Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army planted the time bomb and sent a warning 37 minutes before it exploded, but the area was not evacuated.

From 1973, the Provisional IRA had carried out waves of bombing attacks on commercial targets in London and elsewhere in England as part of its "economic war".

The goal was to damage the economy and cause disruption, which would put pressure on the British government to withdraw from Northern Ireland.

On 10 December 1983, the IRA carried out its first attack in London for some time when a bomb exploded at the Royal Artillery Barracks, injuring three British soldiers.

[3] One week later, on the afternoon of 17 December, IRA members parked a car bomb near the side entrance of Harrods, on Hans Crescent.

The bystanders who died were Philip Geddes (24), a journalist who had heard about the alert and went to the scene;[6] Jasmine Cochrane-Patrick (25); and Kenneth Salvesen (28), a US citizen.

But due to the inefficiency or failure of the Metropolitan Police, who boasted of foreknowledge of IRA activity, this warning did not result in an evacuation.

Finally, we remind the British Government that as long as they maintain control of any part of Ireland then the Irish Republican Army will continue to operate in Britain.

[14] Yearly prizes in honour of Philip Geddes are awarded to aspiring journalists attending the University of Oxford.

As a further commemoration, every year the Philip Geddes Memorial Lecture on the theme of the future of journalism is given by a leading journalist.