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In The Name of Gerry Conlon, RTE August 2023 — Transcript

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0:03[Music]
0:05Jerry burst out of the doors of the
0:08court and it was like an animal coming
0:12out of
0:14captivity when I change on the TV I was
0:17I said wow lady and every R were SW down
0:22in prison I've been in prison 15 years
0:25there something I didn't do for
0:27something I didn't know anything about
0:30totally innocent man I watched my father
0:32die in a British prison for something he
0:35didn't
0:36do but I'm badly scared I'm badly
0:40mentally
0:41affected and I don't know if I'm ever
0:44going to be really happy
0:46again conin uh was never at peace with
0:51himself he was a man chased by
0:54Dev what happened was a
0:58tragedy it Guilford woodage and
1:02Farmingham but you don't compound The
1:05Tragedy by making other
1:08[Music]
1:24tragedies the bombers chose their
1:26targets carefully they knew the pubs
1:28were popular with soldiers from nearby
1:30camps they knew they'd be crowded on a
1:32Saturday night oh it was just awful
1:34there was the entire front of the pub
1:36was blown
1:37out there was glass bricks Rubble
1:40everywhere people were screaming
1:41shouting running all over the place and
1:44in the rubble I saw several bodies I
1:46couldn't say whether they were dead all
1:48covered in
1:51blood five people were killed and 54
1:54were injured in the bombings at pubs in
1:56Guilford in October
1:581974 the IRA were blamed at the time the
2:01motive was said to be attacks on pubs
2:03where soldiers were
2:05drinking it was on the basis of a tip
2:08off in Belfast a tip off that Still
2:10Remains Anonymous that the police made
2:12their first arrest that of Paul Hill
2:14then 20 among those picked up soon
2:17afterwards were two other young bfast
2:19men Jared Conan and Patrick Armstrong
2:22and Armstrong's 17-year-old English
2:24girlfriend Carol Richardson
2:31J
2:35[Music]
2:51[Music]
3:17Jerry
3:22[Music]
3:36it's not just anue for B A for the whole
3:40of and no will give
3:55it all I want to keep doing is [ __ ]
3:58highlighting what they did
4:00us you know what country does this to
4:03its own citizens I'll tell you [ __ ]
4:05penet does it s De and does it all the
4:09[ __ ] death pods and you set
4:11yourselves up as [ __ ] moral guardians
4:12of [ __ ] people's human rights what
4:14about man you trampled all over them you
4:17murdered my [ __ ] father
4:23[Music]
4:32[Music]
4:38I those I shter
4:41those my friend
4:47[Music]
4:51sat it's commonly accepted that Northern
4:53Ireland's problems are the result of its
4:55religious divisions which are themselves
4:57embedded some 300 years back in the
5:00province's history but it's no longer so
5:03certain that religious hatred is the
5:05only flame that keeps Northern Ireland
5:06on the boil poverty and squalor are now
5:10being more clearly seen as important
5:12factors in the
5:24situation on a civil rights movement I
5:27was delighted that it was coming but
5:29when I seen the way the ru that was the
5:32police force Poli specials when I seen
5:34the way they steamed into the people on
5:36the March battering with big buttons and
5:39what have you that was the start of the
5:45[Music]
5:55troubles any Soldier could stop you and
5:58arrest you for 4 hours
6:00for nothing and make you stand against
6:02the wall like us for 4 hours and then
6:04let you
6:08go you're walking down the street and
6:11you're getting stopped by soldiers
6:13and asking who you are and you could
6:15maybe get stopped three or four times in
6:17the one day there was bombs shootings C
6:20battles we were sh in the middle of
6:23it get some money right just to get the
6:27money to go out and enjoy ourselves and
6:28we weren't really doing any any damage
6:30we never stole of people who we live
6:32with you know and uh we were walking
6:35this precarious line the IRA deemed as
6:38antisocial and we didn't want to become
6:40involved in uh their politics when I was
6:4315 went down to Bill fost into the Ducks
6:46see the Personnel manager and it was on
6:48about want to become a merch Sean an
6:51apprentice and the first thing he asked
6:53me was what school did you go
6:55to and I said St
6:58Gabriels as soon as to say seemed he
7:01knows you're a
7:02Catholic and he turned around and told
7:04me to get the [ __ ] out of his office we
7:07don't employe popheads
7:09[Music]
7:12out it started getting too much for me
7:15like cuz I I was never in the violence
7:18so I decided to go to London to go and
7:21get a job you weren't earn much in B and
7:25I kept fing fall of the IRA I kept
7:27coming into conflict with him they
7:28almost kneecap they all well a minute on
7:31several occasions but uh you get you get
7:34to England virtually your father put you
7:36on the boat to England I started working
7:38on builing sites and then I ended up
7:40living in a on a squat and I was in a
7:43pub one night and I met Carl we had a
7:46good time together we had a good lap so
7:48we started dating each other good night
7:49and I was coming to the PB and then I
7:52heard this voice on the Tor ofer and
7:54Paul we went had a few drinks and were
7:58in the squat for few smokes and singing
8:02in after a couple of days they were they
8:03were gone I hadn't didn't see them again
8:06and next time I seen them I was in the
8:09police
8:09[Music]
8:15station they arrest me here in Belfast
