Birmingham Six
Encyclopedia
The Birmingham Six were six men—Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker—sentenced to life imprisonment
in 1975 in the United Kingdom
for the Birmingham pub bombings
. Their convictions were declared unsafe
and quashed by the Court of Appeal on 14 March 1991. The six men were later awarded compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2 million.
took place on 21 November 1974 and were attributed to the Provisional IRA. The devices were placed in two central Birmingham pubs: the Mulberry Bush at the foot of the Rotunda
, and the Tavern in the Town - a basement pub on New Street. The resulting explosions, at 20:25 and 20:27, collectively were the most injurious and serious terrorist
blasts on the island of Great Britain up until that point; 21 people were killed (ten at the Mulberry Bush and eleven at the Tavern in the Town) and 162 people were injured. A third device, outside a bank on Hagley Road, failed to detonate.
-born Roman Catholics, while John Walker was born in Derry
. All six had lived in Birmingham since the 1960s. Five of the men, Hill, Hunter, McIlkenny, Power and Walker, had left the city on the early evening of 21 November from New Street Station, shortly before the explosions. They were travelling to Belfast to attend the funeral of James McDade
, an IRA
member who had accidentally killed himself while planting a bomb in Coventry
(Hill was also intending to see an aunt in Belfast who was sick and not expected to live). They were seen off from the station by Callaghan.
When they reached Heysham
they and others were subject to a Special Branch
stop and search. The men did not tell the police of the true purpose of their visit to Belfast, a fact that was later held against them. While the search was in progress the police were informed of the Birmingham bombings. The men agreed to be taken to Morecambe
police station for forensic tests.
On the morning of 22 November, after the forensic tests, questioning, and abuse at the hands of the Morecambe police, the men were transferred to the custody of West Midlands Serious Crime Squad
police unit. William Power alleged that he was assaulted by members of Birmingham CID
. Callaghan was taken into custody on the evening of 22 November.
The trial began on 9 June 1975 at the Crown Court sitting at Lancaster Castle
, before Bridge J
and a jury. After legal arguments, the statements made in November, the unreliability of which was subsequently established, were deemed admissible as evidence. Thomas Watt provided circumstantial evidence
about John Walker's association with Provisional IRA members.
Dr Frank Skuse
used positive Griess test results to claim that Hill and Power had handled explosives. Callaghan, Hunter, McIlkenny, and Walker all had tested negative. GCMS
tests at a later date were negative for Power and contradicted the initial results for Hill. Skuse's claim that he was 99% certain that Power and Hill had explosives traces on their hands was opposed by defence expert Dr Hugh Kenneth Black FRIC
, the former HM Chief Inspector of Explosives, Home Office). Skuse's evidence was clearly preferred by Bridge J. The jury found the six men guilty of murder. On 15 August 1975, they were sentenced to imprisonment for life.
- all showed bruising and other signs of ill-treatment. Fourteen prison officers were charged with assault in June 1975, but were all found not guilty at a trial presided over by Swanwick, J. The six pressed charges against the West Midlands police in 1977, which were rejected in the Court of Appeal on 17 January 1980 by the Master of the Rolls
, Lord Denning, sitting with Goff, LJ and Sir George Baker, under the principle of issue estoppel. In his judgment Lord Denning said
C.J.
. Journalist (later Government minister
) Chris Mullin
investigated the case for Granada TV
's World in Action
series. In 1985, the first of several World in Action programmes casting serious doubt on the men's convictions was broadcast. In 1986, Mullin's book, Error of Judgment - The Truth About the Birmingham Pub Bombings, set out a detailed case supporting the men's claims that they were innocent. It included his claim to have met some of those who were actually responsible for the bombings.
The Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd
MP, referred the case back to the Court of Appeal. In January 1988, after a six week hearing (at that time the longest criminal appeal hearing ever held), the convictions were ruled to be safe and satisfactory. The Court of Appeal, presided over by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Lane
dismissed the appeals. Over the next three years newspaper articles, television documentaries and books brought forward new evidence to question the convictions, while campaign groups calling for the men's release were formed in Britain
, Ireland
, Europe
and the US
.
