High Court claim against Gerry Adams over three IRA bombings discontinued
Three victims of Provisional IRA bombings in England are dropping their compensation claims against former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, their lawyers have told the Supreme Court.
Mr Adams faces a claim for a symbolic £1 in compensation from John Clark, who was injured in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing in London; Jonathan Ganesh, 1996 London Docklands survivor; and Barry Laycock from the Arndale shopping center bombing in Manchester in 1996.
The plaintiffs alleged that Mr Adams was a leading member of the Provisional IRA, including its army council, at the time these attacks occurred.
The former Sinn Fein president has consistently denied the allegations and told the court earlier this week that he was “in no way involved” in the bombings and was never a member of the Provisional IRA.
On Friday, the last day of the two-week trial, Anne Studd KC, acting on behalf of the victims, told the High Court the claim would be stayed “without any decision on costs” following “the development of proceedings overnight”.
He said the development was “related” to the “abuse of process” debate but was then stopped by the judge, Mr Justice Swift, who said: “Any representations your clients may wish to make outside of court are a matter entirely for them.”
“I am happy to make an order on terms agreed to by the parties,” he continued.
Ms Studd later said: “The plaintiffs’ view is that these proceedings were affected by injustice.”
Mr. Adams was not in court Friday.
In written evidence for the hearing, Ms Studd said the three men claimed none of the bombings “took place without the knowledge and approval” of Mr Adams because of his role in the Provisional IRA and its seven-man army council.
He said the men believed Mr Adams was “just as involved as those who planted and detonated those bombs”.
In his evidence, Mr Adams said opponents of Sinn Fein, which he chaired from 1983 to 2018, had “repeatedly tried to merge” the party with the Provisional IRA, insisting they were “separate organisations”.
He continued that he had “no involvement in or advance knowledge of” any of the bombings, and was “never a member of the IRA or its army council”, telling the court on Tuesday that he was “glad that the IRA has left the stage”.
Edward Craven KC, for Mr Adams, told the court in London that the evidence of Mr Adams’ involvement in the bombings was “extremely limited and almost non-existent”.
The lawyer also said the claim should be rejected because it was made too late, arguing that the three men were using the claim to try to hold a “public inquiry-style” hearing to find historical facts.
He added that this could be an abuse of the judicial system.
The three men said in their statements that the reason they did not file a claim before was because they did not know they could, they could not afford it, they were suffering mental or physical injuries and they feared violent reprisals.
