Northern Ireland

IRA bomb-maker apologises over Birmingham bombings but refuses to name others

Michael Hayes apologised for the Birmingham bombings but refused to say what role he had or name others involved. Picture from BBC
Michael Hayes apologised for the Birmingham bombings but refused to say what role he had or name others involved. Picture from BBC Michael Hayes apologised for the Birmingham bombings but refused to say what role he had or name others involved. Picture from BBC

AN IRA bomb-maker who was part of the group responsible for the Birmingham pub bombings has apologised to victims - but refused to say who else was involved.

Michael Hayes (69) said he wished to express his "heartfelt sympathy to all of you for a terrible tragic loss" and took "collective responsibility" for the shocking attacks which killed 21 people and injured 182.

However, relatives of those killed last night described him as a "coward".

In an interview with the BBC, Hayes re-iterated an apology he gave in a newspaper interview last year but added that he would not be attending an inquest into the atrocities, due to start in September.

A coroner ruled last week that suspects' identities would not be discussed.

Hayes, who now lives in Dublin, said he had been a member of the IRA in both Ireland and Britain over three decades.

He was arrested by West Midlands Police following the Birmingham bombings but later released.

In 1990, he was named in a programme on Granada TV as one of two people who placed the bombs in the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pubs on November 21 1974.

Six people were wrongly jailed and served 16 years in prison before their convictions were quashed in 1991.

No-one else has ever been convicted of the attacks.

Hayes told those bereaved by the bombings: "In all these years that you have been trying to find closure, I hope at last God will be merciful and bring you closure.

"I apologise not only for myself, I apologise for all active republicans who had no intention of hurting anybody and sympathise with you."

However, he refused to name others who were involved in the attacks.

"You would want me to go in and give the name of other men, to become an informer? I'd sooner die in front of you than become an informer."

He also declined to give details of his specific role in the attacks, saying he was a "participant in the IRA's activities in Birmingham".

Asked whether he had planted the bombs, Hayes replied "no comment" but said two people had left the devices in the pubs and claimed he had defused a third bomb on Hagley Road in the city.

He said: "We were horrified when we heard (of the death toll) because it was not intended. I personally defused the third bomb.

"We believed that we gave adequate warnings," he added.

Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was killed in the bombings, described Hayes as "a coward".

She said: "He'll take collective responsibility for those unarmed, innocent people, but won't say who done it?

"He's gutless and spineless. He's told us nothing, he's admitted nothing."

In November, Hayes told The Sun that he was responsible, along with Patrick Magee, for the Brighton bombing in 1984.

"I planted the bomb with Magee. We put it in. We were in the hotel four days. We were home three weeks before it went off. We missed her (Margaret Thatcher) by 10 seconds."

However, he denied allegations that he was involved in attacks at Hyde Park, Regent's Park and Harrods in London in the 1980s.

Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie last night called for Hayes's extradition to face questions about the Birmingham bombing, while Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry also said police should follow up his comments.