Their third appeal, in 1991, was allowed. Hunter was represented by Lord Gifford
QC
, others by human rights
solicitor, Gareth Peirce
. New evidence of police fabrication and suppression of evidence
, the successful attacks on both the confessions and the 1975 forensic evidence led to the Crown withdrawing most of its case against the men. The Court of Appeal stated of the forensic evidence that "Dr. Skuse's conclusion was wrong, and demonstrably wrong, judged even by the state of forensic science in 1974." In 2001, a decade after their release, the six men were awarded compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2 million.
to set up a Royal Commission on Criminal Justice
in 1991. The commission reported in 1993 and led to the Criminal Appeal Act of 1995 which established the Criminal Cases Review Commission
in 1997. Superintendent
George Reade and two other police officers were charged with perjury
and conspiracy
to pervert the course of justice
but were never prosecuted. Richard McIlkenny died in a Dublin hospital on 21 May 2006, following a lengthy battle with cancer.
broadcast the Granada Television documentary drama
, Who Bombed Birmingham?, which re-enacted the bombings and subsequent key events in Chris Mullin's campaign. Written by Rob Ritchie and directed by Mike Beckham, it starred John Hurt
as Mullin, Martin Shaw
as World in Action producer Ian McBride, and Patrick Malahide
as Michael Mansfield
(QC). It was repackaged for export as The Investigation - Inside a Terrorist Bombing, and first shown on American television on 22 April 1990. Granada's BAFTA
-nominated follow-up documentary after the release of the Six, World in Action Special: The Birmingham Six - Their Own Story, was transmitted on 18 March 1991. It was released on DVD in 2007 in Network DVD
's first volume of World in Action productions.
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
in 1975 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
for the Birmingham pub bombings
Birmingham pub bombings
The Birmingham pub bombings occurred on 21 November 1974 in Birmingham, England. The explosions killed 21 people and injured 182. The devices were placed in two central Birmingham pubs – the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town . Although warnings were sent, the pubs were not evacuated in time...
. Their convictions were declared unsafe
Miscarriage of justice
A miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
and quashed by the Court of Appeal on 14 March 1991. The six men were later awarded compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2 million.
Birmingham pub bombings
The Birmingham pub bombingsBirmingham pub bombings
The Birmingham pub bombings occurred on 21 November 1974 in Birmingham, England. The explosions killed 21 people and injured 182. The devices were placed in two central Birmingham pubs – the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town . Although warnings were sent, the pubs were not evacuated in time...
took place on 21 November 1974 and were attributed to the Provisional IRA. The devices were placed in two central Birmingham pubs: the Mulberry Bush at the foot of the Rotunda
Rotunda (Birmingham)
The Rotunda is an iconic, cylindrical highrise building in Birmingham, England. The Grade II listed building is tall and was completed in 1965. It was refurbished between 2004 and 2008 by Urban Splash with Glenn Howells who turned it into a residential building with serviced apartments on 19th and...
, and the Tavern in the Town - a basement pub on New Street. The resulting explosions, at 20:25 and 20:27, collectively were the most injurious and serious terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
blasts on the island of Great Britain up until that point; 21 people were killed (ten at the Mulberry Bush and eleven at the Tavern in the Town) and 162 people were injured. A third device, outside a bank on Hagley Road, failed to detonate.
Arrests and questioning
Five of the six men arrested were BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
-born Roman Catholics, while John Walker was born in Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
. All six had lived in Birmingham since the 1960s. Five of the men, Hill, Hunter, McIlkenny, Power and Walker, had left the city on the early evening of 21 November from New Street Station, shortly before the explosions. They were travelling to Belfast to attend the funeral of James McDade
James McDade
James Patrick McDade was a volunteer and a lieutenant in the Birmingham Battalion of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who was killed in a premature explosion while planting a bomb at the Coventry telephone exchange in 1974.- Early life :Born in Oakfield Street in the Ardoyne area of north...
, an IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
member who had accidentally killed himself while planting a bomb in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
(Hill was also intending to see an aunt in Belfast who was sick and not expected to live). They were seen off from the station by Callaghan.
When they reached Heysham
Heysham
Heysham is a large coastal village near Lancaster in the county of Lancashire, England. Overlooking Morecambe Bay, it is a ferry port with services to the Isle of Man and Ireland. Heysham is the site of two nuclear power stations which are landmarks visible from hills in the surrounding area...
they and others were subject to a Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
stop and search. The men did not tell the police of the true purpose of their visit to Belfast, a fact that was later held against them. While the search was in progress the police were informed of the Birmingham bombings. The men agreed to be taken to Morecambe
Morecambe
Morecambe is a resort town and civil parish within the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. As of 2001 it has a resident population of 38,917. It faces into Morecambe Bay...
police station for forensic tests.
On the morning of 22 November, after the forensic tests, questioning, and abuse at the hands of the Morecambe police, the men were transferred to the custody of West Midlands Serious Crime Squad
West Midlands Serious Crime Squad
The West Midlands Serious Crime Squad was a police unit in the English West Midlands which operated from 1974 to 1989. It was disbanded after an investigation into allegations against some of its officers of incompetence and abuses of power....
police unit. William Power alleged that he was assaulted by members of Birmingham CID
Criminal Investigation Department
The Crime Investigation Department is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.The Metropolitan Police Service CID,...
. Callaghan was taken into custody on the evening of 22 November.
