The inquest into the deaths of the five people killed in the 1974 Guildford pub bombings will be resumed.
The Guildford Four were wrongly convicted and jailed for 15 years before being released in 1989.
Two IRA bombs went off in two pubs that were packed with Saturday night drinkers. Many were soldiers who were back from duty in Northern Ireland. The first bomb went of at 2030 BSTR at the Horse and Groom pub, destroying the front of the building and shattering the windows of shops beside. The second bomb went off half an hour later in the nearby Seven Stars pub. Both were IRA bombs, the bomb at the first pub was thought to be a 10lb of nitroglycerin, hidden under a bench seat in the corner of a pub, it was powered by a battery and had a stopwatch as a timer. The Horse and Groom pub was said to be a cheap pub where everyone would go first, they would then move on to the Seven Stars pub where it was more of a disco it is believed this is why it was the second pub to be bombed. A member of public made the first 999 call at 2050 BST.
Soldiers Ann Hamilton, 19, Caroline Slater, 18, William Forsyth, 18, and John Hunter, 17, plus plasterer Paul Craig, 21 died following the first blast at the Horse and Groom on 5 October.
Coroner Richard Travers said: “This case is not of such antiquity that it should be considered ancient history.”
No date has been set for the inquest to resume and a pre-inquest review will be held at a later date.
Paul Hill, Gerry Conlon, Patrick Armstrong and Carole Richardson (known as the Guildford Four) were wrongly convicted of the attacks. The case of the Guildford Four had become known as one of Britain’s biggest miscarriages of justice.
Coroner Richard Travers said the attacks still matter to the people who died and the people of Guildford. The hearing would seek to examine details such as the location and precise time of the blast who was the victim at the time whether the victims died immediately and the response of the emergency services.
Four-man IRA unit known as the “Balcombe Street gang” claimed responsibility in 1976 but were not charged. Over the years it has been debated about how many members were in the unit, a court transcript suggested up to 20 members.
To read more about the Guildford Four and the case click here.
