Birmingham Six anniversary: An appalling vista made real
Anyone old enough to remember the day, exactly 25 years ago, when the Birmingham Six — and today they must be named: Paddy Joe Hill, Richard McIlkenny, Hughie Callaghan, Gerry Hunter, Johnny Walker, and Billy Power — were set free after spending over 16 years in jail for a crime they did not commit, will wonder again why it took so very long to reach that point.
They will also remember the great relief and emotion that despite the very best efforts of the British establishment — epitomised by Lord Denning’s “an appalling vista” remark — that through dogged campaigning, those innocent men were finally set free. Well, to a kind of freedom anyway. Like the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven, all of whom were wrongly jailed over 1974 bombings and released after nearly 16 years in prison, they were pawns misused in a far bigger, murkier game.
The release of these innocent people should have led to the conviction of those who fabricated some evidence but ignored other evidence that pointed to innocence, but it did not and it will not. This remains a stain on the British justice system. However, the deepest stain marks those whose terrorism created an atmosphere where it was possible to sweep up innocent people and jail them just because they were Irish.