Six from North on suspicion of murder in Birmingham

November 26, 1974

SIX Ulster-born men in Birmingham were yesterday remanded in custody until Thursday in connection with a mass security detail in Birmingham, accused of murdering a schoolgirl who died in a bomb massacre in the city last Thursday. They were charged with the murder of 17-year-old Jane Davis, one of 19 people killed in two pub explosions.

The armed police were among dozens of officers on duty in and around Victoria courts, and anyone entering the building was searched and asked for ID.

The men appeared in the dock separately for an eight-minute hearing and reporting restrictions were not lifted.

Each man appeared with a detective in the crowded court where nearly 50 officers in uniforms and civilian clothes, some armed, were on duty.

They were: Hugh Callaghan (44); Patrick Joseph Hill (30); Robert Gerrard Hunter (29), all unemployed; Noel Richard McIlkenny (31), miller’s mate; William Power (29) unemployed and John Walker (39) a crane driver.

They all live in Birmingham, but the police who guard their homes keep their addresses secret.

They were charged with mutual concern in connection with the murder of Miss Davis, a sixth-form middle school student who died in an explosion at the Tavern in the Town pub.

Neither Mr Ian Gould, representing Callaghan, Hill and Power, nor Mr Anthony Curtis, representing the others, opposed the arrest or applied for bail.

The court hearing was attended by Maurice Buck, Deputy Chief Constable (West Midlands Crime Branch), Chief Inspector Harry Robinson, Head of Regional Investigations, and other senior police officers.

First on the bench was Walker, followed by Hunter, Hill, Power, McIlkenny and finally Callaghan.

Police held back a crowd of 500 at the back of the courthouses as the men were driven out under heavy guard. There were shouts of “dirty Irish bastards” and “dirty pigs” as a blue police van, escorted by seven unmarked police cars, two police cars and two motorcycles, drove away.

In a very hostile atmosphere towards the Irish in Britain, six men were charged following the Birmingham pub bombings a few days earlier. Although the men, known as the Birmingham Six, were innocent of the bombings, they were all sentenced to life in prison in one of Britain’s worst miscarriages of justice.