8:17in the house in my own home in my own
8:20bed and I knew that Paul Hill had been
8:23arrested cuz I had met his mother on the
8:27day he was arrested so if I had have
8:30been involved would I would have been
8:34gone I S the squad getting stoned and
8:37out of our heads and M make him d i was
8:40police were rifles and and things on the
8:44street and then they took us to the
8:46police station in
8:47London and soon as we went in the door
8:49we called this and called that and
8:51punched and called our bastard and
8:54mortaring still had the clar what was
8:57happening then next thing Carl
9:01much's going on here why you why Sun of
9:03the blue is is is a conin grab is Jerry
9:07Colin gr I they they had this mass
9:12arrest of lots of people and one of the
9:14people who I was working with on a built
9:16site was being tortured and because he
9:19was only a young boy 19 years of age
9:21this is Paul Hill this is Paul Hill he
9:23confess to something he didn't do and
9:25you have to remember that there were
9:26also um about eight or 10 other people
9:30arrested at the same time and they were
9:32treated badly as well and they were not
9:35charged because they didn't make any
9:38confession first question the policeman
9:40asked me was my name and when I replied
9:42Jerry Condon he broke my nose and the
9:44clothes I was wearing became saturated
9:46in Blood and they ripped them off my
9:48back and burned
9:50them police man came along up actually
9:53says we know you didn't do it but we
9:55going to do you for
9:57it they were beating me they were
9:59torture me they held me naked the whole
10:01time I was in the police station they
10:03never fed me they wouldn't they never
10:05give me water I had to drink water out
10:07of the
10:09toilet you brought up question up dir
10:11they all day long they put dogs on me
10:15see him question after question and no
10:20sleep the police in in Guilford called
10:23the police in Belfast and told them that
10:26if I didn't sign a statement that they
10:28want the my mother to be shot dead by
10:31the by the military and for it to look
10:34like an
10:35accident so I knew that this could
10:38happen because I'd lived here I had seen
10:43women and children being
10:44murdered and by soldiers and I knew that
10:48they had the power to do it and that's
10:51why I S
10:54it nobody knew we were there don't think
10:57my parents even knew my mother even knew
10:59was
11:00her you know me then on the Eighth Day
11:03alisher Logan come in to see me they
11:06took me upstairs to the second floor and
11:08in a room there with a number of other
11:11police officers in the room was a man
11:14who was obviously Patrick
11:17Armstrong uh he had visible injuries to
11:20his face and he was shaking like that
11:23the whole time um I told him who I was
11:27uh I tried to get details of his uh
11:31address in Belfast so that I could
11:33notify his relatives the whole purpose
11:35of being an operational unit of the IRA
11:39was that you had to be secret you didn't
11:41do drugs you didn't steal from shops you
11:44didn't uh live in a squat I mean these
11:47were all inconsistent with anybody who
11:50was carrying out this military style of
11:57operation and the confession of the four
12:00were not mutually matching there were at
12:04least a hundred different points on
12:06which they conflicted so it meant that
12:10uh there was no standard that you could
12:13judge the prosecution Case by because
12:16all they had because they had no other
12:18evidence whatsoever no forensic evidence
12:21no eyewitness evidence nothing
12:30well for a few weeks anyway hel and
12:31conin found accommodation here at a
12:34hostel run by the
12:38church Helen colan stayed here one in
12:41that bed and one in that bed and the
12:43priest well he was just 4 ft away in the
12:46Next Room totally unaware that while
12:49Hill and conin were here they were
12:50plotting the Guilford bombings the media
12:53fled apart in convicting us because they
12:55believed the lies that the police told
12:57them
12:59they believed the lies that the
13:00government told them when four people
13:02were tried and convicted the sentences
13:04were the biggest in modern British
13:06history Carol Richardson
13:09life Haddy Armstrong
13:11life Paul Hill life Jerry Conlan
13:19life I thought my lawyers are in on this
13:23the police are in on it the judiciary's
13:25in it the government's in it and the
13:27Press are in them so I didn't trust
13:35[Music]
13:37anyone police say Jerry Conan and an
13:40accomplice named Aunt Annie Annie
13:42Maguire as their source of explosives
13:45forensic tests had allegedly shown
13:48minute traces of nitroglycerine under
13:50the fingernails and on the hands of the
13:52accused the prosecution scientists
13:54forgot to photograph their results and
13:56since the test destroys its own evidence
13:59further checking is impossible I'm
14:01unhappy that in a case of this magnitude
14:03where the sentences are so severe the
14:06man who was given the task of analyzing
14:09what was on the samples was an
14:1218-year-old
14:13boy they were charged solely on the
14:16basis that the tests of the swabs that
14:19were taken from their hands showed the
14:22presence of nitroglycerin using this TLC
14:25test that's it that's it the place
14:28became known as Auntie Annie's Devil's
14:31Kitchen well now that kitchen is closed
14:34because a few weeks ago auntie Annie her
