The
Birmingham Six refers to a group of people who were sentenced to
life imprisonment in 1975 for their alleged involvement in the
Birmingham pub bombings.
Hugh
Callaghan, Patrick Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William
Power and John Walker had their convictions overturned by the Court of
Appeal on March 14th 1991.
The
Birmingham bombings were generally accepted to be the work of the IRA
although this was strenuously denied by the IRA just two days after the
event, following bad publicity that had damaged their reputation by
bombing their own community near Digbeth - in the Irish Quarter.
The
explosions took place in the Mulberry Bush pub near the Rotunda and the
Tavern in the Town which was a basement pub on New Street. Another
device which had failed to explode was found on the Hagley Road.
The
group of men arrested were all IRA supporters. They later claimed that
they were interrogated by West Midlands police and forced to sign
statements.
The men
spent a
total of sixteen years behind bars despite two appeal attempts prior to
their third and final successful appeal in 1991 when new
evidence
of police fabrication of evidence granted their release.
