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Ministers have ruled out initiating a open probe into the Provisional IRA's 1974 Birmingham pub attacks.

The Horrific Attack

Back on 21 November 1974, 21 civilians were murdered and 220 wounded when bombs were exploded at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town pub venues in Birmingham, in an incident commonly accepted to have been orchestrated by the Provisional IRA.

Judicial Fallout

Nobody has been convicted over the bombings. Back in 1991, 6 men had their guilty verdicts overturned after enduring over 16 years in jail in what is considered one of the worst errors of the legal system in UK history.

Victims' Families Campaign for Answers

Families have long pushed for a public probe into the explosions to uncover what the state knew at the time of the incident and why nobody has been held accountable.

Official Response

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, said on Thursday that while he had sincere empathy for the families, the administration had determined “after thorough consideration” it would not commit to an investigation.

Jarvis explained the administration considers the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, established to look into deaths related to the Troubles, could investigate the Birmingham incidents.

Advocates React

Advocate Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was killed in the bombings, stated the statement indicated “the government don't care”.

The sixty-two-year-old has for years campaigned for a open probe and explained she and other bereaved families had “no intention” of taking part in the commission.

“We see no real independence in the commission,” she stated, explaining it was “equivalent to them assessing their own homework”.

Requests for Evidence Disclosure

For years, grieving loved ones have been requesting the publication of files from government bodies on the incident – particularly on what the government was aware of prior to and following the bombing, and what proof there is that could lead to legal action.

“The whole state apparatus is against our families from ever knowing the truth,” she stated. “Only a statutory judge-directed open inquiry will give us access to the papers they assert they do not possess.”

Official Capabilities

A official open inquiry has distinct official capabilities, encompassing the authority to compel individuals to attend and reveal evidence associated with the probe.

Earlier Investigation

An investigation in 2019 – secured by bereaved families – concluded the those killed were unlawfully killed by the Provisional IRA but failed to identify the identities of those responsible.

Hambleton stated: “Intelligence agencies told the presiding official that they have zero documents or information on what continues to be the UK's most prolonged open mass murder of the 1900s, but now they aim to push us down the route of this new commission to share evidence that they claim has never existed”.

Official Criticism

Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for the local constituency, characterized the government’s ruling as “profoundly disappointing”.

In a message on Twitter, Byrne stated: “Following such a long period, so much suffering, and numerous failures” the loved ones deserve a process that is “independent, judicially directed, with comprehensive authorities and unafraid in the quest for the truth.”

Continuing Sorrow

Speaking of the families' enduring sorrow, Hambleton, who leads the campaign group, stated: “Not a single family of any tragedy of any sort will ever have closure. It doesn’t exist. The pain and the anguish continue.”