Trial
On 12 May 1975 the six men were charged with murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. Three other men, James Kelly, Michael Murray and Michael Sheehan, were charged with conspiracy and Kelly and Sheehan also faced charges of unlawful possession of explosives.The trial began on 9 June 1975 at the Crown Court sitting at Lancaster Castle
Lancaster Castle
Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle located in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. In 1164, the Honour of Lancaster, including the...
, before Bridge J
Nigel Bridge, Baron Bridge of Harwich
Nigel Cyprian Bridge, Baron Bridge of Harwich PC was a British barrister and judge. Bridge was the presiding judge at the trial of the Birmingham six in 1975, the verdict of which was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1991, and he later served as a Law Lord.-Early and private life:Bridge's father...
and a jury. After legal arguments, the statements made in November, the unreliability of which was subsequently established, were deemed admissible as evidence. Thomas Watt provided circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
about John Walker's association with Provisional IRA members.
Dr Frank Skuse
Frank Skuse
Doctor Frank Skuse was a forensic scientist for the North West Forensic Laboratories based in Chorley in Lancashire, England. His flawed conclusions, eventually discredited, contributed to the convictions of Judith Ward and the Birmingham Six...
used positive Griess test results to claim that Hill and Power had handled explosives. Callaghan, Hunter, McIlkenny, and Walker all had tested negative. GCMS
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry is a method that combines the features of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify different substances within a test sample. Applications of GC-MS include drug detection, fire investigation, environmental analysis, explosives investigation,...
tests at a later date were negative for Power and contradicted the initial results for Hill. Skuse's claim that he was 99% certain that Power and Hill had explosives traces on their hands was opposed by defence expert Dr Hugh Kenneth Black FRIC
Royal Institute of Chemistry
The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation.Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain, its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its aim was to ensure that consulting and analytical chemists were properly...
, the former HM Chief Inspector of Explosives, Home Office). Skuse's evidence was clearly preferred by Bridge J. The jury found the six men guilty of murder. On 15 August 1975, they were sentenced to imprisonment for life.
Charges against police and prison officers
On 28 November, when the men appeared in court for the second time - having been remanded in custody at HM Prison BirminghamBirmingham (HM Prison)
HM Prison Birmingham is a Category B/C men's prison, located in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, England. The prison was formally operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service...
- all showed bruising and other signs of ill-treatment. Fourteen prison officers were charged with assault in June 1975, but were all found not guilty at a trial presided over by Swanwick, J. The six pressed charges against the West Midlands police in 1977, which were rejected in the Court of Appeal on 17 January 1980 by the Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...
, Lord Denning, sitting with Goff, LJ and Sir George Baker, under the principle of issue estoppel. In his judgment Lord Denning said
Appeals
In March 1976 their first appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal, presided over by Lord WidgeryJohn Widgery, Baron Widgery
John Passmore Widgery, Baron Widgery, OBE, TD, QC, PC was an English judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 1971 to 1980...
C.J.
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
. Journalist (later Government minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
) Chris Mullin
Chris Mullin (politician)
Christopher John Mullin is a British Labour Party politician and diarist who was the Member of Parliament for Sunderland South from 1987 to 2010...
investigated the case for Granada TV
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
's World in Action
World in Action
World in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...
series. In 1985, the first of several World in Action programmes casting serious doubt on the men's convictions was broadcast. In 1986, Mullin's book, Error of Judgment - The Truth About the Birmingham Pub Bombings, set out a detailed case supporting the men's claims that they were innocent. It included his claim to have met some of those who were actually responsible for the bombings.
The Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd
Douglas Hurd
Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....
MP, referred the case back to the Court of Appeal. In January 1988, after a six week hearing (at that time the longest criminal appeal hearing ever held), the convictions were ruled to be safe and satisfactory. The Court of Appeal, presided over by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Lane
Geoffrey Lane, Baron Lane
Geoffrey Dawson Lane, Baron Lane AFC PC QC was a British Judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 1980 to 1992. The later part of his term was marred by a succession of disputed convictions...
dismissed the appeals. Over the next three years newspaper articles, television documentaries and books brought forward new evidence to question the convictions, while campaign groups calling for the men's release were formed in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Their third appeal, in 1991, was allowed. Hunter was represented by Lord Gifford
Anthony Maurice Gifford, 6th Baron Gifford
Anthony Maurice Gifford, 6th Baron Gifford, QC is a British hereditary peer and senior barrister.He inherited the title of 6th Lord Gifford on the death of his father, the 5th Lord Gifford, in April 1961...
QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
, others by human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
solicitor, Gareth Peirce
Gareth Peirce
Gareth Peirce is an English solicitor, educated at the Cheltenham Ladies' College, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics. She is known for her work in high profile cases representing people with Irish and Muslim backgrounds accused of terrorism.-Personal life:Born with the...
