'The People Of Birmingham Disgust Me Because Of Their Apathy Over Pub Bombings'

This week has seen the death of Paddy Joe Hill, one of the six men wrongly convicted over the Birmingham Pub Bombings. ANDY RICHARDS spoke to him almost ten years ago ahead of the 40th anniversary of the carnage. He was forthright and had an uncompromising message for Brummies. Here's what Andy made of it...

- ANDY RICHARDS

THE 40th anniversary of the biggest miscarriage in British criminal history, when the Birmingham Six were wrongly convicted over the Birmingham Pub Bombings, is days away.

The real bombers escaped justice.

Now, one of the Six, Paddy Joe Hill, has linked up with campaigners Justice4the21 to unearth and expose the truth behind the city's blackest night.

"The people of Birmingham disgust me," Paddy Joe told the Birmingham Mail during a recent visit to our offices.

Forthright as ever, he is not mincing his words. "They disgust me because of their apathy over the pub bombings."

The words are almost hissed, such is his indignation.

"I cannot understand why they haven't signed Justice4the21's petition calling for a new inquiry, why they are not in the streets demanding to know the truth about what happened - the people of Birmingham and those of the surrounding towns, too."

Grizzled and frayed, he's such a slight man nowadays. He looks like a good gust of wind would blow him over. There are deep lines in a craggy face, so deep you feel you could reach into them.

But Paddy Joe actually looks more at peace within himself than I was expecting. After all, five years ago he was described by consultant pyschiatrist Gordon Turnbull as one of the most traumatised people he had ever come across.

And this, remember, was some 18 years after his conviction was overturned.

Mr Turnbull should know. He'd helped the likes of Terry Waite and John McCarthy after their hostage ordeal in Beirut, along with survivors of the Lockerbie bombings and the Gulf wars.

Paddy Joe had to battle to get the treatment, mind. The Six received big cash settlements, but none of them were given any medical help whatsoever to cope with their fury, trauma and wasted decades.