🔗 Share this article Officials Deny Public Probe into Birmingham City Pub Attacks Ministers have ruled out launching a public inquiry into the Provisional IRA's 1974 Birmingham city bar bombings. This Devastating Event Back on 21 November 1974, twenty-one individuals were killed and 220 wounded when bombs were set off at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an attack commonly accepted to have been carried out by the Irish Republican Army. Judicial Aftermath Not a single person has been found guilty over the incidents. Back in 1991, six individuals had their convictions overturned after serving more than 16 years in prison in what stands as one of the worst errors of the legal system in United Kingdom history. Relatives Campaign for Justice Families have for years fought for a national investigation into the bombings to uncover what the government knew at the moment of the incident and why no one has been held accountable. Government Response The security minister, Dan Jarvis, said on recently that while he had profound sympathy for the families, the cabinet had determined “after detailed deliberation” it would not establish an inquiry. Jarvis stated the government thinks the newly established commission, established to look into deaths associated with the Northern Ireland conflict, could examine the Birmingham incidents. Activists Express Disappointment Campaigner Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was killed in the bombings, stated the decision showed “the authorities show no concern”. The 62-year-old has long fought for a national investigation and stated she and other grieving families had “no intention” of participating in the investigative panel. “There is no real impartiality in the commission,” she stated, adding it was “like them marking their own work”. Requests for Evidence Disclosure Over the years, bereaved loved ones have been demanding the publication of documents from security services on the incident – particularly on what the government was aware of prior to and after the incident, and what information there is that could bring about prosecutions. “The whole British establishment is opposed to our relatives from ever learning the facts,” she said. “Exclusively a statutory judicial open investigation will give us entry to the files they assert they lack.” Legal Powers A statutory open probe has particular official powers, such as the ability to oblige individuals to testify and disclose information connected to the investigation. Previous Hearing An hearing in 2019 – fought for grieving families – determined the those killed were unlawfully killed by the IRA but failed to identify the identities of those culpable. Hambleton said: “Government bodies told the presiding official that they have zero files or information on what remains England’s longest unsolved mass murder of the 1900s, but currently they intend to pressure us to engage of this investigative body to provide details that they claim has not been present”. Official Criticism Liam Byrne, the MP for Hodge Hill and Solihull North, characterized the government’s announcement as “profoundly unsatisfactory”. In a message on X, Byrne wrote: “Following such a long time, such immense suffering, and so many let-downs” the loved ones are entitled to a mechanism that is “impartial, judicially directed, with comprehensive authorities and courageous in the pursuit for the truth.” Continuing Grief Discussing the family’s persistent sorrow, Hambleton, who heads the Justice 4 the 21, remarked: “Not a single family of any horror of any kind will ever have resolution. It doesn’t exist. The pain and the sorrow remain.”