IRA suspect charged with 1982 attack in London
Source: Agencies |
May 23, 2013, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITISH prosecutors have charged a 61-year-old Irishman with the Irish Republican Army bombing of the queen's cavalry in Hyde Park in 1982, a strike at a top London tourist attraction that killed four soldiers and seven horses.
The Crown Prosecution Service said John Downey was arrested on Sunday at Gatwick Airport south of London. He was arraigned yesterday in a London court on four counts of murder and one count of conspiring to cause an explosion. He offered no plea, and spoke only to confirm his identity.
The Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party accused Britain of violating an agreement not to pursue Downey - who had been on a list of IRA suspects "on the run" from British investigators - and demanded his release.
Sinn Fein official Gerry Kelly, who once led IRA car-bomb attacks on London, called the arrest "vindictive" and an act of "bad faith" that would fuel anger in Irish nationalist parts of Northern Ireland.
He said Downey had received a 2007 letter from Britain's Northern Ireland Office saying he was not wanted for questioning by any British police force, and had traveled to London many times since then.
Downey would be the third man to face trial for the July 20, 1982, twin bomb attacks on ceremonial troops performing in London, one of the most audacious operations ever mounted by the Provisional IRA.
The first bomb in Hyde Park was planted in a parked car and detonated by remote control as the mounted troops trotted toward Buckingham Palace, a daily tourist event. Investigators believed an IRA member was in the park and triggered the bomb.
Two hours later, a time bomb in nearby Regent's Park killed seven army musicians during a performance.
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