🔗 Share this article Government Rule Out Public Probe into Birmingham Bar Attacks Government officials have ruled out initiating a national probe into the Provisional IRA's 1974 Birmingham city pub attacks. This Tragic Incident Back on 21 November 1974, twenty-one civilians were murdered and two hundred twenty injured when explosive devices were exploded at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town establishments in Birmingham, in an attack widely believed to have been orchestrated by the Irish Republican Army. Legal Fallout No one has been convicted for the incidents. In 1991, six defendants had their convictions reversed after spending over 16 years in jail in what remains one of the most severe miscarriages of the legal system in United Kingdom history. Relatives Fight for Justice Loved ones have for decades pushed for a national probe into the explosions to uncover what the authorities knew at the time of the incident and why not a single person has been held accountable. Government Statement The security minister, Dan Jarvis, said on Thursday that while he had sincere sympathy for the loved ones, the government had concluded “after careful review” it would not authorize an probe. Jarvis stated the administration thinks the newly established commission, created to look into fatalities connected to the Troubles, could investigate the Birmingham attacks. Activists Express Disappointment Campaigner Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was murdered in the attacks, said the decision indicated “the administration show no concern”. The sixty-two-year-old has for years fought for a open investigation and said she and other grieving relatives had “no intention” of participating in the investigative panel. “There’s no real autonomy in the commission,” she stated, noting it was “equivalent to them assessing their own work”. Requests for Document Disclosure Over the years, grieving relatives have been demanding the publication of papers from security services on the incident – specifically on what the government was aware of before and after the attack, and what proof there is that could result in arrests. “The whole state apparatus is resisting our relatives from ever learning the facts,” she declared. “Exclusively a legally mandated judge-led national investigation will provide us entry to the papers they state they do not possess.” Official Authority A legally mandated national investigation has distinct judicial authorities, encompassing the authority to require participants to appear and disclose details associated with the inquiry. Prior Hearing An inquest in 2019 – fought for bereaved relatives – determined the those killed were murdered by the Provisional IRA but did not determine the identities of those accountable. Hambleton stated: “The security services told the coroner at the time that they have absolutely no documents or evidence on what continues to be Britain's longest unsolved mass murder of the 1900s, but now they want to push us to engage of this new commission to share details that they state has never existed”. Official Reaction Liam Byrne, the Member of Parliament for the local constituency, described the government’s announcement as “profoundly unsatisfactory”. In a announcement on Twitter, Byrne wrote: “After such a long period, such immense pain, and so many let-downs” the relatives merit a procedure that is “impartial, judicially directed, with full capabilities and unafraid in the pursuit for the facts.” Continuing Pain Reflecting on the families' persistent sorrow, Hambleton, who leads the campaign group, said: “Not a single family of any atrocity of any sort will ever have closure. It doesn’t exist. The suffering and the anguish remain.”