14:36husband and her two sons were all given
14:39custodial sentences you know it's not
14:41normal if you to be arrested for
14:43something you haven't done for the most
14:45serious of crimes terrorism and then
14:48when your father comes to get you a
14:49lawyer they arrest him that doesn't
14:52happen I I don't know anyone that has
14:55happened
14:57to in March 19 76 JPI Conan was
15:00sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for
15:02possessing explosives
15:24[Music]
15:34[Music]
15:36when I got arrested as a child I was 13
15:38years of age so I want my canvases to be
15:4213 13 because what goes on there is me I
15:46am the subject of my art
15:55[Music]
15:59when we all got arrested they came back
16:01for me and my brother a few weeks later
16:03to Gil I've never heard of Gil and they
16:05beat you up there beat this [ __ ] out of
16:07me for how long hours and hours best
16:10part of the freaking the night they were
16:13asking me where so tell us where your
16:16mother got the bombs from now in the car
16:19all the way to the Gilford I I was
16:21handcuffed and I was getting asked these
16:23questions and I was telling him that I
16:26was I was not saying you've got the
16:27wrong people we don't do that there now
16:29I'm a kid I'm
16:3113 and I knew I was fued I didn't think
16:34like that but I'm looking out the window
16:36of this car in the back seat with him
16:38pissing down with rain it was
16:41November driving the middle of the night
16:43down dark roads
16:46uh and I knew I was in
16:49trouble but what I couldn't do nothing
16:51you know that you when you used to get
16:53the the raindrops on the window and come
16:56down and you see who's going to win I
16:57don't I looked and I couldn't even do
17:07[Music]
17:09it I tell you what the UN need to do
17:16right you should go left to Rice that's
17:19how it's done dad's an authority on most
17:22things not all of them there's only one
17:24Authority on health insurance and it's
17:26us the health insurance Authority
17:30time to sort my car insurance no worries
17:33you can get up to 25% off at Liberty
17:36insurance. plus a 40e retail voucher if
17:39you buy before January 31st anything
17:41else on your mind why is there a D in
17:43fridge and not in refrigerator wouldn't
17:46worry about it less worry more
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18:21[Music]
18:24ry. flying chairs flying plaster coming
18:28down people rolling is terrible really
18:31it all went black and it was a big no
18:33just it was massive noise and I started
18:35screaming and we just went for the back
18:37door horrific the man came in no legs
18:41blown off arm blown off an ambulance
18:45with five bodies Char burnt name blasted
18:51have you ever seen anything like this
18:53before no I never want to see it again
19:02they told us from the beginning that
19:04they knew we were innocent they told us
19:06that they knew that we had nothing to do
19:08with the bomans but they said they
19:10didn't give a [ __ ] we didn't pick you
19:13you've been picked at the highest level
19:15of government and they give us our
19:17orders and the orders were to obain
19:20confessions and convictions and to use
19:23any means that they had to to obtain
19:25them
19:29[Music]
19:33and they had so many innocent people 17
19:36innocent people arrested within one
19:39week within one week in
19:431974 all being given long prison
19:46sentences and in some cases written on
19:48the files never to be
19:53[Music]
19:55released course jail oh the worst native
19:59of our H all night long the president
20:01officers come along and check the tour
20:04and called me Mur and AR pass should
20:07have been hung and everything and and I
20:12was waiting for the next morning because
20:13I had to go f the prisoners hand as well
20:15you know what I mean so I was holding
20:17the mattress I must have been holding
20:19that tag cuz it was blood on coming from
20:21my fingers where I must nailed goodness
20:23so tightly
20:30and i' went through the most horrendous
20:33experience that you can imagine where in
20:35the beginning people were literally
20:37trying to kill you people were trying to
20:40either scald you with scalding water or
20:43or water with sugar in it so as it like
20:45tore the skin off your face or bat you
20:48with arm bars or stab you and this was
20:51continuous and and every
20:54day the prison officers would be opening
20:57the doors early in the morning letting
21:00people come into your cell to try to
21:01stop you or try to beat you with armed
21:03bars I mean for a long long time for a
21:07long time 7 years it was it was like
21:10every day it
21:11was hell couldn't have been any
21:14harder it cuz this actually was a living
21:20hell py hell from the Bing home sex had
21:24become like my older brother we were in
21:26the same Wing we were in the see
21:28themselves facing each other you know we
21:31were together every day we were working
21:34on the campaign to try and get released
21:37Dr Cooper called me into the office
21:39before the end of the year you're going
21:41to kill somebody one of the staff or
21:44another inmate and you see if you do
21:47that key will be thrown away and you'll
21:48never get out and said so I'm telling
21:50you now I'm going to show you
21:53something and he picked up the pen he
21:55said you see that that pen is me here
21:58than any [ __ ] sword or blade you can
22:00pick
22:01up he said that's what you need not a
