Hyde Park bombing: IRA member John Downey was responsible for 1982 attack

IRA member John Downey was responsible for the 1982 Hyde Park bombing, the High Court has ruled.

It follows a civil action brought by relatives of the four British soldiers who were killed in the bombing.

Squadron Quartermaster Corporal Roy Bright, 36, Lieutenant Dennis Daly, 23, Trooper Simon Tipper, 19, and Lance Corporal Jeffrey Young, also 19, were killed by a car bomb as they rode through the central London park for the changing of the guard.

Downey, from County Donegal, did not play any part in the trial, but filed a written defence in which he denied any involvement in the attack.

Announcing her conclusion, Mrs Justice Yip said: “This was a deliberate, carefully planned attack on members of the military.

“I have found that the defendant was an active participant in the concerted plan to detonate the bomb, with the intent to kill or at least to cause serious harm to members of the Household Cavalry.”

Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Mark Tipper – whose brother Trooper Simon Tipper was killed in the Hyde Park bombing – said he was relieved to “get the justice those four boys deserve”.

He told Sky News: “It means we have found justice. All we ever wanted was justice for them.

“This is no secondary prosecution. The case was put forward, he was found guilty, he is now the Hyde Park bomber.

“If he was innocent he would have been here – he had no case to put forward.”

Mr Tipper added that his tears were of sadness not joy.

He said: “It’s not a day to rejoice, it’s a day to know we have gained the closure we were after – but those boys paid with their lives.”

Mr Tipper said the ruling sent an important message to “any other terrorist out there who thinks he can get away with it”.

Survivor Simon Utley, who was carrying out his first ever guard on the day of the bombing, said he was “ecstatic”.

He told Sky News: “It is a degree of closure. It’s has been a long time coming and a fight.”

Lawyers acting for Sarah-Jane Young, Lance Corporal Young’s daughter, in whose name the action was brought, said they expected “justice” to be done.

Speaking outside court, Ms Young’s lawyer, Matt Jury, said she had been made a victim three times over – when her father was killed, when Downey was given an on-the-run letter by the government assuring him he would not be prosecuted, and when the criminal trial collapsed.

He added: “The families and thousands whose lives were devastated by the IRA are the forgotten victims.

“Yesterday, many responsible for the most awful acts of terrorism carried out on British soil were living out their days in peaceful retirement, believing they would never be held to account for their crimes.

“But justice has prevailed.”

The case will now go to a second stage to determine the amount of damages to be awarded.

The defendant is currently in custody awaiting trial on other murder charges.

The July 1982 car bomb left in the South Carriage Drive killed the four soldiers as they paraded from barracks to Buckingham Palace.

Two of the four were killed instantly, while Lance Corporal Young and SQMC Bright died of their injuries within days.

Seven horses had to be put down and another, Sefton, survived terrible injuries.

(c) Sky News 2019: Hyde Park bombing: IRA member John Downey was responsible for 1982 attack