Campaigner's fight for justice continues despite no re-investigation in Birmingham bombings

The Justice4the21 campaign group, led by Julie Hambleton, have long been calling for a public inquiry into the attack. Credit: PA Image/ITV News Central

A campaigner from Birmingham has said she is still hopeful those responsible for the 1974 pub bombings will be brought to justice and families who lost loved ones will get answers.

It comes after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said a police re-investigation into the Birmingham pub bombings would not lead to criminal charges, due to insufficient evidence.

There was hope that a new investigation by West Midlands Police could bring justice but the CPS said it could not positively identify who planted the bombs which killed 21 people.

The bombings of the Tavern in the Town and Mulberry Bush pubs in Birmingham City Centre on November 21, 1974 are considered the worst unsolved terrorist attack.

As well as those killed, more than 200 people were injured in the twin blasts.

A third bomb failed to go off and was recovered, but later lost, by West Midlands Police.

Julie Hambleton, who leads the campaign group Justice4the21 after her sister Maxine died in the attack, said the result was disappointing but not surprising.

Despite no police re-investigation into the bombings, she says there's still hope with a statutory public inquiry.

'There is a positive out of this darkness' - Campaigners hope for answers 49 years on.

Speaking to ITV News Central, Ms Hambleton said: "The one good thing out of this is that it now opens the door for us to push for a statuary public inquiry which is what we’ve been pushing for since 2014.

"The statuary public inquiry will give us certain amounts of control over the terms of reference, so they can choose who we can have on the board and who we can demand to come and give evidence.

"So, in that respect there is a positive out of this darkness in this news."

A statutory public inquiry could be used to establish what happened, determine accountability and restore public confidence.

It provides legal powers to urge witnesses to give evidence, provide legal safeguards, and can set limits upon the Government’s discretionary control of an inquiry.

Ms Hambleton hopes by fighting for a statutory public inquiry perpetrators of the bombings can be brought to justice.

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