ON 14 MARCH 1991, the Birmingham Six were released from prison, after their convictions for the murder of 21 people were quashed by the UK Court of Appeal.
Paddy Joe Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter, Billy Power and Johnny Walker were arrested in 1974 and charged in 1975.
They had left Birmingham shortly before IRA-planted bombs exploded in two city centre pubs - the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town – on 21 November 1974, at about 8.17pm and 8.27pm respectively.
Telephone warnings were sent to local newspapers a few minutes beforehand, but the venues were not evacuated in time.
A third bomb was found later that night but it failed to detonate.
As well as the 21 fatalities, 182 people were injured. Each of the six men were given a life sentence. Three other men were charged with conspiracy.
The six men claimed that police forced them to sign confessions after physical and psychological torture.
In January 1987, their first appeal was rejected. Journalist and Labour MP Chris Mullin helped the men prove their innocence.
Speaking shortly after their release, Paddy Hill told reporters:
For 16-and-a-half years we have been used as political scapegoats … The police told us from the start they knew we hadn’t done it. They didn’t care who had done it.
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.
Three of men appeared on the Late Late Show in 1991 to discuss what happened to them:
Last year, Hill again challenged the IRA members behind the bombings to come forward.
As families of the victims marked the 40th anniversary of the atrocity in 2014, they called for a new inquiry to be held.
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