Guildford pub bombs inquest to examine security risk

The first bomb at the Horse and Groom killed five people

Inquiries are under way to identify security measures for soldiers that were in place when the IRA blew up two Guildford pubs in October 1974, a pre-inquest review (PIR) has heard.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is looking at policies from the time.

Four soldiers and a civilian died and 65 were injured in the attacks.

Counsel to the inquest Oliver Sanders QC said younger soldiers were in the pub and there had been limited contact with more senior staff in the Army.

Cassandra Hamilton, sister of Pte Ann Hamilton, one of the soldiers who died, has previously asked why her sister's barracks were not on lockdown amid an ongoing IRA security threat.

Ms Hamilton has refused to provide a "pen portrait" of her sister for the inquest after the family were refused legal aid. They had called for public funding to be legally represented and also a jury but both requests were refused.

She has also questioned the timeline of events set out by the inquest and described the process as "fatally flawed".

Caroline Slater, 18, Ann Hamilton, 19, William Forsyth, 18, John Hunter, 17, and plasterer Paul Craig, 21, died in the first explosion at the Horse and Groom

Speaking about army security measures in 1974, Edward Pleeth, for the MoD, said: "The Ministry of Defence is working hard to try and locate policies and procedures in place at the time. Various avenues have been explored."

At the hearing in Woking, senior coroner Richard Travers asked for a statement and overview to be provided at the next pre-inquest review in May.

A submission by Mr Sanders said the coroner's team would be asking the BBC for more information on security-related materials viewed at The National Archives.

In February, the BBC reported that papers had showed the Army's South East District was briefed on 23 May 1974 about a threat from Peter McMullen - a soldier who had deserted and joined the IRA in 1972.

However, a letter stated it was felt the information - a map of Aldershot barracks found at an IRA safe house in Liverpool - "did not warrant increasing the state of security alert".

The IRA bombed two pubs in Guildford on 5 October 1974, the Horse and Groom and the Seven Stars.

The attacks led to one of Britain's biggest miscarriages of justice when 11 people were wrongly-jailed, the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven.

The IRA's so-called Balcombe Street active service unit claimed responsibility for the attacks in 1976, but after the wrongful convictions were quashed, nobody else was prosecuted.

The inquest is not looking at who carried out the bombings or the miscarriage of justice.

A full inquest is due to begin in June.

Wrongly-convicted Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong, Paul Hill and Carole Richardson served 15 years in jail

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