A convicted IRA bomber is tonight confronted on live TV over his suspected role in the Birmingham pub bombings of 1974.
The man, who cannot be named on websites visible in Northern Ireland, was approached by investigative reporter John Ware as he left a Tesco in Belfast.
In the documentary screened on ITV tonight, the man denies planting the bombs or knowing that the bombings were going to take place.
He responded to further questions with: 'I've got nothing to say... Well, you can ask what you want, but I'm not going to answer... You're wasting your time.'
The suspect's solicitor told ITV: 'Our client denies all the allegations... and does not intend to respond any further to the unfounded allegations you have made.'
Firemen at work following the bomb attacks in Birmingham city centre that targeted the Mulberry Bush pub and the Tavern in the Town
A body is carried from the Mulberry Bush pub in Birmingham after it was wrecked by a bomb in 1974
The suspect will be named on ITV but newspapers in Northern Ireland and websites that can be viewed there have chosen not to name him.
This is because recent laws providing protections against libel claims do not apply in Northern Ireland.
The confrontation is an excerpt from a new documentary by the journalist on the pub bombings and who was behind them, which is due to be broadcast at 10.45pm tonight.
In the documentary, journalist John Ware names an alleged fellow bomb planter as James Francis Gavin, then 34. The former British soldier lived in Bordesley Green and has previously been reported to have taken delivery of the bombs.
Gavin, under the alias James Kelly, stood trial alongside the wrongly convicted 'Birmingham Six' group and was convicted of handling explosives and handed a one-year sentence, fleeing to Ireland upon his release. He died in 2002.
ITV's The Hunt For The Birmingham Bombers comes days after the Court of Appeal backed a coroner's decision not to allow the forthcoming resumed inquests into the deaths of the bomb victims to examine who was responsible for the atrocity, Britain's biggest unsolved terror crime.
Julie Hambleton (left), whose sister Maxine (right) was 18 when she was killed in the bombings, said on Wednesday: 'We will continue to fight for truth, justice and accountability'
Announcing the Court of Appeal's decision over the forthcoming resumed inquests, Lord Burnett said coroner Sir Peter Thornton had made 'no error of law' when he ruled in July 2017 that trying to identify suspected bombers would be unlawful because the inquests could be seen as 'taking on the role of a proxy trial'.
Campaigners said the hearings will be 'utterly redundant' without discussing who built and planted the bombs that decimated two city centre pubs 44 years ago.
Speaking near a memorial to the victims in the grounds of Birmingham's Anglican Cathedral, members of Justice4the21 said they were seeking legal advice with a view to an appeal.
Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine was 18 when she was killed in the bombings, said on Wednesday: 'We feel as though we've been punched in the stomach again. What we do, we do for 21 people who aren't here to do it for themselves. They don't have a voice, they don't have a physical presence, but we do so we are their voice.
'Without the perpetrator issue how can you ever possibly finish the jigsaw? You have got a major part of it missing.'
She added: We are clearly very disappointed and we feel rejected but we will continue to fight for truth, justice and accountability.
'We will take stock, speak to our legal team and get their assessment of the decision - and then either decide appeal or just to continue on with the inquest process. We will dust ourselves down and continue to fight'.
Sir Peter challenged a High Court ruling made earlier this year which ordered him to reconsider his decision to exclude an inquiry into the identities of those who 'planted, planned, procured and authorised the bombs'.
The bombings in two city centre pubs, widely believed to be the work of the IRA, killed 21 people and injured 182, making it the deadliest peacetime attack in the UK at the time.
Six men, known as the Birmingham Six, were imprisoned for the murders and served 17 years behind bars in one of Britain's most infamous miscarriages of justice before their convictions were quashed.
Five West Midlands Police officers were charged with perverting the course of justice in connection with the original criminal investigation, but a judge ruled in 1993 that a fair trial would be impossible.
During the appeal proceedings before the three judges in July, lawyers for the coroner said the hearings will not resolve the ''enduring injustice' for victims and their families.
Peter Skelton QC, representing the coroner, said the victims, their families and the public interest 'cannot be served' by a promised resolution that 'cannot be delivered'.
A man grips an ambulance bar in pain after being among more than 180 people injured in two blasts seven minutes apart
Two High Court judges, sitting in Birmingham in January, quashed the decision by Sir Peter to exclude the 'perpetrator issue' from the new hearings.
Their ruling followed a judicial review brought on behalf of the bereaved families by Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine was 18 when she was killed in the bombings.
Hugh Southey QC, representing the families, told the appeal judges: 'There is the utmost public interest in the proper investigation of who was responsible for the Birmingham bombings.
'The families of the deceased said to the appellant (Sir Peter) that the investigation of this issue was so important to them that if it did not form part of the scope of the inquest 'we may as well not have an inquest at all'.'
On the evening of 21 November 1974, hundreds of people were spending the evening drinking in two busy pubs in the centre of Birmingham - the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern In The town.
Many were young office workers out with friends and work colleagues.
A man with an Irish accent telephoned the Birmingham Post newspaper with a warning at 8.11pm but it was too late.
At 8.18pm a bomb in a duffel bag exploded in the Mulberry Bush, killing 10 people. Two minutes later another blast at the Tavern In The Town killed 11 people.
hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/10/01/convicted-ira-bomber-is-confronted-on-tv-over-alleged-role-in-birmingham-pub-bombings/
Main photo article A convicted IRA bomber is tonight confronted on live TV over his suspected role in the Birmingham pub bombings of 1974.
The man, who cannot be named on websites visible in Northern Ireland, was approached by investigative reporter John Ware as he left a Tesco in Belfast.
In the documentary...
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Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/26/14/4563276-6210281-image-a-27_1537970355144.jpg
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