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Gerry Conlon has died

12467…12

Comments

  • #92
    Galwayguy35
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,496 ✭✭✭✭Galwayguy35


    RIP

    He had a tough life, the best years of his life wasted in a British jail and then passing away at the very young age of 60.

    I know it's AH but some of the comments about an innocent man who just died are sickening.


  • #93
    Sunnyisland
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,562 ✭✭✭✭Sunnyisland


    scuba8 wrote: »
    Did they actually produce evidence that they had committed the bombing or did they just say that they did it. Did they make written statements confessing their guilt. That was what was required. They could have done that much.
    By the way who were the bombers?

    Mick Murray has been named as one of the IRA bombers [25] and was sentenced to 12 years at the same trial that convicted the Birmingham Six.[1] Patrick Hill, one of the Six, said in April 2012 that the Six had learned the names of the real bombers and claimed it was common knowledge among the upper echelons of both the IRA and the British government.[26] He says he was told in around 1980 that IRA members had admitted that five people carried out the bombings, and that two of the five have since died, and two have been promised immunity.[27]

    There is amble evidence on the internet if you want to find out more about what happened including the ground breaking documentary of who bombed Birmingham ,

    Anyway this thread is not about who done what it's about a man who died and was wrongly convicted by so called brittish justice.

    RIP


  • #94
    scuba8
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 201 ✭✭scuba8


    realies wrote: »
    Mick Murray has been named as one of the IRA bombers [25] and was sentenced to 12 years at the same trial that convicted the Birmingham Six.[1] Patrick Hill, one of the Six, said in April 2012 that the Six had learned the names of the real bombers and claimed it was common knowledge among the upper echelons of both the IRA and the British government.[26] He says he was told in around 1980 that IRA members had admitted that five people carried out the bombings, and that two of the five have since died, and two have been promised immunity.[27]

    There is amble evidence on the internet if you want to find out more about what happened including the ground breaking documentary of who bombed Birmingham ,

    Anyway this thread is not about who done what it's about a man who died and was wrongly convicted by so called brittish justice.

    RIP

    Too little too late. At the time of the sentencing it would have been simple for the real bombers to go to a solicitor, make a writen statement,put stuff in the statement that only whoever planted the bomb could know. Go with the statement and a solicitor into a police station in Belfast and confess. Gerry Conlon would have to be released. Did they do that did they heck.


  • #95
    Choochtown
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,594 ✭✭✭Choochtown


    scuba8 wrote: »
    Too little too late. At the time of the sentencing it would have been simple for the real bombers to go to a solicitor, make a writen statement,put stuff in the statement that only whoever planted the bomb could know. Go with the statement and a solicitor into a police station in Belfast and confess. Gerry Conlon would have to be released. Did they do that did they heck.

    One of the most sickening things about what happened to Gerry Conlon is that the British authorities knew that he was innocent but it was much easier to let him rot in prison and hope his supporters would eventually shut up. Unfortunately I don't think statements from the Balcombe Street bombers would have made any difference whatsoever. There were reputations to protect.


  • #96
    pO1Neil
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 354 ✭✭pO1Neil


    Tramps Like Us wrote: »
    Gerry Conlon spent a lot of time in recent years working on the case of the Craigavon Two, two men jailed for a murder they did not commit and were stitched up for

    You can read more about the case and campaign here:

    http://justiceforthecraigavontwo.com/


    The best tribute you can make to Gerry is to continue his work against injustices like what he and now the craigavon two are suffering. Sadly the cases of the Guildford Four etc were not unique and similar things happen today

    Very true. Gareth Pierce also worked on the Judith Ward case, another Irish person convicted of a IRA bombing around the same as the Guildford four & Birmingham six for just being Irish.

    The reason they don't wont the Dublin bombings to become public knowledge is because their afraid of the public reaction - this is now bullsh!t.
    Sure we burnt down the British embassy after Bloody Sunday but Irish people have grown an awful lot since then 42 years ago example - There was no ant-British backlash when the Guildford four, Maguire seven & Birmingham six were found innocent & sent free.

    The best tribute we can pay Gerry & Irish citizens is found out the truth of the Dublin & Monaghan war criminals. I can guarantee there would be no anti-British backlash.


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  • #97
    pO1Neil
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 354 ✭✭pO1Neil


    scuba8 wrote: »
    Too little too late. At the time of the sentencing it would have been simple for the real bombers to go to a solicitor, make a writen statement,put stuff in the statement that only whoever planted the bomb could know. Go with the statement and a solicitor into a police station in Belfast and confess. Gerry Conlon would have to be released. Did they do that did they heck.


