Government officials have ruled out establishing a open inquiry into the Provisional IRA's 1974-era Birmingham bar attacks.
On 21 November 1974, twenty-one people were killed and 220 hurt when bombs were set off at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an assault widely believed to have been carried out by the IRA.
No one has been found guilty over the attacks. In 1991, 6 individuals had their guilty verdicts overturned after enduring more than 16 years in detention in what is considered one of the gravest failures of the legal system in United Kingdom history.
Families have for decades fought for a open inquiry into the attacks to find out what the state was aware of at the moment of the tragedy and why no one has been held accountable.
The security minister, Dan Jarvis, said on recently that while he had sincere empathy for the loved ones, the government had determined “after thorough consideration” it would not establish an probe.
Jarvis stated the administration considers the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, set up to look into deaths connected to the Troubles, could examine the Birmingham bombings.
Advocate Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was killed in the bombings, commented the announcement demonstrated “the authorities are indifferent”.
The sixty-two-year-old has long campaigned for a open probe and said she and other bereaved relatives had “no intention” of taking part in the commission.
“There’s no real autonomy in the commission,” she said, noting it was “tantamount to them grading their own work”.
Over the years, bereaved loved ones have been demanding the disclosure of files from government bodies on the incident – especially on what the authorities knew prior to and following the incident, and what proof there is that could lead to arrests.
“The whole British establishment is opposed to our relatives from ever discovering the truth,” she declared. “Exclusively a statutory judge-directed open probe will give us access to the files they assert they do not possess.”
A official public inquiry has distinct legal powers, including the ability to require individuals to attend and reveal evidence associated with the inquiry.
An hearing in 2019 – campaigned for bereaved relatives – concluded the those killed were murdered by the Provisional IRA but did not establish the names of those accountable.
Hambleton stated: “The security services informed the presiding official that they have absolutely no files or evidence on what is still England’s longest unresolved atrocity of the last century, but at present they want to push us to participate of this investigative body to disclose evidence that they assert has not been present”.
Liam Byrne, the MP for the Birmingham area, characterized the cabinet's decision as “deeply, deeply disheartening”.
Through a statement on Twitter, Byrne stated: “Following so much time, so much pain, and so many disappointments” the families are entitled to a process that is “independent, judge-led, with full capabilities and unafraid in the pursuit for the truth.”
Reflecting on the family’s enduring sorrow, Hambleton, who chairs the Justice 4 the 21, stated: “No relative of any tragedy of any sort will ever have resolution. It is unattainable. The suffering and the sorrow persist.”
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