22:04blade said you better start [ __ ]
22:06right out about your case otherwise
22:08you're not going to get out at
22:12all the balam street Siege in
22:161975 was a result of an intensive
22:19anti-terrorist operation in central
22:21London four Ira gunmen were cornered in
22:24a first floor flat in balkam Street
22:27where they were holding a couple hostage
22:30after 6 days of skillful negotiations
22:34the terrorist surrendered and bloodshed
22:36was
22:41avoided I got a message asking me to go
22:44to visit one of those who'd been
22:46arrested in borham street so I mean I
22:49was a sister I'd represented people
22:51charged with terrorism before so I made
22:53an arrangement to go and see um this man
22:56who was called oconnell and he said to
22:59me um I don't want you to represent me
23:01he said I want to tell you that we did
23:03the Guilford on the woit bombings and
23:06we've told the police that we've done it
23:08but um they haven't done anything about
23:12it with that information I then made an
23:16arrangement to interview them and they
23:19made full Frank detailed confessions
23:23which were idiosyncratic in the sense
23:26that they gave information which could
23:28only have been known to those who' Taken
23:30part in the offenses I believed in 1977
23:33that I was about to be released because
23:36the appeal lasted longer than our trial
23:39and they give so much detail and give so
23:42much evidence that the prosecution in
23:44the court and the Judiciary had to
23:46accept was true that we thought we were
23:49going to be freed and the court of
23:51appeals said we accept that borham
23:55street did the Guilford bombing but they
23:57did it with the Gil 4 when there was
24:00absolutely no evidence to support that
24:03from that minute when they rejected our
24:05Appeal on on the 20th of October
24:091977 we changed from being prisoners to
24:13hostages and that was like a defining
24:16moment where you could say that anyone
24:20who we could get to read the papers
24:22would be able to say that this was all
24:24false this was just accusations that
24:26were being made that they couldn't
24:27substant it because there was no proof
24:30there was no evidence because none of us
24:33had been at Guilford none of us had done
24:35the
24:40bombing when the Metropolitan Police
24:43Commissioner sir Peter inber gave
24:47evidence to the May inquiry he was
24:50asked you knew that the borham street
24:54had said that they had done the Guilford
24:55bombing why didn't you go back an
24:58interview with them about it and he said
25:01there was no point why because he said
25:05they were
25:07Surly now here is a police officer the
25:10most senior police officer in the
25:12country saying he couldn't interview
25:16somebody who' committed terrorist murder
25:19because they were surly
25:21[Music]
25:42my name is Ronnie McCarty I joined the
25:45around
25:461870 drawn by what uh more or less an
25:50emotional
25:51response to what was happening to our
25:56community I want the England and uh I
26:00think it was 74 the whole
26:03thing was to bring them War to
26:06England from Ireland to leave at some of
26:11the isues that were happening in Ireland
26:13right now I was part of what you would
26:16call the bakam street Siege un although
26:21I was arrested for I was with the people
26:24who had done the go for will BS right I
26:28didn't take part of it right wasn't part
26:31of it I know and I remember saying me do
26:35some people know any about us right and
26:39the guy T around says well the rest of D
26:43they're not going to be looking for us
26:44like
26:45know I seen two people being murdered in
26:49prison in front of me in front of me as
26:52close as we
26:53are by the same same man 5 years apart
26:58one when he beat to
26:59death with uh you know the battery you
27:02put in the radio he put in a football
27:05sock and beat the guy and the other guy
27:09he stopped to death in Parkers with a 28
27:11in sword that he had made in the shop
27:15and he stabed him from
27:18behind and the the the blade came out
27:21through the guy's ribs and then he
27:23stabbed him in each eye and then stabbed
27:26him through the throat I watched all
27:28this I seen
27:30staring beaten I seen a guy sh himself
27:33from
27:36fire I'm going to have a cigarette
27:41yeah I knew God knew the inocent they
27:44knew they were innocent I knew they were
27:46innocence so therefore I was always to
27:48keep my head up high because I
27:52knew those people was killed in those
27:55bombs that my son never let a
28:00bomb to kill those people and not give
28:03me
28:04strength and God gave me strength every
28:07day of my life when my father got s they
28:10put him in a prison in London so we
28:13agreed that we wouldn't ask my mother or
28:16my sister to come and visit until we
28:18were together because it would have been
28:20too expensive for her to visit the north
28:22of England and then go to the south of
28:23England she couldn't afford
28:26that so after two years they put us
28:29together and on the day of the very
28:32first visit which was Saturday the 12th
28:34of August
28:361977 they moved me at 6:00 in the
28:39morning 350 Mi till a prison in the
28:44South and she had to work in the Royal
28:47Victoria Hospital and earn enough money
28:50to be able to pay her fair to travel to
28:53this country to see her husband and on a
28:57number of occas s when she got there
