Families call for public inquiry in Birmingham saying politicians want to 'bury us with our dead'

Relatives of Birmingham pub bombing victims have renewed calls for a full public inquiry, 50 years after the tragedy. Demands for an inquiry have intensified since the 2023 decision not to pursue criminal charges following a re-investigation into the pub bombings.

The terror attack remains Britain's largest unsolved mass murder, with 21 people killed and 182 injured when two IRA bombs exploded seperate pubs in the city centre. Six innocent men were wrongfully imprisoned for over 16 years before their release in 1991, while the real perpetrators were never bought to justice.

Julie Hambleton, who lost her sister Maxine, and Paul Bridgewater, who lost his father, say a public inquiry could reveal 'new information' that may finally lead to justice. Speaking ahead of the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, the Justice for the 21 campaigners say they will never stop fighting for 'truth, justice and accountability.'

READ MORE: City MPs demand Birmingham Pub Bombings inquiry after 'grim milestone'

Julie Hambleton lost her older sister Maxine in the pub bombings. She founded the Justice 4 the 21 group to call for 'real justice' for bereaved family members. She wants a full statutory public inquiry to resolve unanswered questions the group has over what exactly happened that night, and says the group is hopeful of a response from the Home Office soon.

"We have to keep fighting because we are the voice of the 21 victims," Julie said. "We are their only hope.

"The British establishment want to keep their memories buried. They gave a public enquiry to Grenfell in 12 months, and the Manchester Arena bombing after 18 months. All of these causes are entirely deserving of a public enquiry - but our question is, where's ours?

"The Birmingham pub bombings remains the longest, unsolved mass murder in modern British history. A public inquiry could bring forward new information, which has been hidden from us, which could lead to further investigations, and maybe, a prosecution.

"That's what we continue to fight. We can't allow murderers to come to our towns and cities and kill with impunity, and then never fear the full force of the law. What kind of society are we leaving for the next generations if we allow that to happen?"

"We continue to believe that the establishment wishes they could bury us, next to our dead, because we dare raise our heads about the parapet. We can't give up because if we do they win."

Earlier this year, Birmingham MPs joined the group in calling for a section 1 public inquiry into the deadly terror attack of 1974. They say an inquiry is needed to finally provide answers to bereaved families, but also ensure the same 'could not happen again.'

Among the many number of campaigners eager to see justice served is Paul Bridgewater whose father, Paul Anthony Davies, lost his life following the explosion in the Tavern on the Hill. He said: "Campaigning is like a rollercoaster - there are times when you're up and you think you're getting somewhere, but then you get knocked down again.

"We want to see everything out in the open. There's so many questions that remain unanswered - we want to know the full facts and to know exactly what happened that night. It's been 50 years now and we’re still waiting - but we'll keep knocking on doors until we get the answers we deserve."

Chris Stanley is a solicitor representing the Justice 4 the 21 group. On the 50th anniversary of the bombing, he has again called for a public inquiry into the tragedy saying it would help 'restore faith in the Rule of Law.'

He said not granting a public inquiry was a 'failure of respect' owed to grieving relatives. He added: "The systems that should be in place in a democracy based on the Rule of Law and governance based on transparency and accountability have failed in this instance of mass murder.

"Those systems exist to facilitate justice, truth and accountability to the relatives of those who were murdered. They catastrophically failed them in 1974 and continue to do so."

He continued: "There is a request pending within the Home Office for the new Home Secretary to establish a public statutory inquiry into all the surrounding circumstances of the Birmingham Pub Bombings 1974.

"That decision must be made before the toil of time continues to erode memory and evidence. There is no statute of limitations on murder - or the exposure of systematic institutional failure."