Birmingham pub bombings: Coroner orders fresh inquests

Fresh inquests are to be held into the deaths of 21 people in the Birmingham pub bombings.

Louise Hunt, the senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, announced the decision after evidence emerged that the police may have ignored tip-offs about the attacks.

This included a comment made by men linked to the IRA that "Birmingham would be hit next week".

Live reaction to the coroner's decision

"There is a wealth of evidence still available which has not in the main been seen by the families," she said.

Confirmation of the new inquests follows years of campaigning by victims' relatives, who claimed that the security services knew the attacks were going to take place.

• The attacks

On the evening of November 21st 1974, a bomb ripped through the Mulberry Bush pub.

Minutes later, another device exploded at the nearby Tavern in the Town.

The attacks left 21 people dead and 222 others injured in what was the worst terrorist attack on the British mainland until the London 7/7 bombings.

• Families' long wait for justice

The atrocities are widely acknowledged to have been the work of the IRA but those responsible have now evaded justice for over four decades.

The original inquests, opened days after the attacks, were stopped after six men six men - known as the Birmingham Six - were jailed.

But they were wrongfully convicted after a botched investigation by West Midlands Police and spent 17 years in prison before they were released in 1991.

After their release, victims' families launched a campaign to resume the inquests into their loved ones' deaths.

Julie Hambleton, whose older sister Maxine died in the bombings, said the decision to order a new inquest represented "the most seismic day" for all the families.

Earlier, she confronted a former IRA boss live on BBC Radio 4 after he claimed those responsible were not murderers and were "relatively blameless".

Paddy Hill, one of the Birmingham Six, said he was "very pleased" with the decision but was "sceptical" that the truth would emerge.

• Coroner's comments

Setting out the reasons for her ruling, Ms Hunt said:

• Police 'support new inquests'

West Midlands Police said it would fully support the new inquests.

Chief Constable Dave Thompson said the botched investigation into the bombings remained "the most serious failing in this force's history".

"It is almost 42 years since these events - I understand families of those who lost their lives are frustrated, disappointed and angry."