the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, set up to look into fatalities related to the Northern Ireland conflict, could look into the Birmingham bombings.

Campaigners React

Campaigner Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was murdered in the explosions, said the decision showed “the government are indifferent”.

The sixty-two-year-old has for years fought for a open probe and stated she and other bereaved families had “no plan” of engaging in the new body.

“There is no genuine independence in the body,” she stated, noting it was “equivalent to them assessing their own homework”.

Requests for Document Disclosure

Over the years, grieving loved ones have been requesting the disclosure of files from security services on the event – particularly on what the state knew before and following the bombing, and what proof there is that could result in legal action.

“The whole state apparatus is against our relatives from ever discovering the truth,” she said. “Only a statutory judge-directed national inquiry will provide us entry to the files they claim they do not possess.”

Legal Authority

A statutory national probe has specific official capabilities, including the ability to require participants to appear and reveal evidence related to the investigation.

Earlier Investigation

An hearing in 2019 – campaigned for bereaved families – concluded the those killed were unlawfully killed by the Provisional IRA but failed to identify the names of those culpable.

Hambleton said: “Intelligence agencies informed the then coroner that they have zero documents or information on what remains the UK's longest unresolved atrocity of the last century, but currently they aim to pressure us to participate of this Legacy Commission to share details that they state has not been present”.

Political Criticism

Liam Byrne, the MP for the local constituency, labeled the cabinet's announcement as “deeply, deeply unsatisfactory”.

In a announcement on social media, Byrne wrote: “After so much time, so much grief, and so many let-downs” the loved ones deserve a mechanism that is “impartial, judge-led, with comprehensive powers and courageous in the search for the facts.”

Continuing Grief

Reflecting on the families' ongoing grief, Hambleton, who chairs the Justice 4 the 21, said: “Not a single family of any atrocity of any sort will ever have resolution. It is impossible. The suffering and the anguish remain.”