When bombs tore through two crowded pubs in central Birmingham on the evening of November 21 1974, they claimed the lives of 21 people and injured 220 more. They also led to the wrongful conviction of six men.
The tragic events of that night and the subsequent wrongful convictions have left wounds that, even decades later, remain painfully open. The 50th anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings serves as a stark reminder of the multiple victims created by miscarriages of justice.
The 1974 bombings occurred amid a climate of intense public fear surrounding a sustained campaign by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, which had already claimed many people’s lives.
