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PA Archive / Press Association Images
PA Archive / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
ON 19 OCTOBER 1989, Gerry Conlon stormed out of the Old Bailey in London, with his sisters Bridie and Ann, and delivered an extraordinary, impromptu speech that has become iconic in recent Irish history.
I’ve been in prison 15 years, for something I didn’t do. Something I didn’t know anything about.
I’m a totally innocent man – I watched my father die in a British prison for something he didn’t do.
He is innocent, the Maguires are innocent, let’s hope the Birmingham Six are next to be freed.
Conlon, who died in June, had his wrongful 1975 conviction for the Guildford pub bombings quashed that day, along with Paul Hill, Paddy Armstrong, and Carole Richardson.
Conlon’s father Giuseppe, who had been in ill health even before his wrongful conviction, died in prison in January 1980.
Paul Hill, speaking in 1994 after his wrongful conviction for the murder of a British soldier in Belfast was quashed. PA Archive / Press Association Images
PA Archive / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
The IRA bomb attacks, on 5 October 1974, killed five people, including four British soldiers.
Speaking at Conlon’s funeral, his solicitor Gareth Peirce said his words that day “set something in motion that forced us, the rest of the world, Britain, to hold a mirror up to ourselves and see precisely who we were and what we had done,” the Irish Times reported.
The Maguire Seven – including Giuseppe Conlon, five members of Conlon’s extended family, and Maguire family friend Patrick O’Neill – had their convictions quashed in 1991.
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The coffin of Gerry Conlon is carried by, among others, Guildford Four member Paddy Armstrong (front right), and Birmingham Six member Paddy Hill (front left) PA Wire / Press Association Images
PA Wire / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
Conlon was, in the words of Peirce, plagued by “demons” after his release, and a Cambridge University psychologist in 1996 said he and members of the Birmingham Six were suffering from persist post-traumatic stress disorder.
He became a leading activist through the Miscarriages of Justice group, however, campaigning up until his death.
Richardson, who was just 17 when convicted, lived in almost complete obscurity after being released, until her death in 2012, at the age of 55.
A post-release photo of Guildford Four member Carole Richardson, who died in obscurity in 2012. PA Archive / Press Association Images
PA Archive / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
Hill married Courtney Kennedy, the daughter of Senator Robert Kennedy, but their marriage ended in 2006.
Armstrong now lives in Dublin with his wife Caroline, the Irish Independent reported during the summer.
The Guildford Four and Maguire Seven were officially exonerated by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2005.
Here is Gerry Conlon’s short, iconic speech from outside the Old Bailey, 25 years ago today:
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@hard yaka: what will happen is,the hospitals will only bring in private health care,and make it that way,and the ordinary taxpayer and medical cars holders,won’t be seen,they have a plan already set up,mark my words.
Some people spent too much time in the USA here. Of course public hospital should be 100% free with the amount of taxpayer money it is allowed each year.
@Yvon Queguiner: the taxpayer is paying the lions share of it anyway. 80 euro per night is a drop in the ocean towards the actual cost of someones hospital stay, and that discounts everyone using a medical care and private/public insurance. I’m sure the 4 billion of usc a year will cover the government some people in here are so worried about being out of pocket.
Now time to abolish hospital parking charges as was promised as part of the programme for government. Families have enough on their plates having someone in hospital without adding to the already stressful situation
When the Elite have serious health issues they are off to the USA like a light! Irish healthcare is substandard. That’s the reality. Letting the government be in charge of any service results in lower quality.
It’s easy scrap the fees,when people are on waiting list for years,Even private health insurance can not get u seen with in 2 weeks like it was before,but people who are on list with medical cards,God help them all,because the hospitals will def only see private health,to claw the money back,we need only think back to 2006,when the lies were told,and changed the health boards to the HSE,Mary Harney lied because the wanted hospitals closed in every County,it took a few years to see the damage,HSE has too much power,like the local Councils..they won’t answer even to the government
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