🔗 Share this article Government Deny National Probe into Birmingham Pub Bombings Authorities have ruled out initiating a public inquiry into the IRA's 1974 Birmingham city bar bombings. This Tragic Event On 21 November 1974, twenty-one people were killed and 220 hurt when explosive devices were detonated at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an attack widely believed to have been planned by the Irish Republican Army. Judicial Consequences Not a single person has been found guilty for the attacks. Back in 1991, six defendants had their sentences overturned after spending more than 16 years in jail in what is considered one of the worst failures of justice in UK history. Relatives Push for Truth Loved ones have for decades fought for a public probe into the explosions to discover what the government was aware of at the time of the event and why nobody has been held accountable. Official Decision The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, stated on Thursday that while he had sincere empathy for the loved ones, the administration had decided “after thorough review” it would not establish an inquiry. Jarvis stated the authorities believes the newly established commission, set up to examine fatalities connected to the Northern Ireland conflict, could investigate the Birmingham attacks. Campaigners Respond Campaigner Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was killed in the bombings, said the announcement demonstrated “the authorities don't care”. The sixty-two-year-old has for decades pushed for a public investigation and stated she and other bereaved relatives had “no desire” of taking part in the commission. “We see no genuine independence in the commission,” she stated, explaining it was “tantamount to them marking their own work”. Demands for Evidence Release Over the years, grieving loved ones have been requesting the publication of papers from intelligence agencies on the event – especially on what the government was aware of before and following the incident, and what evidence there is that could result in arrests. “The whole UK government system is resisting our families from ever knowing the facts,” she said. “Only a official judge-led public probe will grant us entry to the papers they state they don’t have.” Official Authority A official public probe has specific judicial capabilities, including the ability to compel individuals to appear and reveal details associated with the investigation. Previous Hearing An investigation in 2019 – fought for bereaved relatives – ruled the victims were unlawfully killed by the IRA but did not establish the identities of those culpable. Hambleton stated: “The security services advised the presiding official that they have absolutely no files or documentation on what is still the UK's most prolonged unsolved mass murder of the 1900s, but at present they intend to push us to participate of this new commission to provide information that they state has not been present”. Official Criticism Liam Byrne, the MP for the Birmingham area, labeled the cabinet's decision as “extremely disappointing”. In a message on X, Byrne said: “After so much period, so much suffering, and numerous disappointments” the relatives deserve a process that is “impartial, court-supervised, with comprehensive authorities and unafraid in the quest for the facts.” Enduring Grief Reflecting on the family’s ongoing grief, Hambleton, who chairs the Justice 4 the 21, remarked: “No relative of any horror of any kind will ever have resolution. It is impossible. The suffering and the grief remain.”