28:59he'd been moved and they hadn't bothered
29:01to tell
29:05her by last December jepi Conan's
29:08condition had deteriorated so much that
29:10he had to be moved from wormwood scrubs
29:12prison to Hammersmith
29:15hospital my father was
29:17transferred back from Hammersmith
29:19hospital to Warwood scrubs because one
29:22of the prison officers was an ex-
29:24British soldier who said he seen people
29:27AC suspiciously ran my
29:30father's Hospital window which was on
29:32the ground
29:33floor my father wasn't in the IR so why
29:36would anyone try to bring him out of
29:38prison here was a man who was a chronic
29:41had a chronic chest ailment whose
29:43condition had worsened described by the
29:45prison doctor as chronic therefore never
29:48likely to go away not susceptible to
29:49treatment merely to be managed what
29:52possible threat could he have afforded
29:53to this country they took my father and
29:57and and just his pajamas and in a
30:00wheelchair and they set him out the
30:03front for over an hour in the cold
30:06weather ni say in the name of the sa
30:09heart who would want
30:12them only then had led
30:17them with the health condition I said
30:20sure if anybody had a snatched up man
30:22need to day 10 minutes maybe without
30:24medical
30:26treatment they all stood inside watching
30:29him sit outside and a part of pajamas
30:33and that's how he got
30:37pneumonia but the last time I said my
30:39father was on Friday the 18th of January
30:421980 and it it was a Friday night and
30:45they took me out and they honk off me
30:48and they took me to Hummers Smith
30:49hospital and when I got out there was
30:51policemen on the roofs with with with
30:54rifles with telescopic sights snipers
30:58and policeman with machine guns I mean
31:00it was this was a hospital I was going
31:02through to see someone who was
31:03D and when he see me he he took the he
31:08pulled the mask off and he reached out
31:10to take my H the screw the prison
31:12officer wouldn't even let me but I
31:13reached over and got his on and he said
31:16to me he said I'm
31:17Doney he said I think you're not going
31:20to see me again and he said don't be
31:23worrying because my death is going to be
31:26the thing that opens this case up again
31:30and will eventually help you get your
31:33name cleared and for you to be released
31:36and then he looked and there was church
31:38dignitaries policemen
31:41politicians uh the the hierarchy of the
31:44prison authorities are and there was
31:47nurses and doctors and he he looked at
31:49them all he still home my hand and he
31:52pointed and he said if any of you people
31:55think I'm guilty look me in the eye
31:59look me in the eye if you believe I'm
32:00guilty and they all dropped their
32:04heads they all dropped their
32:11[Music]
32:17heads I didn't want to sit and
32:20cry cuz as a prisoner you don't want to
32:23see people seeing weakness or exploiting
32:28grief so I don't think I've ever grieved
32:36[Music]
32:40properly I had I wasn't allowed at the
32:42[Music]
32:44funeral and it's you
32:46know I remember looking at my mother who
32:49was just in serious
32:54shock numb you know could barely
33:01talk he was 50
33:05566 a young
33:07[Music]
33:08man a young
33:14[Music]
33:21man so I didn't have a lawyer for 9
33:24years I would represent myself rather
33:27than have someone who I didn't trust or
33:30who I thought was in conspiracy with the
33:32police to keep me in prison Patty Hill
33:35from the Birmingham 6 had Gareth Pierce
33:38as his solicitor that when Gareth come
33:41to the prison I was more interested in
33:43getting the tobacco than I was in
33:46getting a lawyer but halfway
33:49through the 20 minute conversation she
33:53said something about my father and I
33:57stopped and I started to pay
34:00attention and I listened to what she
34:02said and she said it so softly and she
34:05said you've been in prison too long it's
34:07time we got you
34:08[Music]
34:13home there had to be a hunt for what
34:17else was
34:19there and if people are wrongly
34:22convicted there will always be something
34:25there'll be something
34:31I went back and found the notebooks he
34:35had written in prison there was a
34:38reference to a man called Charles
34:42Burke having been at the hostel where he
34:46was on the night of the bombings and it
34:49seemed that that man had not been found
34:53or looked for at the trial
34:58they ordered an independent police
35:00inquiry and then eventually referred the
35:03case to the court of appeal now all the
35:06evidence that had been
35:09collected in relation to the Maguire s
35:12the Guilford 4 the birming ham 6 they
35:15were all being stored in one police
35:18station in Bristol we had the prospect
35:21of an appeal
35:23reopening everything Gareth would have
35:26to go to the police station
35:28she would have to deal with a secret
35:30police officer she would have to be
35:32specific in what she wanted we had the
35:35right to go and inspect what they had we
35:38had to look at it there and then could
35:42ask for for copies when she arrived the
35:45secret
35:46policeman wasn't there he had the flu
35:50the policeman went into the store and
35:52there was so much information he came
35:54back out and he
35:55said I don't know what you're looking
35:58for it would be a lot easier if I took
36:01you and brought you in and let you look
36:04for yourself that's how it
36:08happened that's how it happened and she