    I'm afraid that would have mad no difference. The authorities knew they were innocent from the start but they wanted Irish blood even if it was innocent Irish blood.


  • #98
    pO1Neil
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 354 ✭✭pO1Neil


    Gerry on the Craigavon two.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gaXVP4QboQ


  • #99
    Dian Cecht
    Closed Accounts Posts: 338 ✭✭Dian Cecht


    RIP

    Gone but never forgotten !


  • #100
    Busted Flat.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,003 ✭✭✭Busted Flat.


    realies wrote: »
    In February 1977, during the trial of the Balcombe Street ASU, the four IRA men instructed their lawyers to "draw attention to the fact that four totally innocent people were serving massive sentences", referring to the Guildford Four.[5] Despite claims to the police that they were responsible[5] they were never charged with these offences, and the Guildford Four remained in prison for another twelve years.

    I am old enough to remember when there was active protests and campaigns to highlight the innocence of the Birmingham six,Guildford four and the maguire family and the complete silence and indifference of the majority of the Irish goverment and media was shamefull.

    Well done.


  • #101
    Mr.Micro
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,336 ✭✭✭Mr.Micro


    realies wrote: »
    Mick Murray has been named as one of the IRA bombers [25] and was sentenced to 12 years at the same trial that convicted the Birmingham Six.[1] Patrick Hill, one of the Six, said in April 2012 that the Six had learned the names of the real bombers and claimed it was common knowledge among the upper echelons of both the IRA and the British government.[26] He says he was told in around 1980 that IRA members had admitted that five people carried out the bombings, and that two of the five have since died, and two have been promised immunity.[27]

    There is amble evidence on the internet if you want to find out more about what happened including the ground breaking documentary of who bombed Birmingham ,

    Anyway this thread is not about who done what it's about a man who died and was wrongly convicted by so called brittish justice.

    RIP


    The British don't do justice. It all depends on who you are. They just wanted any old paddy to pin the blame on at the time. Havers who prosecuted was part of the rot and knew like any barrister that there was not enough evidence against the men, and what they had was flawed in the extreme. There have been numerous miscarriages of justice in the British system and not just against Irish people. Hillsborough, the Birmingham 6, and many others. The British are masters at cover up and will always do it, it part of the fabric of their justice system. Good in parts but rotten in parts.


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  • #102
    Busted Flat.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,003 ✭✭✭Busted Flat.


    scuba8 wrote: »
    Too little too late. At the time of the sentencing it would have been simple for the real bombers to go to a solicitor, make a writen statement,put stuff in the statement that only whoever planted the bomb could know. Go with the statement and a solicitor into a police station in Belfast and confess. Gerry Conlon would have to be released. Did they do that did they heck.

    There was a war going at the time, declared by William Whitlaw minster for NI.


  • #103
    jca
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,539 ✭✭✭jca


    scuba8 wrote: »
    Too little too late. At the time of the sentencing it would have been simple for the real bombers to go to a solicitor, make a writen statement,put stuff in the statement that only whoever planted the bomb could know. Go with the statement and a solicitor into a police station in Belfast and confess. Gerry Conlon would have to be released. Did they do that did they heck.

    That's a bit like going back to the bookie saying I meant to put the money on the other horse that won.


  • #104
    Sunnyisland
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,562 ✭✭✭✭Sunnyisland


    Seamus Mallon has said something simlar to the poster above, who said the IRA should have admitted there members involvement in the atrocity and named them,this is what Paul hill said

    Paul Hill, one of the Guildford Four, has said that although IRA members arrested at the Balcombe Street siege in London admitted their part on the Guilford attack, this was not acted on by the British authorities.

    He also said that the British intelligence service knew that the Guildford Four were innocent.

    Mr Hill told RTE News that seeing and hearing the eulogies to Gerry Conlon reminded him that many people in political life and the media had no time - for many years - for those wrongfully jailed in Britain during the Troubles.

    Mr Hill also said "the intelligence service were well aware that the people in the Birmingham case and the people in the Guildford case were totally and absolutely innocent."

    "We’ll never get to the bottom of why they actually put people away. Scapegoats had to be found and they were found."

    Mr Hill added that what happened to himself and Mr Conlon was "a greater miscarriage of justice than those who died."

    http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0622/625641-gerry-conlon/


    Suppose just like the Dublin Monaghan bombings we will never no the full truth.


