"[7] Seán MacBride, a former Chief-of-Staff for the IRA and Irish barrister, attempted to secure their release claiming they were being illegally held without a writ of habeas corpus.
[8] Also charged with murder along with James McCormick were Brigid O'Hara, Joseph and Mary Hewitt, all five pleaded not guilty before the court at Birmingham Assizes.
[9] Brigid O'Hara issued statements between 28 August and 4 September to Scotland Yard and Birmingham police denying any knowledge of the bombings,[10] and later provided evidence for the prosecution.
[13] Their trial and execution resulted in a public outcry in Ireland against Neville Chamberlain and the British Government as Peadar O'Donnell and other prominent Irish writers signed a petition campaigning for leniency towards the condemned men.
[14] The executions provoked a wave of protests and marches throughout Ireland, Irish flags were flown at half-mast and, through the intervention of a sympathizer, at the World's Fair in New York.