BYRNE CALLS FOR A STATUTORY PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO THE BIRMINGHAM PUB BOMBINGS 1974

Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP will make the case for a Statutory Public Inquiry into the 1974 Birmingham Pub Bombings during his Adjournment Debate in parliament today.

He will call on the Government to hold a Public Inquiry under Section 1 of the Inquiries Act 2005, backed by full investigatory powers and independent from institutions implicated in past failing.

Mr Byrne, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North, said:

“Twenty-one innocent people were killed and 182 people injured in Britain’s deadliest act of terrorism before 7/7. It remains today the worst unsolved mass murder in our nation’s history.

“Yet no statutory inquiry has ever been held. No one from the state has ever been held accountable for the failings of the investigation, the imprisonment of the innocent, or the denial of justice to the families.

“By contrast, at the urging of this House, we ensured that for the victims of Hillsborough, of infected blood, of Grenfell, Windrush, the Post Office – we ensured we got to the bottom of just what happened so that justice was done.

“Why not Birmingham?

“A public inquiry is not just a legal tool. It is a national act of conscience. It is how we tell the victims and their families: you matter. Your loss matters. Your loved ones will not be forgotten.

“And crucially, it is how we learn. Because if we cannot understand what went wrong then, we cannot promise it won’t happen again.

”Mr Byrne continued: “I wrote to the Home Secretary earlier this year, on behalf of my constituent, Bill Craig, whose brother, Jimmy, was a victim of the 1974 bombings – asking for a judge-led inquiry. The department replied that the Home Secretary was giving the possibility of an inquiry her full consideration. This gave me – and Bill – hope that a decision was near.”

The 21 innocent lives lost were:

1.     James Frederick Caddick, 56

2.     John ‘Cliff’ Jones, 51               

3.     Stanley James Bodman, 47

4.     John Rowlands, 46               

5.     Charles Harper Grey, 44

6.     Jimmy Craig, 34

7.     Trevor George Thrupp, 33

8.     Michael William Beasley, 30  

9.     Thomas Frederick Chaytor, 28

10.  Marilyn Paula Nash, 22    

11.  Stephen John Whalley, 21      

12.  Eugene Thomas Reilly, 23

13.  Desmond William Reilly, 20  

14.  Maureen Anne Roberts, 20

15.  Pamela Joan Palmer, 19

16.  Anne Hayes, 19

17.  Maxine Hambleton, 18      

18.  Lynn Jane Bennett, 18

19.  Jane Elizabeth Davis, 17      

20.  Paul Anthony Davies, 17

21.  Neil "Tommy" Marsh, 16