Northern Ireland

New documentary shares life story of the Guildford Four’s Gerry Conlon

Gerry Conlon leaving the House of Commons in 2005 after the then Prime Minister Tony Blair apologised for him being wrongly convicted of the Guildford pub bombings
Gerry Conlon leaving the House of Commons in 2005 after the then Prime Minister Tony Blair apologised for him being wrongly convicted of the Guildford pub bombings

The final interview with Gerry Conlon before his death has revealed his anger that the British government locked away files on the wrongful imprisonment of the Guildford Four.

Mr Conlon (60) passed away at his home in Belfast after a long fight with cancer in 2014.

In the RTÉ documentary he said: “No investigation has ever taken place... The files are closed".

The programme also sees Mr Conlon recall his horrific ordeal of being beaten in police custody and how he was told his mother would be shot if he did not sign a confession. 

Director Lorenzo Moscia met Mr Conlon two months before his death and recorded 'In the Name of Gerry Conlon'.

He said it is an intimate documentary in which Mr Conlon shares the story of his wrongful conviction, and how he found meaning in life by fighting for others in similar cases of miscarriages of justice after his release.  

Speaking about the 15 years he spent in prison for this wrongful conviction, Mr Conlon tells the programme: "Hell couldn't have been any harder.

"Because this actually was a living hell."

Flanked by his sisters, Gerry Conlon emerges from the Old Bailey in October 1989. Picture by Hugh Russell
Flanked by his sisters, Gerry Conlon emerges from the Old Bailey in October 1989. Picture by Hugh Russell

It was in 1975, aged 21, that Mr Conlon along with Paul Hill, Paddy Armstrong and Carol Richardson ,who became known as The Guildford Four, were sentenced to life imprisonment in what is considered to be one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in Britain.

His father Guiseppe was one of the 'Maguire Seven', who were erroneously convicted on explosives charges. 

They charged with possessing nitroglycerine allegedly passed to the IRA to make bombs after the police raided the west Kilburn house of Anne Maguire (Mr Conlon's aunt) in December 1974.

Giuseppe Conlon had travelled from Belfast to help his son, Gerry but found himself caught up in false charges.

In late 1979, Mr Conlon fell ill while locked up in Wormwood Scrubs prison in west London. He died aged 56 in Hammersmith Hospital on January 23, 1980 – four years into his 12-year prison sentence.

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It was not until 1989 that the convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal and Mr Conlon was freed on 19th October that year.

During his final interview before his death, Mr Conlon said those who had watched as the Guildford Four were “tortured” and convicted without evidence, had been protected.

He told Mr Moscia how the British government had sealed the files, marking them, in effect, “state secrets”.

Mr Conlon added: “No one can see the papers for 75 years".

He also told the documentary that he believed it was done to “protect the policemen, the prosecutors, the judges, and we think, some members of the (British) government in 1974-5, who gave the police the okay to torture people”.

Gerry Conlon spent 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted for the Guildford pub bombings. Picture by Cliff Donaldson
Gerry Conlon spent 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted for the Guildford pub bombings. Picture by Cliff Donaldson

Mr Moscia said: “It is an honour for me to have spent time with Gerry Conlon, and it is an even greater honour to make this documentary to let people know what kind of person he was and his story, but above all to try to understand what we have learned.

"I want to tell Gerry’s story with his last, precious words and with the words of others.” 

In the Name of Gerry Conlon is due to be broadcast on RTÉ One on Monday at 9.35pm and on RTÉ Player.