  • #105
    LorMal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,372 ✭✭✭LorMal


    realies wrote: »
    In February 1977, during the trial of the Balcombe Street ASU, the four IRA men instructed their lawyers to "draw attention to the fact that four totally innocent people were serving massive sentences", referring to the Guildford Four.[5] Despite claims to the police that they were responsible[5] they were never charged with these offences, and the Guildford Four remained in prison for another twelve years.

    I am old enough to remember when there was active protests and campaigns to highlight the innocence of the Birmingham six,Guildford four and the maguire family, and the complete silence and indifference of the majority of the Irish goverment and media was shamefull.

    This is the same Balcombe Street gang who were cheered and lifted aloft, feted as heroes, at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis on their release. Pathetic.


  • #106
    Busted Flat.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,003 ✭✭✭Busted Flat.


    LorMal wrote: »
    This is the same Balcombe Street gang who were cheered and lifted aloft, feted as heroes, at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis on their release. Pathetic.

    The war was over then.


  • #107
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 24,286 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Very tragic news. When i learned of it last night my first thought was that Gerry and the others who suffered a miscarriage of justice would be the most deserving of a long fruitful life to make up for the injustice they suffered and the fifteen years of life that was stolen from them.

    Its very sad to think that 15 of his 60 years were served in a prison for a crime he did not commit :(

    RIP Gerry.


  • #108
    LorMal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,372 ✭✭✭LorMal


    Busted Flat. wrote: »
    The war was over then.

    Yeah, that excuses everything...


  • #109
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 24,286 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Riddle101 wrote: »
    RIP Gerry Conlon, thankfully he didn't die in a prison cell.


    Unfortunately his father Giuseppe did. The last years of his life spent in a prison cell. A sheer fúcking disgrace.


  • #110
    tomwaterford
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,768 ✭✭✭✭tomwaterford


    LorMal wrote: »
    Yeah, that excuses everything...


    TBF....they were hardly going to get booed at a sinn fein ard fheis like


    RIP to the man conlon....no one deserved that...it could have as easily been someone related to you....if they were irish living in London at the time....that's the scary thing...I see nothing to suggest it couldn't happen again

    look at them dissident lads from Craigavon....while having misgivings about overly supporting dissidents (lack of main political message mainly)
    I would struggle to stand over there convictions....indeed as far as I can tell a lot of dissident crimes get quashed on appeal...no justice is better tyhan the wrong person getting convicted and spending all them years in jail


  • #111
    Busted Flat.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,003 ✭✭✭Busted Flat.


    LorMal wrote: »
    Yeah, that excuses everything...

    The Luftwaffe pilots that bombed London in ww2 were taken on by NATO to fly over and protect it's member states that they tried to destroy ten years earlier.
    War is war, it is not one sided depending on which tv channel you are watching.
    eg. Ukraine,Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria. Look at the change in attitude in relations now with the US and Iran. As I said war is war, depending on which channel you watch


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  • #112
    scuba8
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 201 ✭✭scuba8


    Busted Flat. wrote: »
    There was a war going at the time, declared by William Whitlaw minster for NI.

    That has no relevance at all. The fact is the Ira had the means at their disposal to have Gerry Conlon released. They chose to do nothing and left him to rot in jail for 15 years.
    The British police were a disgrace and should themselves be in jail. But the Ira share a large portion of blame.


  • #113
    scuba8
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 201 ✭✭scuba8


    Choochtown wrote: »
    One of the most sickening things about what happened to Gerry Conlon is that the British authorities knew that he was innocent but it was much easier to let him rot in prison and hope his supporters would eventually shut up. Unfortunately I don't think statements from the Balcombe Street bombers would have made any difference whatsoever. There were reputations to protect.

    We will never know what would have happened because the Ira never did give statements of confession.


  • #114
    tomwaterford
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,768 ✭✭✭✭tomwaterford


    scuba8 wrote: »
    That has no relevance at all. The fact is the Ira had the means at their disposal to have Gerry Conlon released. They chose to do nothing and left him to rot in jail for 15 years.
    The British police were a disgrace and should themselves be in jail. But the Ira share a large portion of blame.

    what more could they do??

    from Wikipedia:

    Along with other members of the Unit, he was eventually cornered by the Metropolitan Police in Balcombe Street and arrested after a week-long siege. He was eventually charged with sixty offences, and received twelve life sentences and a whole life tariff. O'Connell made a speech from the dock in which he said:
    We have recognised this court to the extent that we have instructed our lawyers to draw the attention of the court to the fact that four totally innocent people – Carole Richardson, Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill and Paddy Armstrong – are serving massive sentences for three bombings, two in Guildford and one in Woolwich, which three of us and another man now imprisoned, have admitted that we did./COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0066cc]4[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0066cc


  • #115
    Busted Flat.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,003 ✭✭✭Busted Flat.


    scuba8 wrote: »
    That has no relevance at all. The fact is the Ira had the means at their disposal to have Gerry Conlon released. They chose to do nothing and left him to rot in jail for 15 years.
    The British police were a disgrace and should themselves be in jail. But the Ira share a large portion of blame.

