Hugh Callaghan, one of six men wrongly convicted for pub bombings in the English city of Birmingham that killed 21 people in 1974, died this week at the age of 93, his lawyer said.
The “Birmingham Six” were Irish men living in England who were rounded up after the bombings of the crowded Mulberry Bush pub and The Tavern. They spent 16 years in jail until they were exonerated and released in 1991.
The bombings were the deadliest attack on the British mainland during “The Troubles” – 30 years of conflict between mostly Catholic nationalists, who favoured Northern Ireland’s unification with the Republic of Ireland, and mostly Protestant unionists wanting to stay in the United Kingdom.
More than 180 people were injured in the attack.
Although the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has been blamed by authorities for planting the explosives, it has never claimed responsibility.
An inquest in 2019 concluded the bombs were planted by members of the Provisional IRA, and that a warning they gave was inadequate.
Callaghan, who lived a private life after his release, died on May 27, lawyer Gareth Peirce, who represented the Birmingham Six, told Reuters.
“He was the one who was in a vulnerable situation. Perhaps the most vulnerable. The fact that he survived and came out and had a life was a heroic achievement of stamina,” Peirce said.
The other five members of the Birmingham Six were Patrick Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker.
The Troubles, in which some 3,600 people died, were largely brought to an end by the 1998 Good Friday agreement.
(REUTERS)