Civil case against Gerry Adams over IRA bombings withdrawn

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Barry O’Connor,BBC News NIand

Chris Page,Ireland correspondent

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Gerry Adams at the Royal Courts of Justice, in London, on Thursday

A civil case against Gerry Adams over three IRA bombings in Britain has been withdrawn.

A lawyer for the three claimants said on Friday that proceedings would be “discontinued” with “no order as to costs”.

The victims who brought the case alleged that Adams, 77, was personally liable for injuries they received in IRA attacks in London and Manchester in 1973 and 1996.

The former Sinn Féin leader had insisted he had no role in the explosions and has strongly denied a claim that he was a “major player” in the IRA.

Anne Studd KC, for the victims, told the High Court that the development was “related” to an argument around “abuse of process”.

At the end of the proceedings, the lawyer said that given the level of public interest in the trial, she wanted to set out the reasons for the decision.

But the judge said the court was not “an opportunity for a public statement”.

Adams was not in court on Friday.

In a statement, he said he “welcomed the decision” and attended the case “out of respect” for the claimants.

The trial concluded after nine days of hearings before Mr Justice Swift at the High Court in London.

Adams’ lawyers had argued the case was based on “an assortment of hearsay” and that it had been brought several decades too late.

They also suggested it had been taken as an abuse of legal process, and that the civil action was not about trying to prove liability for the three bomb attacks, but to try to establish a much wider process which “the court is not intended to perform or is equipped to perform”.

During his two days on the witness stand, Adams faced an array of allegations from across several decades.

UK government memos, a letter from the US President Bill Clinton, and quotes from Irish ministers were put to him by the barrister for the bomb victims.

Adams: ‘Nothing but sympathy for claimants’

Speaking at a press conference in west Belfast, Adams added that the case should “never have been brought”.

“I contested this case and defended myself against the smears and false accusations being levelled against me,” he said.

“I asserted the legitimacy of the Republican cause and the right of the people of Ireland to freedom and self-determination. I do so again.”

He also said he had “nothing but sympathy” for the claimants, and that he was moved by the testimonies of the two men who told of their own experiences.

“Family members of mine have been killed, I’ve been shot myself, so I know what it’s like,” Adams added.

Reuters

Adams spoke to the media at a press conference in west Belfast after the case was withdrawn

Adams also said at times the case “verged upon a show trial”.

“I said at the beginning of the trial, it clearly was an unorthodox and strategically important political case taken for that purpose - I don’t fault the claimants for that,” he said.

Due to the result of a pre-trial ruling, Adams is unable to recover his legal costs from the claimants, believed to be six figures.

He confirmed that he would be taking on the costs, adding: “I was never going to make an effort to burden the claimants with my legal bill.”

The BBC has contacted the legal team acting on behalf of the claimants for a statement about the decision.

What was the case about?

Adams was being sued for “vindicatory” damages of £1 each by John Clark, Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock, who were injured respectively in the Old Bailey attack in 1973, and the London Docklands and Manchester bombings in 1996.

The claimants raised more than £100,000 through crowdfunding to bring the case.

They said they were acting not just for themselves, but for all IRA victims.

The IRA was responsible for around 1,700 killings during the Troubles.

Adams was once charged with IRA membership in 1978, but the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence.

His only Troubles-era convictions, for twice attempting to escape prison while interned without trial in the mid-1970s, were quashed in 2020.

He has been questioned in court before about his alleged IRA past - at the Ballymurphy inquest in Belfast in 2019 and during a libel case against the BBC in Dublin last year.

Who is Gerry Adams?

Adams was the former president of republican party Sinn Féin from 1983 until 2018.

He was elected as MP in his native west Belfast from 1997 until 2011, but Sinn Féin does not take its seats at Westminster due to the party’s policy of abstentionism.

Adams sat as a TD (member of the Irish parliament) between 2011 and 2020.

He led the Sinn Féin delegation during peace talks that eventually brought an end to the Troubles after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

He was detained in the early 1970s when the government in Northern Ireland introduced internment without trial for those suspected of paramilitary involvement.

This was the first time that he had been questioned in a court in Great Britain about claims that he was a senior member of the IRA.

He has consistently denied being a member of the IRA.

High Court

Northern Ireland

The Troubles

Gerry Adams