Relatives of the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974 have condemned the refusal to consider the alleged perpetrators Getty ImagesFamilies of victims of IRA attacks on Birmingham pubs will boycott fresh inquests into their deaths after a coroner banned the suspected bombers from being identified. The relatives of 21 people killed in two blasts in 1974 have condemned the refusal to consider the alleged perpetrators, despite an IRA bomb maker this month admitting he had been “active” in the area on the nights the bombs exploded. Senior coroner Peter Thornton, QC, has ruled that trying to identify the suspected bombers would be unlawful because the inquests could be seen as “taking on the role of a proxy trial”. He said that any investigation into the alleged perpetrators was “a task entirely unsuited to the inquest process”, given its “limited resources”. The ban includes naming…

Source: The Times July 27, 2017 11:03 UTC