36:10found my witness statement CH Brook
36:13charge parber he had been interviewed at
36:16the
36:17time and he
36:19had said exactly what Jerry said this
36:23was proof that he was not Guilford
36:28was seen by the police in January of
36:331975 where he said he was with
36:36me and then they went and seen him again
36:39in
36:39June they actually knew where he was cuz
36:42they had not seen him once they' seen
36:43them
36:44twice and they withheld the
36:47evidence and it was
36:51inside a folder that said not shown to
36:54the defense they concealed that Alabama
36:58they were under a duty to produce it and
37:00they didn't and I was shocked to see
37:04record of a meeting when I had gone to
37:07the home office to try to persuade them
37:09to reopen the appeal there's a little
37:12note in the side that said should we
37:15tell her about Charles
37:18spke they didn't they produced a set of
37:23detention records which backed up what
37:26the police said
37:28found amongst the papers were the
37:30original detention records which
37:33supported what the Guilford 4 had said
37:35had happened to them so the creation of
37:39the new detention records involved 30
37:43two police officers
37:47forging to create it but then we're
37:50progressing towards an appeal with with
37:54with
37:55confidence so we now have a document
37:57produced to the court as a true record
38:00of their detention in the police station
38:03but then
38:05suddenly we were told the case was going
38:07to be listed 2 Days Later shortly after
38:10I finished my breakfast I was listening
38:12to the radio and it was all the news was
38:15about the Guilford Ford were appearing
38:17in court and they were going to be
38:18[Music]
38:23released they were
38:26cheated of having an appeal the
38:29prosecution said they did not want to
38:32explain more because the police involved
38:36might be
38:37facing prosecution and
38:40[Music]
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39:10great
39:12[Music]
39:24care I'm just a new please how do you
39:27feel this morning just one comment
39:29good be better Jerry get Jerry Conan and
39:33three others had been jailed for M was
39:36arrested for his supposed part in the
39:38ira Pub bombings in Guilford what do
39:41when he comes out my
39:43arm an investigation found serious flaws
39:46in the way Sur police had handled the
39:49case because this is been the first time
39:52that the
39:53British legal
39:55system had been
39:58exposed for what they had done the
40:00innocent people in a way that had never
40:03been shown before the court of appeal
40:05quashed the convictions of the Guilford
40:11four when man questioned our
40:14convictions they they took us back down
40:17to the cells and I said no you're not
40:20enough of me up I'm an innocent man the
40:24judges just said I'm innocent and free
40:26to go would you you go back and sell
40:28voluntary and I said no they said we
40:31we're going to order you a taxi to take
40:33you to where you want to go I said I
40:35don't want to tax it I want to go out
40:37the front show me how to get out the
40:40[Music]
40:42front Jerry Conan walks free from prison
40:46after serving 15 years for a crime he
40:49never committed Jerry conand was a
40:51victim of one of the most serious
40:52miscarriages of Justice in British
40:55history
41:00and all I could hear was my father's
41:01voice saying they put us in through the
41:04back
41:05door you go out the front door and tell
41:08the world what they did to
41:12us in 15 years for something I didn't do
41:16for something I didn't know anything
41:19about totally innocent man I watched my
41:22father die in a British prison for
41:23something he didn't do he is innocent
41:26the mire is innocent let's hope the
41:30[Music]
41:48Birmingham what he did was important
41:51because he was saying it's not just us
41:55there are more and more and more more
41:58what bearing do you see it having on the
41:59case of the Birmingham 6 I hope it has
42:01every bearing and really there were
42:04Echoes today when you heard about police
42:08preparing perjury in a systematic way
42:11the news obviously dominated by the
42:13quashing of the convictions of the
42:15Guilford four after he come out of the
42:18Court he was effectively hijacked by
42:21journalist all to do with the stupid
42:25idea that exclusive interviews should be
42:28captured what do you feel Jerry that
42:30that time inside has has robbed you of
42:33it's robbed me of everything I went in a
42:36kid and coming at a grown man 35 years
42:41of age I should have been settled down
42:44been
42:46married I've missed everything I've lost
42:48me youth he telephoned me from the hotel
42:53and said look I'm being held captive
42:55here they've got me trapped I'm not
42:58allowed out it's just like being in
43:00prison come and get me and so he came
43:02and um lived with my husband and me for
43:07perhaps 6 months I went to stay with her
43:11because it was the only place I felt
43:14safe and it was the only place I felt s
43:17the first night I was I I went back to
43:19Al's house I'm up in the bedroom and lay
43:23on the mattress and it felt sof so I
43:25took it out and put it on the floor and
43:26then and the next
43:28morning all come up and knocked on the
43:30door he says I heard you up in the boat
43:32when you come down I says I was written
43:34on the prison officer open in the door
43:35for me went on the the screw open the
