November 26, 1974

Six Ulster-born Birmingham men have been remanded in custody until Thursday amid heavy security in Birmingham yesterday, accused of killing a schoolgirl who died in last Thursday’s bomb massacre in the city. They were charged with the murder of Jane Davis (17), one of 19 people killed in the two pub blasts.

Armed police were among dozens of officers on duty in and around the courthouses in the city of Victoria, and everyone who entered the building was frisked and asked for proof of identity.

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

Each man appeared accompanied by a detective in the packed court, where nearly 50 uniformed and civilian officers, some armed, were on duty.

The six were: Hugh Callaghan (44); Patrick Joseph Hill (30); Robert Gerrard Hunter (29), all unemployed; Noel Richard McIlkenny (31), mill partner; William Power (29) unemployed and John Walker (39) crane driver.

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

They were accused of conniving with each other in the killing of Miss Davis, the former sixth former at the high school, who died in the explosion at the Tavern in the Town pub.

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

Mr Maurice Buck, Deputy Chief Constable (Crime) for the West Midlands, Detective Chief Superintendent Harry Robinson, the head of CID for the region and other senior police officers were in court for the hearing.

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

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

Amid a very hostile environment against the Irish in Britain following the Birmingham pub bombings a few days earlier, six men were charged with the attacks. Despite the men, who became known as the Birmingham Six, being innocent of the attacks, they were all given life sentences in what was one of the worst miscarriages of justice in the British justice system.