Families of the victims of the Birmingham Pub Bombings in 1974 have been delivered another blow in their quest for justice.
This afternoon the UK Court of Appeal ruled in favour of a coroner’s decision not to name potential suspects at fresh inquests into the attack.
It is the latest twist in a long-running saga for the relatives of the 21 people who were murdered in the two IRA bombings in 1974.
Legal fight
Last July, the former chief coroner of England and Wales Peter Thornton QC said fresh inquests into the attack would not name suspects as it risked "taking on the role of a proxy criminal trial."
Campaign group Justice4the21 launched a crowdfunding push to challenge the ruling and in January, a UK High Court judicial review ordered Judge Thornton to reconsider his decision.
However, he then challenged the High Court decision and today, the UK Court of Appeal ruled in his favour.
It means the inquests will not consider who carried out the attack and will not name any suspects.
Announcing the decision today, UK Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett said the court had concluded that there was “no error of law” in Judge Thornton’s decision and that it is “not open to legal objection.”
He gave the relatives until Friday to decide whether to appeal once again.
"Beyond disappointed"
Families of the victims have warned that the inquests would be “utterly redundant and a waste of tax payers money” if potential suspects were not included.
This afternoon Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine was 18 when she was killed in the bombings, said she was "beyond disappointed" with the decision
She told the BBC that the continued struggle for justice has had a “massive impact on all of us.”
“Our health is affected, we are continually re-traumatised every single time we do interviews,” she said.
“Every time we have to go to court and get decisions like this – but we will pick ourselves up, brush ourselves down and we will continue to fight."
Bombings
The inquest will hear evidence regarding whether the UK authorities were twice tipped off about the attacks before the bombs exploded.
It will not examine the actions taken by emergency services following the attacks.
The two IRA bombings in Birmingham City Centre pubs took the lives of 21 people and injured 182 more on November 21st 1974.
The Birmingham Six were wrongly imprisoned for the attacks in 1975 - but no one else has been prosecuted since they were freed in 1991.
Last July, self-confessed IRA bomber Michael Hayes gave a BBC interview in which he accepted “collective responsibility" for the bombings.
He claimed he did not who actually planted the explosives - and offered his apologies and "heartfelt sympathy" to the victims.
The families of the victims have rejected the apology - calling Mr Hayes "gutless and spineless" and expressed their disgust that journalists could speak to Mr Hayes, while the inquest could not.
