Magee ‘as bad as Bigley killers’

BRIGHTON bomber Patrick Magee is no better than those who recently murdered Ken Bigley in Iraq and would kill again, former Tory minister Norman Tebbit said yesterday.

Mr Tebbit, who was Trade and Industry Secretary when the IRA blew up the Grand Hotel in Brighton 20 years ago injuring him and crippling his wife Margaret, questioned whether Prime Minister Tony Blair was right to negotiate with republicans.

As Mr Magee returned to the resort to meet Jo Berry, daughter of Anthony Berry who died in the bombing, Mr Tebbit said: “As far as Magee is concerned I would put him in the same category as the people who recently murdered Mr Bigley and those who just two years ago today murdered large numbers of people in Bali - psychopathic killers who would kill again if they had the chance.”

He hit out at negotiations with terrorist groups like the IRA.

“Mr Magee says he would do it again, I believe. He doesn’t have any regrets about what he did, he never served an adequate sentence for what he did.

“Probably some people would like to negotiate with the people who murdered Mr Bigley and see them given the same treatment as given by Mr Magee. I find that offensive and counter-productive.”

His wife, he said, had received a life sentence in a wheelchair, a sentence from which she had never received a reprieve.

Mr Tebbit said it should never be forgotten Sinn Féin/IRA had killed more people than al-Qaida had killed in the twin towers attack in New York.