Guildford pub bombings: Police had new lead in 2020, lawyers say

The Guildford pub bombings killed five people, injured 65 and saw 11 wrongly convicted

Police have known about new evidence on the Guildford pub bombs since 2020, it has been claimed.

It has emerged a new forensic lead has come to light nearly 50 years after the IRA attacks in 1974 killed five people.

Police said they could not investigate the lead because of a new law, but lawyers for a victim's family said the lead emerged after a 2019 review and asked why it was not progressed then.

Surrey Police said it was agreed to progress the lead in November 2022.

Campaign group Relatives for Justice has now backed calls for a public inquiry and said it should be on the same level as hearings over the Omagh bombing.

Christopher Stanley from KRW Law, which represents the family of victim Ann Hamilton, previously said an inquiry "may be a necessary solution" after a resumed inquest into the Guildford bombings concluded in 2022.

(Clockwise from top left) Paul Craig, 21, Caroline Slater, 18, John Hunter, 17, William Forsyth, 18, and Ann Hamilton, 19, died in an explosion at the Horse and Groom

Four soldiers and a civilian died in the blast in the Horse and Groom pub and 65 were injured on 5 October 1974. Another bomb detonated 30 minutes later at the Seven Stars pub.

The Guildford Four were wrongly convicted of murder in 1975 in one of the UK's biggest miscarriages of justice.

The IRA's Balcombe Street unit admitted the attacks in the 1970s, but no-one else was prosecuted after the Guildford Four's release in 1989.

On Thursday, police said there was a new lead 50 years on but that they would not investigate because of the Legacy Act, which commences on May 1 and allows those involved with The Troubles to seek immunity from prosecution.

KRW Law said there were "too many questions" over the timing.

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

Barry O'Donnell, from KRW Law, said: "It appears to us that in 2020, the Surrey Police had this lead - this potential forensic lead - analysed, and therefore what was stopping them from 2020 until now to progress this through the courts?"

He said police began a review of the case in 2019, when an inquest resumed, and that review led to the new lead.

He has asked whether police had the lead in 1974, adding: "Was it used at the time of the Guildford Four? Was it disclosed to them during their trial?"

He said KRW Law is now considering possible referral of the case to the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner and further action to see a classified police report by bomb squad commander Roy Habershon, compiled in 1975.

Mr O'Donnell said the reason the Haberson report was closed was most likely because of intelligence, and intelligence could have been obtained after the Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings but not disclosed.

Alastair Logan, a lawyer for the Guildford Four, said IRA members admitted their involvement in the Guildford bombings after their 1975 arrest, but Surrey Police failed to interview them.

He obtained formal IRA confessions in 1976 which were followed up when IRA members gave evidence in court in 1977 during the Guildford Four's appeal.

Mr Logan has already begun legal action against the Information Commissioner over a decision to keep the Habershon report closed.

Further hearings are expected, but no dates are currently listed.

The IRA admitted carrying out the attacks in the 1970s

Mark Thompson, chief executive of Relatives for Justice, said the "scale and magnitude" of the case demanded a public inquiry.

He said an inquiry should cover all the IRA attacks in England in 1974 that led to wrongful convictions including the Guildford, Woolwich and Birmingham pub bombings and the M62 coach blast - along with the wider campaign in England by the Balcombe Street terror cell.

He said there had been so much failed action over the Guildford bombings, including police reviews, the recent inquest and the 1989-94 inquiry by Sir John May, that "a public inquiry was now the only way".

"We fully support the families in their tireless efforts to establish the full truth," he said.

A spokeswoman for Surrey Police said: "During the assessment, a potential forensic line of enquiry was identified and in November 2022, following consultation with Counter Terrorism Policing, it was agreed this line of enquiry should be progressed.

"This work was complex and took some time to complete. The results were returned in August 2023.

"At this time, we are unable to disclose any further details as we would not want to jeopardise any course of action that could be available through the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.

"We remain committed to facilitating justice for those who were killed in the 1974 Guildford bombings and have personally updated the families of the five victims."