BBC News NI screens special programme: Who Bombed Birmingham?

In a BBC News NI Special to be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10.40pm tonight (10 July) reporter Kevin Magee speaks to Michael Christopher Hayes, named by Granada television in 1990 as a suspect in the Birmingham pub bombings.

Michael Christopher Hayes (Mick Hayes) tells BBC News NI’s Kevin Magee that he was an IRA bomb maker and was “active in the West Midlands” on the night the bombs exploded. During the interview he is asked several times if he planted the bombs. He says; “No comment. No comment. I've been accused of a lot of things, without one shred of forensic evidence, without one statement made, without one witness coming out against me."

However Mick Hayes, who is from Dublin, tells Kevin Magee he takes what he calls “collective responsibility” for the Birmingham pub bombings and he has issued an apology to the victims’ families. He tells the programme he is ashamed by the loss of life and it was never meant to happen.

Six innocent men were wrongly convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings and served 16 years in prison before being freed after a high-profile media campaign.

Julie Hambleton, whose 18 year-old sister Maxine was killed in the blasts, has said an apology from the IRA would be offensive. The victims’ families want the perpetrators brought to justice. An inquest into the bombings is due to reopen in the autumn.

BBC News NI Special - Who Bombed Birmingham? will be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10.40pm with reporter Kevin Magee.

Note to Editors

BBC News NI Special Investigations Reporter Kevin Magee’s story will feature on BBC Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra programme at 5pm and on BBC Newsline at 6.30pm on Monday 10 July. It will feature across BBC News NI platforms.

Embeddable clips from the interview will be available from BBC News NI website - please credit BBC News NI.

One photograph of Michael Christopher Hayes (Mick Hayes) is available - please credit BBC News NI.

CR