[5] James McCormick along with Peter Barnes participated in the 1939 Coventry bombing which was part of the IRA's sabotage campaign in England (the S-Plan).
[6] On 25 August 1939 the IRA was responsible for the bombing of the busy Broadgate area of Coventry which killed five and injured 70 people.
The large number of civilian deaths and wounded effectively ended the IRA's eight month sabotage campaign.
"[10] The sentencing triggered a series of IRA attacks on British post offices, postboxes and mail trains in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Crewe, and London.
Many apolitical Irish people felt that since McCormick or Barnes were not directly responsible for the Coventry bombing they should not be executed for that crime.
In Cork city a crowd of thousands gathered to hear an address on the fate of McCormick and Barnes from the well known IRA leader Tom Barry.