Birmingham pub bombings inquests reopened

Fresh inquests are to be held into the deaths of 21 people in the Birmingham pub bombings more than 40 years ago.

Following years of campaigning by victims' relatives, Louise Hunt, senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, announced her decision after receiving "significant" new information about the bombings in 1974.

During recent hearings, families of some of those killed at two pubs in Birmingham claimed that the British state had knowledge of the attacks planned by the IRA before they were carried out.

Warnings

Ms Hunt said there was evidence that West Midlands Police had missed two potential warnings of the bomb attacks, including a comment made by men linked to the IRA that "Birmingham would be hit next week".

This overheard conversation was reported to police 11 days before the bombings, but Ms Hunt said there was "no indication that the police took any active steps in response to it". On the day of the attack, a second tip-off to police was not followed up, she said.

Ms Hunt went on: "I have serious concerns that advanced notice of the bombs may have been available to the police and that they failed to take the necessary steps to protect life."

She said claims that police were protecting a mole in the IRA cell were unfounded, adding that the emergency services response that night did not contribute to the deaths.

Until the 7/7 London bombings in 2005, in which 52 people were killed, Birmingham had been the worst terrorist attack the British mainland had ever experienced.

Wrongly convicted

Six Irish men, known as the Birmingham Six, were wrongly jailed for the bombings, in which 21 people died and 180 were wounded.

They spent 16 years in prison before having their convictions overturned in 1991 following one of Britain's most notorious miscarriages of justice,

The bombings are widely thought to have been carried out by the IRA, but it has never claimed responsibility.