Maguire Seven
The Maguire Seven were seven falsely convicted of terrorists in 1975 accused of assisting the bombings of two pubs in Guildford , England .
History, arrest and conviction
Following the October 5, 1974 bombings on two pubs in Guildford, England, three Northern Irish and one Englishwoman , later known as the Guildford Four , were arrested. Gerald "Gerry" Conlon was among them. His father Patrick, called Giuseppe, Conlon traveled from Belfast to London to support his imprisoned son. He planned to live with his sister-in-law Anne Maguire and her family during this time. After Conlon made incriminating statements against Anne Maguire under torture, the police raided the Maguire house on December 3, 1974 and arrested Anne, Giuseppe Conlon, four other family members and a family friend. All seven were later accused of assisting the Guildford bombings. A forensic investigation carried out immediately after the arrest, the validity of which was later questioned, found traces of nitroglycerin on the hands and under the fingernails of all those arrested . Giuseppe Conlon himself was accused of being a bomb or explosives courier between Northern Ireland and England.
During the interviews after the supposedly incriminating forensic analysis, the arrested were denied rights and abuse was threatened, sometimes even carried out. The underage Patrick and Vincent Maguire were interrogated without legal assistance or the presence of a legal guardian. Furthermore, according to his own statement, at least Patrick Maguire was repeatedly beaten and threatened.
“He took his hand of his hip and punched the side of my face, nearly knocking me off the chair. I grasped the table. I knew there was more to come and I didn't want to be sent flying. [...] He pointed at the window in the far corner. He said he was going to throw me out. "
“He took his hand from my hip and hit my cheek, almost knocking me off the chair. I reached for the table. I knew there was more to come and I didn't want to fall. [...] He pointed to the window in the corner and said he would throw me out of there. "
After a long pre- trial detention , the trial of the Maguire Seven was opened on January 27, 1976. After about six weeks, on March 4, 1976, the seven were sentenced to the following prison terms:
| Accused | Kinship / relationship | Age when the judgment was announced |
judgment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anne Maguire | 40 | 14 years | |
| Patrick Maguire | Husband of Anne Maguire | 42 | 14 years |
| Patrick Maguire | Son of Anne and Patrick | 14th | 4 years |
| Vincent Maguire | Son of Anne and Patrick | 17th | 5 years |
| Sean Smyth | Brother of Anne Maguire | 37 | 12 years |
| Patrick O'Neill | Family friend | 35 | 12 years |
| Patrick "Giuseppe" Conlon | Brother-in-law of Anne | 52 | 12 years |
Patrick "Giuseppe" Conlon, who suffered from lung problems due to adverse working conditions (lead paint) in the paint shop of a shipyard in Belfast, died in captivity on January 23, 1980. The other six convicts served their sentences in full and were subsequently released.
Appeal and Political Aftermath
Like the Guildford Four, the Maguire Seven appealed the verdicts immediately after the verdict was announced . However, these were rejected in all cases. It was only later, after the majority of the Maguire Seven were free again, that political investigations into the coming of the judgments and the background to the arrest began - also due to massive public pressure. On July 12, 1990, British Home Secretary David Waddington published the Interim Report on the Maguire Case - An Inquiry into the Circumstances of the Judgments resulting from the Guildford and Woolwich bombings in 1974 . In this report, the conduct of the then judge John Donaldson was criticized. In addition, irregularities in the collection and handling of forensic knowledge were highlighted. The report therefore recommended referring the case back to an appeals court.
Cassation of judgments and aftermath
The convictions of all members of the Maguire Seven were overturned in 1991 . The court found it established that the British police had obtained confessions from some of those involved using force and withheld exculpatory statements and evidence. In addition, the forensic investigation that found traces of nitroglycerin was said to be inadequate. This investigation was carried out by an eighteen-year-old trainee, disregarding scientific principles, using thin-layer chromatography , which is no longer permitted in forensic technology.
The use of force during interrogations and the wrong judgments did not lead to convictions of the police officers and lawyers involved. Three police officers involved were charged but not convicted. The real perpetrators of the bombings, presumably the Balcombe Street Gang of the Provisional Irish Republican Army , had already been sentenced to life imprisonment for other crimes and were released under the Good Friday Agreement . On February 9, 2005, Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly apologized to the eleven falsely convicted of the Maguire Seven and Guildford Four:
"I am very sorry that they were subject to such an ordeal and injustice ... they deserve to be completely and publicly exonerated."
"I very much regret that you have been subjected to such agony and injustice ... you deserve to be fully and publicly rehabilitated."
Trivia and Publications
On March 6, 1984, the British broadcaster ITV aired a documentary entitled Aunt Annie's Bomb Factory (Eng. Aunt Annie's bomb factory ), which casts doubt on the convictions.
The autobiography of the youngest member of the Maguire Seven , Patrick Maguire, was published in 2008 under the title “My Father's Watch: The Story of a Child Prisoner in 70s Britain”.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Victory, Patrick (2002): Justice and Truth: The Guildford Four and Maguire Seven. Sinclair-Stevenson, 2nd illustrated edition
- ^ Parliamentary debate on the Maguire case
- ^ Review of The Independent newspaper
- ↑ Guardian newspaper report on Tony Blair's apology
- ↑ Maguire, Patrick; Gébler, Carlo (19 May 2008). My Father's Watch: The story of a child prisoner in 70s Britain. Fourth Estate. ISBN 978-0007242139 .