    Read the posts, and look back at what was said. SF bashing has no place in this thread. There are several other threads will satisfy your requirements.


  • #116
    scuba8
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 201 ✭✭scuba8


    jca wrote: »
    That's a bit like going back to the bookie saying I meant to put the money on the other horse that won.

    This makes no sense at all.


  • #117
    scuba8
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 201 ✭✭scuba8


    Busted Flat. wrote: »
    Read the posts, and look back at what was said. SF bashing has no place in this thread. There are several other threads will satisfy your requirements.

    This was meant to be a tribute to Gerry Conlon. However the hypocracy of Gerry Adams on rte news and the shiners on this post is sickening. They behave as if they cared what had happened to Gerry Conlon. They could have helped have him released but chose to do nothing and left him rot in jail for fifteen years.
    As I said spare me the crocodile tears.


  • #118
    Dyr
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,246 ✭✭✭✭Dyr


    tomwaterford wrote: »
    what more could they do??

    from Wikipedia:

    Along with other members of the Unit, he was eventually cornered by the Metropolitan Police in Balcombe Street and arrested after a week-long siege. He was eventually charged with sixty offences, and received twelve life sentences and a whole life tariff. O'Connell made a speech from the dock in which he said:
    We have recognised this court to the extent that we have instructed our lawyers to draw the attention of the court to the fact that four totally innocent people – Carole Richardson, Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill and Paddy Armstrong – are serving massive sentences for three bombings, two in Guildford and one in Woolwich, which three of us and another man now imprisoned, have admitted that we did./COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0066cc]4[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0066cc

    tbh you'd have spanners complaining that gerry kelly did'nt try bust the guildford 4 out of jail.

    Its almost pavlovian in some types at this stage, anything related to the troubles: blame the shinners


  • #119
    scuba8
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 201 ✭✭scuba8


    tomwaterford wrote: »
    what more could they do??

    from Wikipedia:

    Along with other members of the Unit, he was eventually cornered by the Metropolitan Police in Balcombe Street and arrested after a week-long siege. He was eventually charged with sixty offences, and received twelve life sentences and a whole life tariff. O'Connell made a speech from the dock in which he said:
    We have recognised this court to the extent that we have instructed our lawyers to draw the attention of the court to the fact that four totally innocent people – Carole Richardson, Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill and Paddy Armstrong – are serving massive sentences for three bombings, two in Guildford and one in Woolwich, which three of us and another man now imprisoned, have admitted that we did./COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0066cc]4[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=2][COLOR=#0066cc

    Statements from the dock years later does not cut it. At the time Gerry Conlon was convicted they could have made written statements through a solicitor in which they put in details of the bombing that only those involved could know. Then go with their solicitor and their written statements to say a police station in Belfast. Notify the press of what they were doing and confess. The Brits would have had no option but to quash the convictions. They chose to let innocent men take the blame for the bombing.


  • #120
    Busted Flat.
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,003 ✭✭✭Busted Flat.


    scuba8 wrote: »
    Statements from the dock years later does not cut it. At the time Gerry Conlon was convicted they could have made written statements through a solicitor in which they put in details of the bombing that only those involved could know. Then go with their solicitor and their written statements to say a police station in Belfast. Notify the press of what they were doing and confess. The Brits would have had no option but to quash the convictions. They chose to let innocent men take the blame for the bombing.

    I feel embarrassed for you now. There will be no further comment from me to your posts.


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  • #121
    scuba8
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 201 ✭✭scuba8


    Bambi wrote: »
    tbh you'd have spanners complaining that gerry kelly did'nt try bust the guildford 4 out of jail.

    Its almost pavlovian in some types at this stage, anything related to the troubles: blame the shinners

    So you are saying the Ira did not let them rot in jail for 15 years.
    This was not meant to be a bash the Ira thread. How ever when the shiners do not accept their part in the suffering of Gerry Conlon and pretend it had nothing to do with them then the hypocracy needs to be pointed out.


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