Relatives of victims of the IRA's 1974 Birmingham pub bombings are to meet UK home secretary, Amber Rudd to request funding for legal representation at the resumed inquest.
The private discussions on Monday come amid mounting concern over the way police, prison officers and local authority staff are invariably provided with lawyers at coroners’ courts whereas the families of those who died are repeatedly denied legal aid.
In June, Louise Hunt, the senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, ruled that the inquest into the double pub bombing that killed 21 people and injured 222 others should be completed because there is a "wealth of evidence that still has not been heard" about the atrocities.
The original inquest was adjourned in 1975 after six men were convicted of carrying out the attack. The so-called Birmingham Six – Paddy Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power, John Walker and Hugh Callaghan – all subsequently had their convictions quashed.
The bombings were the bloodiest terrorist attack in Britain during the Troubles and resulted in one of the most ignominious miscarriages of British justice. Families of the victims have been left with numerous unanswered questions.
For the Hillsborough inquest, the Home Office did eventually provide discretionary payments for legal representation for families at the second inquest into the deaths of 96 men, women and children in the 1989 stadium disaster. That cost has not so far been disclosed.
The Birmingham families hope to persuade Ms Rudd that a similar funding approach should be taken by the Home Office for their resumed inquest, which is due to hold its next session in November.
Concerns about the inequality of legal representation at inquests were raised by the outgoing chief coroner, Peter Thornton QC, in an interview with the Guardian this summer.
He said that legal aid should be provided for families at inquests in which the government pays for lawyers to represent police officers or other state employees.
“It’s partly a question of equality of arms, and also helps the coroner who might otherwise be bending over backwards to help the family and might give the appearance of going too far,” Mr Thornton explained.
That call has been supported by Deborah Coles, director of the organisation Inquest, which supports relatives at coroners’ courts. She has commented: “We have to get away from the Ministry of Justice claim that inquests are inquisitorial processes and families can represent themselves.”
The Birmingham families would prefer to have a similar arrangement to the Hillsborough inquest, since that would involve less bureaucracy, filling in legal aid forms and assessing eligibility.
The substantial costs of the legal challenge that forced the reopening of the inquest have so far been borne by the Belfast law firm KRW Law, which represents most of the families of the Birmingham victims. Members of the firm, including the solicitor Kevin Winters, will be present at the meeting with the home secretary.
Julie Hambleton, who lost her sister, Maxine, in the bombings, told the Birmingham Evening Mail: “We know nothing other than we have been invited to meet with Amber Rudd on that date, but are hopeful we will find out what has happened to our application.
“We have been pressing for a decision for some time so that our legal team can prepare for the first pre-inquest review hearing, which the senior coroner has called for in the autumn.” The families’ request is supported by several local MPs including Jess Phillips and Khalid Mahmood.
In a statement, KRW Law said: “Since the start of our relationship with the families of the victims, we and our counsel have acted pro bono. That is no longer practical given the scope and complexity of the resumed inquest process.
“We have made applications for legal aid and for funding from the lord chancellor. Following the decision of the senior coroner earlier this year, we make an application to the home secretary for a funding scheme similar to that made available to the families of the victims of the Hillsborough disaster 1989.”
It added: “Success is difficult to measure in such tragic cases, however with legal representation the bereaved families can have their questions and concerns considered.
“We hope that by meeting the new home secretary she will have good news.The families we represent are now at historic point of truth recovery. This is the first time an independent investigation into the Birmingham Pub Bombings 1974 will take place – and the last.”
The Guardian