Bus stop on the M62

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Memorial plaque with names of the victims

The M62 coach bombing (in the UK as M62 coach bombing known) took place on 4 February 1974, the motorway M62 in the north of England , near the motorway service area Hartshead Moor services at Hartshead Moor Top in Kirklees , West Riding of Yorkshire , United Kingdom . The attack hit a tour bus with about 50 people, which was supposed to transport British soldiers and their families back to Catterick from a weekend trip in Manchester . Twelve inmates were killed, including nine soldiers, a woman and two children.

The explosive device weighing around 20 kg, which had been deposited by a stranger in Manchester in the rear luggage compartment, exploded shortly after midnight while driving at full speed and tore the rear of the bus completely apart. The injured bus driver Roland Handley was able to keep the vehicle on the road and stop safely after more than 200 meters. The nearby Hartshead Moor motorway service station was used as a first aid station, from where the injured were taken to hospitals in Bradford , Wakefield and Batley .

Among the dead on the scene was 23-year-old Lance Corporal Clifford Houghton, his wife of the same age and their two sons, ages five and two. Seven other soldiers between the ages of 17 and 28 were also killed, and another soldier died in hospital four days later. The soldiers were members of various units from the large station of Catterick, as well as the RAF base Leeming .

Ordnance disposal officers and bomb experts from the police and army investigated the scene of the attack, and also stopped and checked three other coaches that had left with soldiers from London , Liverpool and Leeds . The attack is attributed to the Provisional IRA , which had intensified its attacks on British facilities and targets since September 1973.

The attack tightened anti-terror laws in the UK; Among other things, terror suspects could from now on be detained for up to seven days without charge and brought before courts specially convened for this purpose. Just ten days after the attack, 25-year-old Judith Ward was arrested and in November not only the bombing of the M62 but also the perpetrators in the attacks on Euston train station in September 1973 and the attack on the Joint Service Defense College in Latimer Found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Her conviction was later found to be a miscarriage of justice , and she was released in 1992 after 18 years in prison. The court found it proven that the wife of an IRA member , who suffered from mental disorders, had been wrested various confessions under questionable interrogation methods. The Grießian test carried out on her was also assessed as not usable in court, since the residues of a component of nitroglycerin found on her hands also occur, for example, in commercially available shoe creams. In addition, her psychological condition and the revocation of her confessions were not taken into account.

Since 2009 there is a memorial at the rest stop and another in the Imperial War Museum North .

Web links

Coordinates: 53 ° 44 ′ 35.4 "  N , 1 ° 40 ′ 12"  W.