Birmingham Six
The Birmingham pub bombings took place on 21 November 1974 and were attributed to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Six men were arrested: Hugh Callaghan (1930–2023), Patrick Joseph Hill (1944–2024), Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny (1933–2006), William Power and John Walker.
All the men except for Callaghan had left the city early on the evening of 21 November from New Street Station, shortly before the explosions.
[2] McDade had accidentally killed himself on 14 November when his bomb detonated prematurely while he was planting it at a telephone exchange in Coventry.
While the men were in the custody of the West Midlands Police they were allegedly deprived of food and sleep and were sometimes interrogated for as much as 12 hours without a break.
The trial began on 9 June 1975 at the Crown Court sitting at Lancaster Castle, before Mr Justice Bridge and a jury.
[10] Forensic scientist Frank Skuse used positive Griess test results to claim that Hill and Power had handled explosives.
In 1986, Mullin's book, Error of Judgment: The Truth About the Birmingham Pub Bombings, set out a detailed case supporting the men's claims that they were innocent.
Over the next three years, newspaper articles, television documentaries and books brought forward new evidence to question the safety of the convictions.
[23] As of 2011, of the three surviving members of the Birmingham Six, Gerard Hunter resided in Portugal, John Walker in Donegal and William Power in London.
Written by Rob Ritchie and directed by Mike Beckham, it starred John Hurt as Mullin, Martin Shaw as World in Action producer Ian McBride, Ciarán Hinds as Richard McIlkenny, one of the Six, and Patrick Malahide as Michael Mansfield (QC).
[27][28] Granada's BAFTA-nominated follow-up documentary after the release of the six men, World in Action Special: The Birmingham Six – Their Own Story, was telecast on 18 March 1991.
[30] In 1994, Frank Skuse brought libel proceedings against Granada, contending that World in Action had falsely portrayed him as negligent.
His counsel asserted in the High Court that scientific tests performed in 1992, after the Crown's substantive concession of the accused men's third appeal, showed that traces of nitroglycerine were detected on swabs taken after the bombings from the hands of Hunter and Hill, and on rail tickets handled by McIlkenny and Power.
[33] In their book The Three Pillars of Liberty (1996) Keir Starmer, Francesca Klug, and Stuart Weir said the decision had had a "chilling effect" on other news and current affairs programmes.
[35] In 1993 and 1994, the Birmingham Six received an undisclosed amount from both The Sunday Telegraph and The Sun in an action for libel for the newspapers' reporting of police statements.
[38] During his investigation, which proved crucial in establishing the innocence of the Six, Mullin located one of the actual bombers and persuaded him to provide information which helped the men falsely convicted.
In 2019 a witness at the inquest testified that the real bombers were Mick Murray, James Francis Gavin, Seamus McLoughlin and Michael Hayes.
Mullin's legal team later said, hailing the ruling, that the right of a journalist to protect their sources was fundamental to a free press in a democracy.
