IRA bomb victims drop civil court claim against Gerry Adams

2026.03.20 17:20 Former Irish republican leader Gerry Adams arrives for a press conference in Belfast on Friday. Photo: AFP Three victims of IRA bombings in England on Friday dropped their civil claim for damages against former Irish republican leader Gerry Adams, whom they had sought to hold personally responsible for orchestrating the blasts. The trio – who were injured in IRA bomb blasts in the 1970s and 1990s – had also sought to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Adams was a senior member of the Irish Republican Army. But on the very last day of the two-week trial, their lawyer Anne Studd told the High Court in London the case would be discontinued. The three bomb victims had sued Adams for a symbolic £1 (US$1.33) in damages. “The parties have agreed … that the claim is discontinued,” said a statement read by Judge Jonathan Swift. He made no order as to costs. But the lawyers for the claimants said in a statement that the three men had been forced to drop the case due to a procedural issue, calling the outcome “deeply unfair”. A man attaches a sign with the message “Gerry time for justice” outside the High Court in London on March 11. Photo: Reuters Adams, the former president of Sinn Fein, the IRA’s former political wing, was not in court on Friday, having attended earlier in the week. Three people died in the three bombings – in London in 1973, and in London and Manchester in 1996 – and scores more were injured. The three claimants alleged that Adams was a senior IRA figure for more than 25 years who “acted with others in furtherance of a common design to bomb the British mainland”. “These allegations are untrue. I was never a member of the IRA or its Army Council,” Adams said in his witness statement. “I do not defend all the IRA actions,” added Adams, who has always denied being a member of the IRA. He also “categorically” denied involvement in the attacks. “To be clear, I had no involvement in or advance knowledge of the bombings,” he said. It was the firs

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