British govt urged to make Birmingham Six apology

The British government was challenged today to apologise to the six men wrongfully convicted for the Birmingham pub bombings.

One of the jailed men, John Walker, said it was time Downing Street publicly acknowledged their innocence.

“Nobody ever apologised to us. We've done 16 and a half years.

“What happened 30 years ago was a disaster. People say 21 people lost their lives that day. What about the six men who went to prison? We lost our lives also.”

Mr Walker said the British government had not apologised for their years of incarceration.

“I felt sorry for what happened in Birmingham that night but people must remember I've done 16 and a half years in prison for something I did not do,” he added.

He was speaking after a report that a Sinn Féin official has called on the IRA to apologise for the bombings, which claimed 21 lives and maimed almost 200 people 30 years ago.

A Sinn Féin spokesman, commenting on the report, said if issues surrounding the IRA’s role in the Birmingham bombings still needed to be addressed, it was his party’s position that this should happen.

The IRA has never claimed responsibility for the bombs that blasted the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town pubs in the centre of Birmingham on November 21, 1974.

It was one of the worst atrocities carried out by republican terrorists on the British mainland.

The six Irishmen who were jailed for the bombings were released in March 1991 following a long campaign for their freedom.

Dungannon priest Monsignor Denis Faul, one of those who worked for their release, said that the IRA should now apologise for what it did in Birmingham.

“A lot of young people were killed in Birmingham. It is important that there should be an apology for that. It was a terrible, terrible tragedy.”

Fr Faul, who still works with victims of the Troubles, said recognition of the hurt caused by violence was a vital ingredient of a political settlement.

“The Republican Movement cannot hope to be trusted until they apologise to all the victims, not only the young people of Birmingham but also the relatives of the soldiers who were killed in Northern Ireland and England.”

Relatives and survivors of the bombings will take part in a memorial service at Birmingham’s Anglican Cathedral this Sunday.

The Dean of St Philip’s Cathedral, the Very Reverend Gordon Mursell, said: “It would make a huge difference to the families and relatives if the people responsible felt able to accept responsibility and ask forgiveness.”

A Sinn Féin spokesman said: “What happened in Birmingham 30 years ago was wrong and should not have happened.”

He added republicans were committed to the establishment of a process that would address the demands and concerns of victims of the conflict on all sides.

“The IRA for their part have apologised for the deaths of non-combatants resulting from their actions.

“If issues relating to the IRA concerning the Birmingham bombings are still to be addressed then it is very clearly the Sinn Féin position that this should happen.”