FAMILIES of British soldiers killed in an IRA bombing in London's Hyde Park said they have been made victims "three times over".
Relatives of some of the members of the Royal Household Cavalry who died in the 1982 attack have launched a campaign as they try to raise funds to bring a legal case.
Mark Tipper, whose 19-year-old brother died in the blast, blamed former Labour prime minister Tony Blair for a "shameful and secret deal" which led to the collapse of a case against veteran republican John Downey.
Under the controversial on the runs scheme (OTRs) - agreed between the British government and Sinn Féin - more than 150 people were sent individual letters of assurance, via Sinn Féin, informing them that they were no longer wanted by police.
"The chief suspect walked free from the Old Bailey because of a shameful and secret deal by Tony Blair with the IRA," Mr Tipper said.
"Because of this we have been forced to take our own private legal action."
With the Legal Aid Agency refusing "again and again" to fund the case, Mr Tipper added: "We have been made victims three times over.
"First by the bomb, then by Blair and now by the bureaucrats of the Legal Aid Agency."
Downey, from Co Donegal, was charged four years ago over the Hyde Park bombing, which he denied.
His trial in the Old Bailey collapsed in 2014 because government officials mistakenly sent him a letter in 2007, as part of the OTRs scheme, telling him he was no longer a wanted man.
Soldiers were riding through Hyde Park on July 20 1982 when a nail bomb killed Corporal Roy Bright (36), Lieutenant Anthony Daly (23), Trooper Simon Tipper (19), and Lance Corporal Jeffrey Young (19).
Seven horses were also killed and many others injured.
A second explosion in a Regent's Park bandstand on the same day killed seven Royal Green Jackets bandsmen.
Some of the families of those affected by the second blast attended the campaign press conference yesterday.
Relatives of those killed in Hyde Park want to raise £650,000 to cover the private action bill.
Speaking at the event in Westminster, Mr Tipper said the Government does not do enough to support victims.
He said they have been "blocked at every turn" in their fight for justice and that all they are seeking is the "truth about who murdered our loved ones".
"The only way to do that is to bring the chief suspect to court, a man who has been linked by police files to six separate terrorist attacks," Mr Tipper said.
He also called on Prime Minister Theresa May to meet with the families, and to "step in" and "do the right thing".
Backing the campaign, Ulster Unionist MP Danny Kinahan told the press conference that weeks before the deadly blast he had been the best man at the wedding of Lt Daly.
He said it is an "aberration of justice that the chief suspect has not been taken to court" and that raising the funds needed for a civil action will help the families "find a way forward".
Tory MP Crispin Blunt, Labour MP Kate Hoey, and Conservative MP Colonel Bob Stewart were among many from both Houses of Parliament who are backing the campaign.