. New evidence of police fabrication and suppression of evidence
Suppression of evidence
Suppression of evidence is a term used in the United States legal system to describe the lawful or unlawful act of preventing evidence from being shown in a trial. This could happen for several reasons. For example, if a judge believes that the evidence in question was obtained illegally, he can...
, the successful attacks on both the confessions and the 1975 forensic evidence led to the Crown withdrawing most of its case against the men. The Court of Appeal stated of the forensic evidence that "Dr. Skuse's conclusion was wrong, and demonstrably wrong, judged even by the state of forensic science in 1974." In 2001, a decade after their release, the six men were awarded compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2 million.
Consequences
The success of the appeals and other miscarriages of justice caused the Home SecretaryHome Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
to set up a Royal Commission on Criminal Justice
Royal Commission on Criminal Justice
The Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, also known as the Runciman Commission, was established on 14 March 1991 by the Home Secretary. The Commission was the continuation of Sir John May's inquiry into the false convictions of the Maguire Seven and extension to other miscarriages of justice...
in 1991. The commission reported in 1993 and led to the Criminal Appeal Act of 1995 which established the Criminal Cases Review Commission
Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is an non-departmental public body set up following the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice itself a continuation of the May Inquiry. It aims to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in 1997. Superintendent
Superintendent (police)
Superintendent , often shortened to "super", is a rank in British police services and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries the full version is superintendent of police...
George Reade and two other police officers were charged with perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
and conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
to pervert the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice, in English, Canadian , and Irish law, is a criminal offence in which someone prevents justice from being served on himself or on another party...
but were never prosecuted. Richard McIlkenny died in a Dublin hospital on 21 May 2006, following a lengthy battle with cancer.
Granada Television productions
On 28 March 1990, ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
broadcast the Granada Television documentary drama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
, Who Bombed Birmingham?, which re-enacted the bombings and subsequent key events in Chris Mullin's campaign. Written by Rob Ritchie and directed by Mike Beckham, it starred John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
as Mullin, Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in shows such as The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently.-Theatrical background:...
as World in Action producer Ian McBride, and Patrick Malahide
Patrick Malahide
Patrick Malahide is a British actor, who has played many major film and television roles.-Personal life:Malahide, real name Patrick Gerald Duggan, was born in Reading, Berkshire, the son of Irish immigrants, a cook mother and a school secretary father...
as Michael Mansfield
Michael Mansfield
Michael Mansfield QC is an English barrister. A republican, vegetarian, socialist, and self-described "radical lawyer", he has participated in prominent and controversial court cases and inquests involving accused IRA bombers, the Bloody Sunday incident, and the deaths of Jean Charles de Menezes...
(QC). It was repackaged for export as The Investigation - Inside a Terrorist Bombing, and first shown on American television on 22 April 1990. Granada's BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
-nominated follow-up documentary after the release of the Six, World in Action Special: The Birmingham Six - Their Own Story, was transmitted on 18 March 1991. It was released on DVD in 2007 in Network DVD
Network DVD
Network DVD is a DVD publishing company that specialises in classic British television. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known ITV programmes...
's first volume of World in Action productions.
See also
- The Guildford FourGuildford FourThe Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven were two sets of people whose convictions in English courts for the Guildford pub bombings in the 1970s were eventually quashed...
and the Maguire Seven, two sets of people falsely convicted of bombings carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the 1970s. - In the Name of the Father, a 1993 film based on the true life story of the Guildford Four.
- Frank SkuseFrank SkuseDoctor Frank Skuse was a forensic scientist for the North West Forensic Laboratories based in Chorley in Lancashire, England. His flawed conclusions, eventually discredited, contributed to the convictions of Judith Ward and the Birmingham Six...
- Mick Murray
- Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham SixStreets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six"Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" is a political song by the Irish folk punk band The Pogues, written by Terry Woods and Shane MacGowan and included on the band's 1988 album If I Should Fall from Grace with God....
, a song by The PoguesThe PoguesThe Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
in support of the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four
Further reading
- Criminal Cases Review Commission
- House of Commons Debate
- BBC - On This Day
- Innocence Network UK (INUK)
- Birmingham Pub Bombings
- The Birmingham Framework
- Cain Conflict Chronology
- Miscarriages of Justice Organisation
- Birmingham Six
- Error of Judgment: The Truth About the Birmingham Bombings; Chris Mullin
- The Birmingham Six and Other Cases; Louis Blom-CooperLouis Blom-CooperSir Louis Jacques Blom-Cooper QC FKC is an author and UK lawyer specialising in public law and administrative law.-Education:...
; ISBN 0-7156-2813-5. - Forever Lost, Forever Gone; Paddy Joe Hill