Families meet with police over Birmingham bombings

The families of those killed in the 1974 bombings at two Birmingham pubs are meeting with senior police officers to discuss whether a fresh inquiry will be launched.

Brian and Julie Hambleton lost their 18-year-old sister Maxine in the bombings - and have told ITV News Central they have never got over the loss.

Six men were arrested and the following year were jailed for life for the atrocity.

16 years later, their convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal amid a series of public scandals about the West Midlands Police Serious Crime Squad.

It is now considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.

And with the case still officially remaining unsolved almost 40 years later, the families of those lost are demanding answers.

For the Birmingham Six and their families, the sense of injustice continues too.

They felt they had been used as scapegoats in 1974 - partly to calm anti-Irish tensions in the city at the time - and have accused police of knowing who really was behind the attacks but failing to take action.

At today's meeting, which starts at 10am, senior police officers and prosecutors will discuss with the families whether a fresh inquiry is likely to go ahead.