by Sandra Piddock

Created on: November 22, 2011   Last Updated: November 23, 2011

On November 21, 1974,  two bombs exploded in two busy city centre pubs in Birmingham, UK. The Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town were razed to the ground, 21 people died, and more than 160 others were injured - some of them seriously. The blast happened at the height of the Irish Troubles, and it was the worst-ever IRA attack. Although it was years before the IRA claimed responsibility for the outrage, the Birmingham Pub Bombings destroyed any remaining English sympathy for their cause.

By the late evening of Friday 22 November, six Irishmen - Paddy Joe Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter, Billy Power, and Johnny Walker - had been arrested in connection with the bombings. They would become immortalised in history as the Birmingham Six.

Five of the men were arrested as they boarded a ferry in Heysham, Lancashire. They were bound for Belfast and the funeral of IRA man James McDade. A booking clerk at Birmingham's New Street Station, which was very close to the bomb blasts, remembered selling them tickets to Heysham. The sixth man - Hugh Callaghan - had seen them off at the station. He could not afford the trip to Belfast, as he was unable to work due to illness.

The men were due to catch the 18.55 train from New Street, but missed it by moments. They caught the next train - an hour later - and were playing cards when the bombs exploded. The men lived close together in Birmingham's Aston area, and knew several IRA sympathisers, although none of them were politically inclined.

When they were apprehended at Heysham, they told the police they were travelling to Belfast to visit relatives. However, when their baggage was searched, Mass  Cards signed by fellow Irishmen who couldn't attend the funeral were found, and the men were arrested and taken to Morecambe police station. Home Office forensic scientist Frank Skuse conducted tests which appeared to show that some of the men had been handling explosives, although other expert witnesses would later discredit the tests as inconclusive.

The men were subjected to police brutality, which included beatings, death threats and deprivation of basic comforts. The solicitors who were appointed to defend them failed to have their injuries photographed and recorded, although the prison doctor at Winson Green - Dr Arthur Harwood - would later give evidence that their injuries must have been caused while in custody. Four of the men signed confessions under duress, after being told

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