Gerry Conlon Dies In West Belfast — Transcript

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1. 0:03This is the iconic moment Jerry Conland
2. 0:05walked free from prison 25 years ago.
3. 0:09Convicted of a crime he did not commit,
4. 0:12Jerry Conland, one of the so-called
5. 0:14Guilford 4, spent over a decade behind
6. 0:17bars. Accused of killing five people and
7. 0:19injuring 65 in the 1974 Guilford IRA pub
8. 0:24bombing. In 1989, his conviction was
9. 0:27quashed.
10. 0:29only innocent man. I watched my father
11. 0:31die in a British prison for so many.
12. 0:35The 60-year-old from West Belfast died
13. 0:37at home following a lengthy illness. In
14. 0:40a statement, his family said, "This
15. 0:42morning, we lost our Jerry. He brought
16. 0:45life, love, intelligence, wit, and
17. 0:47strength to our family through its
18. 0:49darkest hours. What he achieved by
19. 0:51fighting for justice for us has a far,
20. 0:54far greater importance. We believe it
21. 0:56changed the course of history.
22. 0:59He came out damaged, but he came out a
23. 1:02great and big person who campaigned
24. 1:05relentlessly against miscarriage of
25. 1:07justice and who brought into the life of
26. 1:10all those he met wit and wisdom and
27. 1:13insight and res resilience. Uh he was a
28. 1:17great person and he will be greatly
29. 1:19missed. In 2005, the then Prime Minister
30. 1:22Tony Blair was forced to apologize.
31. 1:26I'm very sorry that they were subject to
32. 1:30such an ordeal and such an injustice.
33. 1:35That's why I'm making this apology
34. 1:37today. They deserve to be completely and
35. 1:41publicly exonerated.
36. 1:42Completely exonerated. Jerry Conland's
37. 1:45story was turned into the Oscar
38. 1:46nominated film in the name of the father
39. 1:49with Daniel D. Lewis playing the young
40. 1:51West Belfast man. No one has ever been
41. 1:54convicted of the bomb attack.
42. 1:58The 19th of October 1989,
43. 2:02Jerry Conland walks free from prison
44. 2:04after serving 15 years for a crime he
45. 2:08never committed. unimprisoned 15 years
46. 2:12for something I didn't do.
47. 2:13In November 1974,
48. 2:16the then 20-year-old was arrested for
49. 2:18his supposed part in the IRA pub
50. 2:21bombings in Guilford, which killed five
51. 2:24people and injured 65.
52. 2:27Conland had never been to Guilford, but
53. 2:30along with three others, Paul Hill,
54. 2:32Carol Richardson, and Patty Armstrong,
55. 2:35he was jailed after police fabricated
56. 2:38confessions.
57. 2:40Collins's father, Jeppe, was also
58. 2:42imprisoned as part of a group known as
59. 2:44the Maguire 7. He died in prison 5 years
60. 2:48later. In 1989, the Court of Appeal
61. 2:52quashed the convictions of the Guilford
62. 2:544. An investigation found serious flaws
63. 2:58in the way Suriri police had handled the
64. 3:00case.
65. 3:01My father died in a British prison for
66. 3:03something he didn't do. He is innocent.
67. 3:06The Maguires is innocent. Let's hope the
68. 3:08Birmingham.
69. 3:11After finally gaining his freedom,
70. 3:14Conland campaigned tirelessly for the
71. 3:16Birmingham 6, but he found it difficult
72. 3:19to cope with life after prison. I've
73. 3:22been in treatment for nearly seven years
74. 3:25seeing a psychiatrist, a trauma
75. 3:27counselor for twice a week. And for the
76. 3:30first three years, all I did was cry. I
77. 3:32could I couldn't get over when he
78. 3:34mentioned my father or a certain prison,
79. 3:37I would just burst into tears. The the
80. 3:39trauma was so deep.
81. 3:40In 2005,
82. 3:4216 years after their release, an apology
83. 3:46came. There was a miscarriage of justice
84. 3:48in the case of Jerry Conland and all the
85. 3:50Gila four as well as Jeppe Conland and
86. 3:53Annie Maguire and all of the Maguire
87. 3:56seven.
88. 3:56But Jerry Conland's fight didn't end
89. 3:59there and he continued to highlight
90. 4:01cases of injustice right up until his
91. 4:04death.
92. 4:05My heart goes out to his family. This
93. 4:07was a huge miscarriage of justice that
94. 4:10Gappi, his father and Jerry were
95. 4:12imprisoned. He uh was very active on
96. 4:16prisoners issues and on miscarriage of
97. 4:20justice issues both in Ireland and in
98. 4:21Britain.
99. 4:22Rather than seeking revenge or seeking
100. 4:24retribution for the injury that was done
101. 4:26to him, he said about making sure that
102. 4:28it didn't happen to anybody else.
103. 4:30Jerry Conland's family said today that
104. 4:33his fight had forced the world's closed
105. 4:35eyes to be opened to injustice.
106. 4:40striding to freedom after years in jail.
107. 4:44Jerry Conland was a victim of one of the
108. 4:46most serious miscarriages of justice in
109. 4:48British history.
110. 4:50Been imprisoned in 15 years for
111. 4:52something I didn't do. For something I
112. 4:55didn't know anything about.
113. 4:57Totally innocent man.
114. 4:58He and three others had been jailed for
115. 5:00life for carrying out the Guilford pub
116. 5:02bombings in 1974, which left five dead
117. 5:05and dozens injured. The prisoners became
118. 5:08known as the Guilford 4 and always
119. 5:10insisted they'd been framed. They were
120. 5:13released in 1989. 16 years later, they
121. 5:16received a formal apology from the then
122. 5:19Prime Minister Tony Blair.
123. 5:21I'm very sorry that they were subject to
124. 5:24such an ordeal and such an injustice.
125. 5:29I don't do this.
126. 5:30In the 1990s, the story was made into an
127. 5:32Oscar nominated film. In the name of the
128. 5:35father,
129. 5:36Mr. Conland used his high profile to
130. 5:38campaign on behalf of other victims of
131. 5:41injustice. A politician and friend paid
132. 5:44tribute to his work.
133. 5:45He didn't cry about his own situation.
134. 5:47He basically set out to make sure that
135. 5:49others didn't suffer the same horrible
136. 5:52fate that he had suffered.
137. 5:54But his own years in prison haunted Mr.
138. 5:56Conland.
139. 5:57You don't come out of prison after that
140. 5:59length of time
141. 6:01and just blend in with society.
142. 6:04It does take a lot of getting used to
143. 6:07and uh I really haven't got used to I
144. 6:10still wake up sweating.
145. 6:13After his death in Belfast this morning,
146. 6:16Jerry Conland's relatives issued a
147. 6:17statement saying he brought life, love,
148. 6:20intelligence, wit and strength to our
149. 6:22family through its darkest hours. They
150. 6:25went on, we recognize that what he
151. 6:27achieved by fighting for justice for us
152. 6:29had a far far greater importance. It
153. 6:32forced the world's closed eyes to be
154. 6:34opened to injustice.
155. 6:36Mr. Conland's family said they believed
156. 6:38he had changed the course of history.