Hearing to take place over enormous IRA bloodbath

The Birmingham bombs of November 21, 1974 targeted two pubs in the UK’s second-largest city, killing 21 people, and injured many more.

A statement from legal firm KRW Law said today (Wednesday) will see arguments made concerning the resumption of the inquests, which it said were closed in 1975 following convictions of the ‘Birmingham Six’ over the attacks – convictions which were later quashed.

It said in a statement: “The hearing commences on February 10, 2016, with arguments being made in relation to the jurisdiction of the Senior Coroner to resume the inquests.

“The hearings will be in Solihull and a decision is expected by the February 24, 2016.

“The families we assist hope the decision will lead to the resumption of the original inquests into the Birmingham Pub Bombings and be a mechanism for them to achieve truth, justice and accountability in relation to the deaths of their loved ones.

“The original inquests opened following the Birmingham Pub Bombings in 1974.

“The inquests were closed in 1975 because convictions had been secured against the Birmingham Six.

“Those convictions were subsequently quashed in 1991.

“Our application to the Senior Coroner is for her to resume the closed inquests on the basis that the inquest process was never completed because of those convictions and therefore remains open and the most effective investigatory mechanism to examine all the circumstances surrounding the Birmingham Pub Bombings.

“A resumed inquest would be a mechanism for many of the questions arising from the Birmingham pub bombing 1974 to be asked by the families and the by Senior Coroner.”

West Midlands police have been under pressure to question a former IRA member who has knowledge of events surrounding the bomb attacks.

Kieran Conway, who now describes himself as a Dublin-based “human rights” lawyer, is to be quizzed sometime this year.