Pub bombings inquests to be reopened

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PA

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Ten people were killed inside the Mulberry Bush when a device exploded in a duffle bag

Inquests into deaths of 21 people in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings are to be reopened, a coroner has ruled.

Louise Hunt said: “There is a wealth of evidence that still has not been heard – I have decided the inquest should resume.”

She said she had received information suggesting authorities had been tipped off when two men were overheard saying Birmingham would be bombed “next week”.

The information was “filed away”, the coroner said.

No action was taken by police, which Ms Hunt described as a “missed opportunity”.

West Midlands Police had argued the coroner did not have the jurisdiction to hear the inquests but she told the hearing she rejected that submission.

The original hearings, opened days after the 1974 attacks, were not continued after the jailing of six men, whose convictions were later quashed.

The Birmingham and Solihull coroner reviewed a huge body of police evidence and heard submissions from the victims’ relatives and other interested parties in February.

She said the information she had heard warranted being put into the public domain.

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Pub bombings inquests to be reopened
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