High Court claim against Gerry Adams discontinued

Three victims of Provisional IRA bombings in England will discontinue their damages claim against former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, their lawyers have told the High Court.

Mr Adams was being sued for £1 in damages by three men injured in the blasts in the 1970s and 1990s.

John Clark, a victim of the 1973 Old Bailey bombing in London; Jonathan Ganesh, a 1996 London Docklands bombing victim; and Barry Laycock, a victim of the 1996 Arndale shopping centre bombing in Manchester, all alleged that Mr Adams was a leading member of the Provisional IRA on those dates, including of its army council.

Mr Adams denied the allegations and was defending the claim, telling the court earlier this week that he had "no involvement whatsoever" in the bombings and was never a member of the Provisional IRA.

Earlier this morning, on the last day of the two-week trial, Anne Studd KC, for the victims, told the High Court that the claim would be discontinued with "no order as to costs" after "proceedings developed overnight".

Mr Adams was not in court today.

In written submissions for the trial, Ms Studd said that the three men claimed that none of the bombings "took place without the knowledge and agreement" of Mr Adams in his role in the Provisional IRA and of its seven-man Army Council.

She continued that the men believed that Mr Adams was "as involved as the people who planted and detonated those bombs".

In his evidence, Mr Adams said that opponents of Sinn Féin, of which he was leader from 1983 to 2018, "have repeatedly sought to conflate" the party with the Provisional IRA, and stressed that they are "separate organisations".

He continued that he had "no involvement in or advance knowledge of" any of the bombings, and was never a member of the IRA or its army council", telling the court on Tuesday that he was "glad that the IRA has left the stage".

He also said that while he believed in the "broad principle that people have the right to resist occupation", he was "very, very clear that there were dastardly things that were done that should never have been done".

Edward Craven KC, for Mr Adams, told the court in London that evidence that Mr Adams was involved in the bombings was "extremely limited and we say bordering on non-existent".

The barrister also said that the claim should be dismissed for being brought too late, suggesting that the three men were using the claim to try to have a "public inquiry-style" hearing into finding historical truths.

He added: "The desire to establish for the historical record that Mr Adams was a member of the IRA is the purpose that has driven this claim," adding that this could be an abuse of the court system.

Mr Craven yesterday questioned why the three men took several decades to bring their claim, saying it should be dismissed for being brought too late.

He said to the judge: "In Mr Clark's case, we are dealing with a delay that is genuinely unprecedented in magnitude.

"We say the very brief and bald hearsay evidence you have been provided with falls a long way short of the kind of explanation that ought to be provided for a delay of this length."

The barrister said this could be an abuse of the court system, adding: "One of the concerns we have had throughout is that the claim is being used as a vehicle for a much wider examination of Mr Adams’s alleged role and actions."

In statements to the court, the three men said the reasons they did not bring claims earlier were that they did not realise they could do so, could not afford it, were suffering from mental or physical injuries and feared violent reprisals.

Ms Studd said yesterday that it would be "unfair" if, after the trial, the case was to be thrown out over an abuse of the court system.

She said: "It is arguable and legally unobjectionable, and these claimants are entitled to pursue it."

In their evidence, the three men said the reasons they did not bring claims earlier were that they did not realise they could do so, could not afford it, were suffering from mental or physical injuries and feared violent reprisals.