1982 Hyde Park IRA bomb suspect walks free

The families of the bombing victims said that they felt “devastatingly let down” following the court decision.

15:48 26 February 2014

62-year-old John Anthony Downey, the man who was accused of murdering four soldiers in an IRA bomb attack in London’s Hyde Park in 1982 was set free after a judge ruled that his trial should not go ahead because of the British government’s prior assurances he received under the Good Friday peace agreement.

Downey had pleaded not guilty to the bombing that took place on July 20, 1982.

The case is understood to have relied heavily on disputed fingerprint evidence from the scene where the car, which contained the bomb, was parked before the attack. His lawyer said that he should not face trial because he was one of the 187 IRA suspect who received a letter giving him “a clear and unequivocal assurance” that they are no longer wanted by any police force in the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the families of the victims felt “devastatingly let down.”

In a statement, they said: "The end result is that … the full chain of those terrible events will never be put in the public domain for justice to be seen to be done. The torment for the families will be ongoing, knowing that John Downey will be returning to his family and life will be normal for him.

"Our men signed up to serve their country in good faith, yet now it seems that that faith was not supported by those within certain areas of authority. The families now seek a degree of accountability for this catastrophic failure. Two opportunities are known where the error in the issuing of this letter could have been raised, yet nothing was done. Had such an error been raised, it is recognised as being of such importance that it would immediately have required action and would not have gone uncorrected. However, on both occasions nothing was done."