#guildford four

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1974 – IRA Coach Bomb Conviction of Judith Ward. Her conviction was quashed in 1992 and she was subsequently released.

Judith Ward is unjustly convicted for the 1972 IRA coach bombing on the M62 motorway in northern England. She was handed 12 life sentences for the 9 soldiers, one civilian adult and two children killed in the bombing. Many more were injured. The English-born, Ward, had spent some years in Ireland. Following the explosion, the British public and politicians from all three major parties called for…

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[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Most prisoners prefer to avoid riots; the penalties are just too grave. It was a measure of how bad things were in [HMP] Hull that men so quickly, instinctively, did what they did. The deterioration in conditions, the bitterness caused by the enforcement of petty restrictions, the arbitrary 'nickings', the beatings, the bad visits, the squalor, the dread and tension, the appalling working conditions - all of these led to a spontaneous eruption of fury. The riot had not been planned; it did not have to be. When it broke out prisoners had acted as one man with one aim: to wreck the jail, to avenge themselves by fighting back. I was an unrepentant rioter. The feeling of euphoria that being on the roof gave me was matchless. I felt that by fighting back I had regained some kind of control over my life. The riot meant that I could stay up late, to wander freely around in the darkness, chat to whoever I liked, smoke as much as I wanted, look out into the night. I was going to suffer, but it was worth it.” - Paul Hill, Stolen Years: Before and After Guildford (London: Corgi, 1991) p. 172.

[AL:  Paul Hill was one of the 'Guildford Four' convicted of the Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings in 1974 and released in 1990 when all their sentences were quashed on appeal. He participated in the 1976 riot at the Hull prison.]

[dollopheadstuff]

'I'm an innocent man! I spent 15 years in prison for somethin' I didn't do! I watched my father die in a British prison for somethin' he didn't do! And this government still says he's guilty! I want to tell them that until my father is proved innocent, until all the people involved in this case are proved innocent, until the guilty ones are brought to justice, I will fight on! In the name of my father and of the truth!'

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in Irish History | 19 October:

#OTD in Irish History | 19 October:

1610 – Birth of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond; royalist soldier; and three times Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 1649 – New Ross town, Co Wexford, surrenders to Oliver Cromwell. 1680 – Birth of minister and church leader, John Abernethy, in Coleraine, Co Derry. 1745 – Death of Jonathan Swift. He was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for the Tories), poet and…

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[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in Irish History | 19 October:

#OTD in Irish History | 19 October:

1610 – Birth of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond; royalist soldier; and three times Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 1649 – New Ross town, Co Wexford, surrenders to Oliver Cromwell. 1680 – Birth of minister and church leader, John Abernethy, in Coleraine, Co Derry. 1745 – Death of Jonathan Swift. He was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for the Tories), poet and…

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[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 2014 – Author and activist, Gerry Conlon dies of cancer, aged 60.

#OTD in 2014 – Author and activist, Gerry Conlon dies of cancer, aged 60.

“I have been in prison for something I did not do. I am totally innocent. The Maguire Seven are innocent. Let’s hope the Birmingham Six are freed.” Gerry Conlon, was one of the so-called Guildford Four, convicted on fabricated evidence of the Guildford pub bombings in 1974 which killed five people and injured dozens more; they all protested their innocence, and their sentences were finally…

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[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1976 – The Maguire Seven | Guilty in Law, innocent in Fact.

#OTD in 1976 – The Maguire Seven | Guilty in Law, innocent in Fact.

‘Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.’ Forced (beaten) confessions, contaminated forensic kits, a rush to justice following IRA atrocities in Britain and sloppy police practices ensures that Anne Maguire, her husband Patrick, sons Vincent 17, Patrick 14, brother, brother-in-law and a family friend are found guilty of possessing explosives at their London…

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[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1976 – The Maguire Seven: Guilty in Law, innocent in Fact.

#OTD in 1976 – The Maguire Seven: Guilty in Law, innocent in Fact.

‘Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.’

Forced (beaten) confessions, contaminated forensic kits, a rush to justice following IRA atrocities in Britain and sloppy police practices ensures that Anne Maguire, her husband Patrick, sons Vincent 17, Patrick 14, brother, brother-in-law and a family friend are found guilty of possessing explosives at their London…

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