IRA bomb victims' civil court case begins against Gerry Adams

A civil court case brought by three IRA bomb victims against former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams opens in London on Monday.

The men are seeking a ruling that he is personally liable for decisions to plant car bombs in London and Manchester in 1973 and 1996.

They are suing him for a nominal £1 in damages for "vindicatory purposes".

Adams has stated he had "no direct or indirect" involvement and has repeatedly denied ever being in the IRA.

The civil case is being heard by Mr Justice Swift at the Royal Courts of Justice.

It is listed to last for seven days.

The action has been brought by John Clark, a victim of the Old Bailey attack in 1973, as well as Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock, who were injured in the 1996 attacks in London's Docklands and at Manchester's Arndale Shopping Centre.

The three bombings were the first and last the IRA carried out in Britain during the conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.

More than 200 people were injured in the bomb left outside the Old Bailey in 1973 – the device had been transported by car ferry from Belfast to Liverpool.

It caused extensive damage.

More than 20 years later, two people were killed, and many others injured by an IRA bomb which had been left in a lorry in London's Docklands on 9 February 1996.

Just months later, a bomb exploded near Manchester Arndale shopping centre in June 1996.

More than 200 people were injured in what was described as the most powerful bomb to go off in Britain since World War Two.

The legal team representing the men has said it will present evidence from witnesses who include former IRA members, as well as retired police officers and soldiers.

Two witnesses have been granted anonymity and will be screened from view.

Adams, 77, will testify in his defence next week.

"I anticipate a number of witnesses will give hearsay evidence that because I was a senior republican during the conflict I must be responsible for these specific events," he wrote in the Andersonstown News newspaper last month.

"I had no direct or indirect involvement in these explosions.

"I will robustly challenge the unsubstantiated hearsay statements that are the mainstay of the claimants' case."

The victims' lawyers have said it will be the first time Adams will be cross-examined in an English court about his alleged leadership role in the IRA.

The judge will rule on the issue of liability "on the balance of probabilities".

The action commenced in 2022, just before the Legacy Act banned new civil claims related to the Troubles, although this is in the process of being reversed.

The claimants have 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.

As a result of a pre-trial ruling, Adams is unable to recover his legal costs from the claimants, believed to be six figures, should he successfully defend the action.

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.

Get our flagship newsletter with all the headlines you need to start the day. Sign up here.