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Government officials have decided against establishing a open probe into the IRA's 1974 Birmingham bar explosions.

This Devastating Incident

Back on 21 November 1974, twenty-one individuals were lost their lives and two hundred twenty injured when explosive devices were detonated at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an attack widely believed to have been orchestrated by the IRA.

Legal Aftermath

Not a single person has been found guilty over the bombings. Back in 1991, six defendants had their guilty verdicts quashed after serving more than 16 years in prison in what is considered one of the most severe failures of justice in British history.

Relatives Push for Answers

Relatives have long campaigned for a public investigation into the explosions to find out what the authorities knew at the moment of the tragedy and why nobody has been brought to justice.

Government Statement

The minister for security, Dan Jarvis, announced on recently that while he had sincere sympathy for the loved ones, the government had determined “after detailed review” it would not establish an investigation.

Jarvis said the authorities thinks the reconciliation commission, set up to investigate fatalities connected to the Troubles, could look into the Birmingham bombings.

Campaigners Respond

Campaigner Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was lost her life in the bombings, said the decision showed “the authorities don't care”.

The sixty-two-year-old has for years campaigned for a national inquiry and stated she and other bereaved families had “no plan” of participating in the commission.

“There is no true impartiality in the panel,” she remarked, adding it was “equivalent to them marking their own homework”.

Demands for Document Disclosure

For years, bereaved relatives have been demanding the release of papers from intelligence agencies on the incident – especially on what the state was aware of before and after the bombing, and what information there is that could lead to legal action.

“The whole state apparatus is resisting our families from ever knowing the reality,” she declared. “Exclusively a official judge-led public inquiry will grant us entry to the papers they state they don’t have.”

Legal Powers

A official open investigation has specific official capabilities, such as the power to require participants to appear and reveal details connected to the inquiry.

Earlier Inquest

An inquest in 2019 – campaigned for bereaved relatives – determined the those killed were murdered by the Provisional IRA but did not establish the names of those responsible.

Hambleton stated: “The security services informed the then coroner that they have zero documents or evidence on what remains Britain's most prolonged unresolved multiple killing of the 20th century, but at present they aim to pressure us down the route of this Legacy Commission to provide details that they state has never been available”.

Political Response

Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for the Birmingham area, described the cabinet's announcement as “extremely disappointing”.

In a announcement on social media, Byrne said: “Following so much time, so much suffering, and numerous let-downs” the loved ones merit a procedure that is “independent, judicially directed, with full authorities and unafraid in the pursuit for the truth.”

Enduring Grief

Speaking of the families' ongoing grief, Hambleton, who chairs the campaign group, said: “No family of any horror of any sort will ever have peace. It doesn’t exist. The suffering and the anguish persist.”