HUGH CALLAGHAN, ONE of the ‘Birmingham Six’, who were wrongly imprisoned for IRA bombings, has died aged 93.
Callaghan and his co-accused left Birmingham shortly before IRA-planted bombs exploded in two city-centre pubs in on 21 November 1974.
Each of the six men were given life sentences for the bombings, which killed 21 people and injured 182 more.
The six claimed that police forced them to sign confessions after physical and psychological torture.
Their first appeal of their convictions was rejected in January 1987. Journalist and Labour MP Chris Mullin helped the men prove their innocence and they were released in 1991.
Nora Mulready, whose mother Sally campaigned for the release of the Birmingham six and co-wrote a book with Callaghan about his experience, said in a statement on behalf of their family: “Hugh’s passing feels like the end of an era.
“We loved and admired him very much and all of us are so proud that he was a part of our lives. He was a man with astonishing strength of character,” the statement said.
“Despite the profound injustice he endured, he was not bitter or angry, but joyful and always ready to sing. His party piece was Danny Boy, and his voice was magnificent and strong right to end, with the last day of his life spent with his beloved Adeline and singing to the nurses in hospital.
“We are profoundly sad at his death but we know the last years of his life were full of love, singing, dancing and Irish music, and we will continue to try and live the values of forgiveness and gentle optimism that Hugh taught us.”
The Irish Pensioners’ Choir, of which Callaghan was a member, said in a statement: “We were proud to sing beside our dear friend Hugh Callaghan, and one of our best days together was singing in front of 50,000 people at the Mayor of London’s st Patrick’s day festival in Trafalgar Square in 2022.
“Hugh was a gentle person who smiled and laughed and brought such joy to us all with his singing.
“We will miss hearing his powerful voice – he was up there with the great Irish singers. He was an older Irish person like the rest of us and we were all proud to have him in our Irish Pensioners Choir.”
Between them, the men – five of whom were Catholics from Belfast – spent 96 years behind bars.
Each of them received compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2 million several years after their release.
The trial is considered one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.
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