Hyde Park civil fund nears objective

As previously reported, Mark Tipper – brother of one of the Hyde Park victims – had set up a webpage in early April aimed at gathering cash to pursue a civil compensation case against Mr Downey.

The idea is that any compensation would then be paid to a veterans’ charity.

An initial target of £25,000 was reached last month, and was then upped to £40,000.

And at time of writing on Monday night, the webpage was only around £1,500 short of this target.

It is understood the biggest single donation so far is £1,000.

It has previously been said that pursuing a case to its conclusion could cost up to to its conclusion is estimated at £640,000.

Attempts to claim legal aid to support the bid had been unsuccessful.

In a statement issued via law firm McCue & Partners, Mark Tipper, brother of trooper Simon Tipper (one of four soldiers killed due to the July 20, 1982, blast) said: “Reaching our first target of £40k will mean our legal team can get our case officially up and running.

“It means they can finish going through the piles of evidence they already have, deal with the red-tape to get the Met’s prosecution files, review those files and, finally, prepare and issue our full claim against Downey.

“There’s a lot of evidence to go through and a lot of work to be done to get this case off the ground but, with the public’s support, we know we can get there.”

Visit www.crowdjustice.com/case/hyde-park-justice

Although Mr Downey is believed to live in the Republic of Ireland, it is understood that this would not have a bearing on a civil case.