A coroner in the UK has ruled that the inquests into the Guildford pub bombings should resume over 40 years after they were suspended.

Four British soldiers and a civilian were killed when the first of two bombs exploded in the Surrey town on October 5th 1974.

Four people, who became known as the Guildford Four, were wrongly convicted for the attack.

Gerry Conlon, Paul Michael Hill, Paddy Armstrong and Carole Richardson spent 15 years in prison before their convictions were overturned in 1989.

The original inquests into the deaths were suspended when they were convicted in 1975.

File photo of Gerry Conlon, the first of the Guildford Four to be freed, outside the Old Bailey in London, 19-10-1989. Image: John Stillwell/PA Wire/PA Images

Formal investigation

Handing down his ruling at Woking Coroner's Court this morning, Surrey Coroner Richard Travers said those affected by the blast were "entitled" to have the attack "formally explored in open court and in proceedings which are untainted by allegations of impropriety or misconduct."

He noted that the case is “not of such antiquity that it should be considered ancient history” – with many of the people who were in the pubs at the time now in their 60s and 70s.

He said the inquest would not have the scope to explore who was responsible for the bombings – or whether UK police lied during the trials of the Guildford Four.

He said it would focus on the location and time of the blasts, whether the victims died immediately and the response of emergency services.

Victims

Plasterer Paul Craig, 21, and soldiers Caroline Slater, 18, William Forsyth, 18, John Hunter, 17, and Ann Hamilton, 19, died in the explosion at the Horse and Groom pub.

The Seven Stars pub was evacuated before the second bomb exploded.

The families of the victims, along with survivors and those wrongfully convicted, have campaigned for the inquest to be reopened.

The IRA claimed responsibility for the attacks in 1976.