Birmingham pub bombings – IRA bomber names four men he claims were responsible for 1974 blast that killed 21
This was the first time all four men have been named before in connection with the explosions
AN IRA bomber has today named the four men he claims were responsible for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings that left 21 dead.
The man described only as Witness O told an inquest he'd been given permission to do so by the head of the IRA.
He said that the officer commanding the Birmingham IRA at the time was Seamus McLoughlan, and that he was responsible for selecting the targets.
Speaking over a secure video-link, the ex-IRA volunteer added that Mick Murray was "one of the bombers", and claimed he recalled Murray telling him there would be "no harm" if similar bombings had been repeated, because of the "chaos" caused.
'AN ATROCITY'
Pressed by Lesley Thomas, the barrister representing nine of the bereaved families, that another member of the bombings team was Michael Hayes, he replied: "Hayes, Hayes - I'll give it (the name) to you now."
He added, in apparent reference to the Good Friday Agreement: "But he can't be arrested.
"There is nobody going to be charged with this atrocity. The British Government have signed an agreement with the IRA."
Then asked about "James Gavin", he replied: "Well he was (involved), I met him in Dublin and he said he was."
All the men have been named before in connection with the bombings, but not in a formal setting.
Witness O, who was in jail at the time of the bomb attacks, described the blasts as "an atrocity".
There is nobody going to be charged with this atrocity. The British Government have signed an agreement with the IRA
Witness O
He also claimed he had given McLoughlan's name to two police detectives while in HMP Winson Green just days after the bombings, but heard nothing more.
He added that two other men, who he identified as "Dublin Dave" and "Socks" had also been involved, but that he did not know either man's name.
The startling evidence comes after the inquest heard that the fatal blasts were "accidental deaths" in an "IRA operation that went badly wrong".
The blasts at the Mulberry Bush at the bottom of the city's landmark Rotunda, and the basement Tavern in the Town in nearby New Street, killed 21 people and injured 220 others.
Former intelligence chief Kieran Conway yesterday told the inquest that the attacks were "not sanctioned" by the IRA and public outrage at the attacks "nearly destroyed" the group.
He said that despite the IRA being "at war" with the British state at the time, civilian targets were "strictly and loudly forbidden".
Who were the four 'bombers'?
Seamus McLoughlan
Named as the officer commanding the Birmingham IRA and as the person responsible for selecting the targets.
McLoughlan was from the Ardoyne district of Belfast, infamous for its part in The Troubles.
Known as 'Belfast Jimmy' he fled Birmingham after the bombings and went on the run, settling in the Irish Republic.
On his death in Dublin in 1914, his body was brought back to his daughter's home in Ardoyne for the funeral.
Mick Murray (c1936-1999)
Michael Joseph Murray was an IRA volunteer, known for his involvement in the bombings.
Born in Donnycarny, County Dublin, he was educated and grew up in the suburb of Marino.
His role included choosing the targets and making the bombs that were used to kill the 21 civilians, and he was sentenced to nine years in jail.
A labourer by trade, he chose to stick to the IRA's code of silence during the 10-week trial with the Birmingham Six. In prison he was active in the blanket protest campaign against wearing prison uniform.
Once out of jail the father-of-six remained a hardliner within the IRA.
He died in 1999, his body buried in Clonmellon, County Westmeath.
Michael Hayes (pictured)
The self-confessed bomb maker has previously spoken out to say he was sorry that innocent people were killed.
He has refused to say who planted the bombs in the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town.
Once he became aware of the death toll from the two bombs, he said he personally defused a third bomb left on Birmingham's Hagley Road.
The IRA member of 20 years has never fully admitted to any role in the bombings, but says he has taken 'collective responsibility' for all the IRA's actions in England - including the Birmingham pub bombings.
Hayes, who is in his early 70s, currently lives in Dublin and has said he would 'rather die' than name the real bombers.
James Gavin
James Frances Gavin was tried alongside the Birmingham Six and convicted of the possession of explosives.
He was one of the three named in the Granada Television documentary drama Who Bombed Birmingham?
According to reports, it was from his house that the bombers had set out on the fatal night.
A pipe layer by profession, he admitted to his involvement in the IRA's West Midlands campaign in an interview with Chris Mullin, but denied invovlement in the Birmingham pub bombings.
He also served a life sentence for a murder that he committed in 1977.
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"Those targets ought never to have happened," he told the court. "I have said that many times.
"The volunteers who carried it out, the person who commanded them, either didn't know that or ignored it. They were not legitimate targets.
"It was a civilian pub, there was no question of it being a pub with which soldiers commonly drank - and it was not. It was not a permissible target."
The inquests continue.
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