Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 25, 1991                   TAG: 9102250323
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Medium

'74 IRA CONVICTIONS MAY BE OVERTURNED/ BRITISH PROSECUTOR SAYS HE'S NOT SURE

Although the appeal court will rule in the case, the government's decision to abandon police evidence left little basis for upholding the convictions.

Supporters of the six men, the object of a long public campaign for their freedom, cheered as public prosecutor Graham Boal made the announcement.

The decision signaled the government would not contest appeals by the six, convicted of murdering 21 people in two bombings in Birmingham on Nov. 21, 1974. In addition, 162 people were injured in the attacks, the deadliest ever by the Irish Republican Army on the mainland.

The six were sentenced to life in prison in August 1975.

The cause of the so-called "Birmingham Six" has been taken up by Amnesty International, the Irish government and by the late Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich, the Roman Catholic primate of Ireland.

Boal said he would not rely on police evidence when the case comes up for appeal. The prosecutor announced earlier this month that he also would not rely on scientific evidence that had been used at the trial.

"Having considered the material available to him, the Director of Public Prosecutions does not submit that these convictions remain both safe and satisfactory," Boal told the court.

However, he said it is "for the court and nobody else to determine these appeals."

It was not immediately clear when the court might rule on the case.

The Home Office, which is responsible for law enforcement, had ordered a new appeal hearing a year ago after receiving evidence that raised questions about the conviction of one man.

The convicts - Johnny Walker, Patrick Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter and Billy Power - were arrested shortly after the Birmingham bombings.

The Birmingham Six case is the third prominent IRA prosecution to face reversal in the past two years.

In October 1989, the Court of Appeal freed four people convicted of IRA bombings in Guildford and Woolwich after prosecutors admitted police had fabricated some evidence.

Prosecutors have also conceded that scientific evidence used to convict seven people of running an IRA bomb factory was flawed. The convicts in that case had all served their sentences, and are awaiting a court hearing that could formally reverse their convictions.

The IRA is fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland.

In 1988, the Court of Appeal affirmed the Birmingham Six convictions. Lord Lane, the Lord Chief Justice, said at the time that "the longer this hearing has gone on, the more this court has been convinced the jury was correct."

In 1980, the Court of Appeal also rejected an attempt by the six to pursue a civil suit against police officers who allegedly beat them in custody.