43:38door for me to get up Patrick Armstrong
43:41had to be trained to cross the road
43:43trained to use money trained to open
43:46doors for 15 years he'd never opened a
43:49door these were badly damaged people
43:54damaged by the experience that they had
43:56gone through and they needed care and
43:59who was going to give that to them there
44:01were some
44:03wise
44:04doctors
44:06but this was a young man who had missed
44:10all his
44:13Youth and he was making up for lost time
44:17you sort of become attuned to that high
44:20level of
44:22anxiety of
44:24tension and you can deal with it in then
44:27suddenly you're taken out of that
44:28environment into an environment with
44:30your family that's loving and cing it's
44:33almost like too much it's almost like
44:35two comets
44:36colliding a lot I want that life simple
44:39things like my nie to my sister my
44:42mother who had who who's been as much a
44:45prisoner these last 15 years who's had
44:48it harder than me who's had it harder
44:50than
44:52me remarkable woman my expectations of
44:56Life are very very small and I just want
44:58to live you know that's all I've existed
45:02merely for 15 years you know I've clung
45:03by my fingertips I'm on the brink of
45:05insanity you
45:07know bottle your feelings
45:10up and that's one of the hardest things
45:12to let go of when you get
45:14out you're so used to sort of keeping
45:16everything locked in but actually
45:18letting
45:21go and looking at what you're feeling is
45:25very very difficult we were able to get
45:28her full psychiatric support on her
45:32release as a result of which she was
45:35able to adapt to life uh in a way which
45:38Jerry conin was never able to
45:44do we'll
45:46see the future brings she was a very
45:50intelligent girl she ended up being a
45:54pharmacologist working for boots
45:57although she still had problems with
46:00post-traumatic stress disorder she
46:02brought up a daughter who has done
46:05stunningly well at University and she
46:08had a good working career and sadly died
46:12of cancer in
46:14[Music]
46:162012 Patrick Armstrong also benefited
46:19from that because we didn't put him in
46:21the glare of publicity we pulled him out
46:23at the back of the court and took him
46:25away and the the idea was that they
46:27would get the necessary psychiatric and
46:30psychological support that they needed
46:32in order to be able to survive after
46:35they've left
46:38prison but my thoughts were very much
46:41with the bman
46:43HX you know they had become my family we
46:47had we were so close I knew them all
46:49really well and I just wanted to do what
46:52I could to help py hell what are you
46:54saying have you watch this met your
46:56coming out soon Jerry Hunter you're
46:58coming out soon Dicky Michael KY Billy
47:01par Johnny Walker huie cigan it's nearly
47:04all over Lads people are starting to
47:07realize that he are innocent and my
47:10lawyer Gareth
47:12Pierce represented most of the
47:15Birmingham 6 four of of the Birmingham 6
47:18the West Midlands serious crime Squad
47:22had a
47:23methodology of forcing people to make
47:27confessions and then fabricating notes
47:32of interviews that never took place they
47:34had made a fatal mistake they had not
47:37understood that their notebooks could
47:40show
47:42[Music]
47:43fabrication on the 14th of March
47:471991 the Birmingham sixs were
47:50released the next thing you know you're
47:52dumped out on the streets at 4:00 or Su
47:56the afternoon
47:57they give you a oneway bill ticket and
48:0047
48:02F and that's since you're on your own
48:05for 16 and 1 12 years we have been play
48:09us as political skip goats for people in
48:12there the house the police told us from
48:15the start that they knew we hadn't done
48:18it they told us they didn't care who
48:20done it they told us that we were
48:22selected and that they were going to
48:24frame us just to keep the people in they
48:27happy that's what it's all
48:30about
48:32this Justice I don't think them people
48:36not have got the intelligence nor the
48:38honesty to spell the word never mind
48:41dispense it for
48:49R in
48:5194 my alcohol abuse my drug abuse
48:54increased
48:57the the serious levels and then I
49:00started becoming disenfranchised with
49:02Society I stopped feeling part of
49:05society and then I decided that my
49:08mental state was so
49:10bad that in
49:1298 I moved to the to the southwest of
49:16England to Devon and I lived there for
49:19seven years and near
49:22isolation you felt more comfortable in
49:24prison cuz you knew what you were facing
49:25in prison I mean looked after each other
49:27in jail and you come out here and you're
49:30lost and so many people when they come
49:32out they either turn the alcohol or they
49:34turned to
49:36drugs oh I was doing cocaine and ecstasy
49:40and marijuana and lots of
49:43alcohol I have to say sress Lorenzo
49:46twice a week still now still because of
49:49what they
49:51[Music]
49:54did it was in 20
49:575 when PTY Hill contacted me again I
50:00hadn't seen PTY for over 10 years and
50:03the PTY Hill who I knew in prison had
50:05never changed and you could see that he
50:08was
50:09traumatized but the work that he was
50:11doing was helping him to get through the
50:14trauma he said I've set up this
50:17organization called Mojo the miscarriage
50:19of Justice organization and we're doing
50:22good work and helping people get out of
