No Justice: The Birmingham Pub Bombings at 50
21 people were killed in two deadly bomb blasts in Birmingham on the 21st November 1974 - to this day, nobody has been brought to justice
Fifty years ago, the biggest unsolved mass murder in British history took place in Birmingham.
On the 21st November 1974 in the city centre, the Mulberry Bush pub and the Tavern in the Town were bombed in an attack believed to have been carried out by the Provisional IRA, leaving 21 people dead and 220 injured.
Following the bombings, six men who became known as the Birmingham Six, were jailed for more than 16 years, after being wrongly convicted of carrying out the attack.
In 1991, their convictions were quashed and they were freed, but the real perpetrators have yet to be brought to justice.
Today, we're launching our special podcast - No Justice: The Birmingham Pub Bombings at 50. We'll hear from relatives of victims, and survivors, some of whom have never shared their stories before.
We'll also hear first-hand accounts from emergency service workers who helped in the rescue efforts, and explore the ongoing fight for justice, 50 years on from the attack.
What happened on the 21st November 1974?
At 8.11pm, a phone call was made to the Birmingham Post from a man who said two bombs had been planted in the city centre.
Speaking in an Irish accent he told the telephonist: “The code word is Double X. There is a bomb in the Rotunda…and there is a bomb on New Street. . .at the tax office."
At 8.17pm, the first device, hidden inside a duffle bag, exploded at the Mulberry Bush, which was at the base of the Rotunda building.
A few hundreds metres down New Street, inside the Tavern in the Town, few were aware of what had just happened.
At 8:27pm, everything in the pub went dark. A second explosion had gutted the bar, which sat directly underneath a tax office.
Bob Mellor was inside the Tavern in the Town when the bomb went off and later went back into the building to help the wounded:
“Everything was so flattened… you couldn’t tell what was debris and what was people" he said.
“I worked my way over to the corner of the pub, past the bar. Everything there was gone. We could hear people screaming and crying out for help.”
In total, 21 people died and 220 were injured.
Who were the Birmingham Six?
On the night of the pub bombings, five Irish men left Birmingham on a train, heading to catch a ferry to Belfast.
They planned to attend the funeral of James McDade, an IRA member who had died in Coventry the week before, while planting a bomb.
Some of the Six grew up alongside McDade in the Ardoyne area of Belfast. All knew him in Birmingham, where he was a pub singer. None of the Six knew of his involvement in the IRA until his death.
Paddy Hill, Johnny Walker, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter and Billy Power were stopped by police in Lancashire. Forensic tests were carried out on the men at Morecambe police station.
The men were transferred to the custody of West Midlands Police the following day. The sixth man, Hugh Callaghan, was arrested in Birmingham.
While in custody, Mr Callaghan, Mr Power, Mr McIlkenny, and Mr Walker said they were deprived of food and sleep, beaten and interrogated for hours until they signed confessions.
Chris Mullin, who later wrote a landmark book about the Birmingham Six, told No Justice: "They were taken to Queen's Road Police Station in Birmingham, where they underwent a prolonged ordeal.
"It involved mock executions in one case... it involved dogs in the police cells, it involved shotguns in the police cells and it involved considerable violence."
"There was a problem with the confessions from the outset because they contradicted each other in almost every main respect; how many bombs there were, who had plated which bombs, what they were contained in."
After serving nearly 17 years in prison, in one of the worst miscarriages of justice seen in Britain, the Birmingham Six were freed on 14 March 1991 after their convictions were quashed.
Who were the real bombers?
The Provisional IRA has never officially admitted responsibility for the bombings.
Chris Mullin, a journalist and former MP, helped expose the wrongful convictions of the Birmingham Six and secure their release in 1991.
Working with the landmark documentary series World In Action, he exposed the violence the Six faced in 1974 and cast doubt on evidence produced by the forensics tests used at the time.
Error of Judgement - a book by Mr Mullin which was published in 1986 - described four people he believed were the real bombers, although he did not name them after agreeing anonymity.
After the Birmingham Six were released, West Midlands Police reopened their investigation into the bombings, but closed it again in 1994.
Following a campaign by relatives of the victims, through a group called Justice 4 the 21, inquests into the deaths of the 21 victims were held in 2019. The coroner concluded they had been unlawfully killed.
One of the witnesses at the inquest, known as “Witness O”, said he'd been told by the IRA that he could reveal the names of four alleged perpetrators - Mick Murray, James Francis Gavin, Seamus McLoughlin and Michael Hayes.
Mr Mullin confirmed that Murray, Gavin and Hayes were three of the four bombers he had revealed in his book, but he refused to identify the fourth bomber who was still alive.
In a BBC interview in 2017, Michael Hayes accepted what he called "collective responsibility" for the Birmingham pub bombings.
Michael Patrick Reilly is the fifth name out there in connection to the pub bombings. He has always denied any involvement, but he was reportedly the man arrested by West Midlands Police in 2020, and released without charge.
Will the families ever get justice?
As the city prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings, the atrocity remains the largest unsolved mass murder in British history.
Those responsible for carrying out the bombings have never faced justice.
Families of the victims, led by campaign group Justice 4 the 21, have been calling for a full public inquiry into what happened.
Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine was killed in the Tavern in the Town, is one of the founders of the group. She told No Justice:
“Grenfell, the Manchester Arena bombings, the blood scandal, the Post Office and now, recently, the Salisbury Poisonings”
“Why can’t we have a public inquiry? For 21 people who lived – and were killed – in Birmingham?”
“There is always the opportunity for justice no matter how long it takes. Even if all the perpetrators are all dead there is still the opportunity for justice because the truth will then out.”
In April this year, eight Birmingham MPs wrote an open letter to the Home Secretary, James Cleverly, asking him to consider a section 1 inquiry.
Following Labour's victory in the July general election, we asked the Prime Minister if he would grant one.
Sir Keir Starmer said: "I have huge sympathy for the families of those killed and injured, and those bereaved as a result of what happened in Birmingham, and more widely as a result of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
"A decision on whether or not to hold an inquiry obviously must be made following careful consideration of a range of factors specific to the case."
How will the victims be remembered 50 years on?
On Thursday (21 November), a special memorial service will be held outside Birmingham New Street station next to the tree sculpture, which bears the names of the 21 victims of the pub bombings.
Invited guests will gather at 1.45pm, and at 2pm, a minute silence will be observed in memory of those killed. Organisers of the event, the Birmingham Irish Association, are encouraging people across the city to take part in the moment of reflection.
On Thursday evening, the annual memorial service will be held at St Philip's Cathedral on Colmore Row.
The names of the 21 victims of the pub bombings will be read out, and a candle lit in each of their names.