The Road to Balcombe Street: The IRA Reign of Terror in London

Product Information

It was an initiative that was to cost McWhirter his life. On the evening of November 28, 1975, he was shot dead on the doorstep of his north London home. It seemed the IRA cell could strike at will, prompting the police into urgent action. Gordon Hamilton-Fairley DM FRCP, first professor of medical oncology, 1930-75. Killed by a terrorist bomb. It matters not how a man dies but how he lives.

A breakthrough in the stand-off at the couple's west London home at Marylebone came at 1355 GMT today when the gang's spokesman "Tom" shouted to police they wanted to negotiate. The bombings were described as a "reign of terror" perpetrated by the IRA in the two years prior to 1975.The IRA men - Martin O'Connell, Eddie Butler, Harry Duggan and Hugh Doherty - reached the Balcombe Street flat by running down a flight of steps from Rossmore Street, hotly pursued by Mr Purnell. According to Mr Purnell and another police officer who was present, no shots were fired after the gang left Rossmore Road so that any officer arriving in the area around Dorset Square would not have come under fire. Imbert was created Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London in 1994, and Lord Lieutenant in 1998, an office he held until 2008. Mr Purnell remains philosophical about what sounds to him like a case of gilding the lily. "I'm not irritated. Nothing surprises me. I know of other people who have put [that] they were involved in Balcombe Street and they happened to man a cordon." Communication via a field telephone was established on a first-name basis between O’Connell and Detective Superintendent Peter Imbert, Scotland Yard’s chief negotiator.

Photo: Miss Caroline Kennedy leaves the home of Lord and Lady Harlech, where she stayed overnight, following a bomb blast outside her hosts house when one of Britain’s leading cancer research specialists was killed. The Balcombe Street siege started after a chase through London, as the police pursued Doherty, O’Connell, Butler and Duggan through the streets after they had fired gunshots through the window of Scott’s restaurant in Mount Street, Mayfair. The Metropolitan Bar is a popular pub chain that offers a great selection of drinks and food at reasonable prices. It was during the Balcombe Street siege that fingerprints from Ireland confirmed his identity. His father, who said he had not heard from his son for two years before the siege, described him as "a nice quiet boy at home who never gave us any trouble". Harry Duggan was one of four children of Mr and Mrs Harry Duggan, of Feakle, Co Clare. He was born in Kilburn, London, before returning to Co Clare with the family when he was three. He left school at 14 and became a carpenter in a local factory. He became active in Sinn Fein when the troubles started in the late 1960s and in 1972 his family was told he was "killed in action". His father searched a graveyard in Scarriff, Co Clare, after gardai had said his son had been buried secretly.They serve a range of cask ales, lagers, and wines, as well as a menu of classic pub grub. With its friendly atmosphere and affordable prices, the Globe is a popular spot for locals and visitors alike. The Balcombe Street four came to trial at the Old Bailey on 24 January 1977. On 9 February 1977, the jury acquitted the defendants on twenty-six of the hundred indictments. On the remaining charges, the Balcombe Street Four were found guilty and each received a thirty-year minimum sentence. All were released on 14 April 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. [13] Aftermath [ edit ] Photo: Guiness Book of Record’s Ross McWhirter was shot dead as he stood in the doorway of his house in Village Road, Enfield, Middlesex, on November 27th 1975. The special branch report says that a plan of the area that includes New Scotland Yard was found, along with evidence of evening observations of the Met police headquarters. The Downing Street file does not include the actual list of names of those targeted. That is to remain secret for 70 years under exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act.

With its classic wooden interiors and friendly staff, this pub is perfect for a casual drink or a cozy night out with friends. They also serve a selection of traditional British pub food, making it the perfect place for a hearty meal. Martin Joseph O'Connell, known as Joe, lived with his parents in a small bungalow beside their farm in Co Clare until 1974. His mother, Ms Annie O'Connell, said after his arrest: "I don't know how he got mixed up with such people."

More episodes

The streets formed part of the Portman Estate. Their layout shows a social hierarchy of square, thoroughfares and side streets mirrored by a hierarchy in the design of houses, from the grand four storey buildings in Dorset Square to the rather less grand terraces and smaller houses in Balcombe Street and Gloucester Place and the significantly smaller scale of the three and two storey ‘third rate’ houses in the side streets and mews. The information on housing, people, culture, employment and education that is displayed about Balcombe Street, Westminster, London, NW1 6HH is based on the last census performed in the UK in 2021. They swamped the centre of the West End with plain-clothes detectives, with two on each street corner. More than 1,000 policemen were deployed in Operation Comb, the biggest undertaking of its kind London had seen. The previously secret list, made public today by the National Archives, includes the dates and venues of specific functions, among them events held by the Law Society, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the Combined Cadet Defence Corps. The police surrounded the building and with a telephone dropped into the flat and loud-hailers from outside continually talked with the Irishmen in first floor flat. For several days the terrorists, however, refused food both for themselves and their hostages. The chief negotiator for the Metropolitan police, Peter Imbert, who would later become the Metropolitan police commissioner, told the gang that they were betraying Wolfe Tone – the father of Irish republicanism – to which Duggan angrily threw the negotiating phone out of the window.