50:24prison who have been wrongly
50:27infected and I want I want you to
50:29help I told him come back so I took him
50:34on to move in we started doing some work
50:37together he got me up to Glasgow and I
50:39would be meeting the families of these
50:42victims of miscarriages of
50:44justice and I got him involved in
50:47campaigning again you know cuz he's he's
50:49a great
50:51campaigner we need Justice not only to
50:53be done but to be seen done and I would
50:57hope that people would rally to this
50:59cause because there's nothing more
51:01precious in life than human
51:05rights I'm just going to tell you
51:07crackly about where I grew
51:09[Music]
51:15up he always looked at me as a big
51:18brother I was a big brother that he
51:21never had you never signed a no am I
51:24right yeah yeah me and jery Hunter
51:27some cases get huge publicity some cases
51:30get no publicity and every case is
51:33worthy of the same amount of campaigning
51:36same amount of effort for a long time I
51:38thought it was just the Irish and the
51:41British
51:43worldwide it happens everywhere it
51:46happens in every single country some
51:48form of Injustice some form of
51:51abuse there was a miscarriage of Justice
51:54in the case of jerich Conan and all the
51:56Gil four as well as jeppi Conan and
51:59Annie Maguire and all of the Maguire
52:027 I'm very sorry that they were subject
52:06to such an ordal and such an
52:10injustice that's why I'm making this
52:13apology
52:14today they deserve to be completely and
52:17publicly
52:19exonerated our prime minister come out
52:21and say that LE somebody in Authority
52:24actually come out and says that they
52:26sorry you know what I mean
52:28which you never thought you would
52:31have I had met Tony
52:34blur in February 2005 when he apologized
52:39for what had happened to us and I asked
52:43him to give us medical help because
52:45there was a lot of us that were
52:46traumatized by this he promised they
52:48would but he never did so that was
52:51another person who lied to me
52:56but what I would say and I think that
52:59this really is important that the people
53:02who were involved in sending innocent
53:06people to prison which was namely havers
53:10the prosecutor Maggie Thatcher made him
53:13the attorney general and then the Lord
53:15Chancellor which was in fact the most
53:17powerful legal man in the country
53:21Donaldson the judge who tried myself and
53:23my father and the magars he was made
53:26Master of the roles which was the most
53:29powerful judge in the country and Peter
53:31rbert who organized the
53:34perjury and watched the
53:37torture he was made head of the
53:39Metropolitan
53:41Police so all the people who were
53:43involved reached the highest level of
53:46their profession and all the people
53:49involved with held evidence perjured and
53:53witnessed torture of innocent people
53:57so no investigation were taking no
53:59investigation has ever taken place apart
54:02from s John May and S John May's
54:04investigation into the Guilford case is
54:07secret the files are
54:09closed now that's why we think that the
54:13government has put what they call a pii
54:17a public immunity interest order which
54:19is really the official Secrets act State
54:22Secrets they have put this act on on our
54:26case where no one can see all the papers
54:29for 75 years now it's certainly not to
54:33protect the Guilford 4 or the Maguire 7
54:36of the Birmingham 6 it's to protect all
54:39the policemen all the prosecutors all
54:43the judges and we think certainly some
54:46members of the government in
54:497475 who must have allowed and give the
54:53police the okay to torture people
54:58[Music]
55:14I knew was something wrong with him he
55:16knew was something wrong with him So
55:17eventually he went to the doctor and the
55:19doctor diagnos him within days and
55:22within weeks he was there so he had much
55:26you had much time in between diagnosis
55:28and death when the lost in before he
55:31died met him in my local pub I said you
55:34know what wish had a c to do what you
55:36done going around waiting for people he
55:39said wish you just yourself together I
55:43said but Jer your father died in prison
55:45in that
55:47me I
55:50think I think ironically Jerry always
55:53thought I could help him
55:55[Music]
56:00so
56:02he he
56:03said you know
56:06come come I want help and
56:21so do you miss
56:23him J I miss him a lot yeah
56:30[Music]
56:38oh that was like part of my world just
56:41collapsed I couldn't believe it I was
56:44absolutely got it I was heartbroken
56:47there he gone you know he's only 60
56:49still a young man you know he may be
56:51gone but he never be forgotten
56:57I know the innocent people still behind
56:58bars and I know there are agles of what
57:01happened to us cases that are still
57:03coming too late today
57:04[Music]
57:10[Music]
57:19home I woke up from the
57:23falls the bullets and bones
57:27I made my
57:28way to London
57:31Town never had a
57:34rival or fought for
57:37survival my world
57:40upturned with what was to
57:43come look in my
57:47eyes and if that's made you want to
57:49relive the iconic film inspired by the
57:51story of Jerry and the Guilford poor you
57:53can catch in the name of the father on
57:55Thursday of next week at 9:00 on
57:59[Music]
58:03two you stare at the
58:06[Music]
58:07ground
58:12[Music]
58:25d oh
58:29[Music]

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