Difference between revisions of "Patrick Magee"

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|image_caption="Brighton bomber"
 
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|constitutes=Provisional IRA member
 
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|wikipedia=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Magee_(Irish_republican)
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|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Magee_(Irish_republican)
 
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[[File:Grand_Hotel_Brighton.jpg|400px|left|thumb|'''Grand Hotel Brighton''': morning of 12 October 1984]]
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[[File:Grand_Hotel_Brighton.jpg|300px|right|thumb|'''Grand Hotel Brighton''': 12 October 1984]]
'''Patrick Joseph Magee''' (born 1951<ref>{{cite news | title = Brighton bomb: Filming forgiveness | author = | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1704600.stm | publisher = ''[[BBC News]]'' | date = 13 December 2001 | accessdate = 2007-04-30}}</ref>) is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer, best known for [[Brighton bombing|planting a bomb in Brighton's Grand Hotel]], targeting Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] and her cabinet, which killed two men and three women.
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'''Patrick Joseph Magee''' (born 1951)<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1704600.stm "Brighton bomb: Filming forgiveness"]''</ref> is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer, best known for [[Brighton bombing|planting a bomb in Brighton's Grand Hotel]], targeting Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] and her cabinet, killing two men and three women.
  
Patrick Magee is sometimes referred to as the ''Brighton bomber''.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/sussex/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8359000/8359593.stm "The Brighton bomber"]</ref>
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Investigators traced the source of the [[time bomb]] to Room 629, and began looking through the names of everyone who had stayed in the Grand Hotel in the month before the attack. They ruled out 800 people from 50 countries, and eventually homed in on Patrick Magee, after a [[fingerprint]] on the room card was said to have matched one taken years previously after a run-in with the law in Norwich, according to the BBC. (In August 2000, Magee is reported to have said: "If that was my [[fingerprint]] I did not put it there.")<ref>''[http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/aug/28/northernireland.jamiewilson "Brighton bomber thinks again"]''</ref>
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Police bided their time, and eventually traced Magee to a safe-house in Glasgow, the following summer. He was arrested on 22 June 1985 along with four other members of an IRA unit, including future [[Sinn Féin]] MEP [[Martina Anderson]], who was then 23 years of age.<ref>''[http://www.thejournal.ie/brighton-bomb-margaret-thatcher-ira-1718475-Oct2014/ "30 years ago tonight, the IRA tried to murder Margaret Thatcher"]''</ref>
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Patrick Magee is often referred to as the "Brighton bomber."<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/sussex/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8359000/8359593.stm "The Brighton bomber"]''</ref>{{QB|“[[Mrs Thatcher]] will now realise that [[Britain]] cannot occupy our country and torture our prisoners and shoot our people in their own streets and get away with it. Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always. Give [[Ireland]] peace and there will be no more war.” (IRA Statement, 13 October 1984)<ref>''[https://inteltoday.org/2021/03/16/on-this-day-the-brighton-bombing-october-12-1984-update-brighton-bomber-ireland-will-soon-be-reunited/ "The Brighton Bombing (October 12 1984), UPDATE – Brighton Bomber: 'Ireland will soon be reunited'”]''</ref>}}
  
 
==Early life and IRA career ==
 
==Early life and IRA career ==
Patrick Magee was born in Belfast but moved with his family to Norwich when he was four years old. He returned to Belfast at the age of 20 in 1971 and later joined the Provisional IRA.<ref>{{cite news | title = Patrick Magee: The IRA Brighton bomber | author = | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/301223.stm | publisher = ''BBC News'' | date = 22 June 1999 | accessdate = 2007-04-30}}</ref>
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Patrick Magee was born in Belfast but moved with his family to Norwich when he was four years old. He returned to Belfast at the age of 20 in 1971 and later joined the Provisional IRA.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/301223.stm "Patrick Magee: The IRA Brighton bomber"]''</ref>
  
 
In June 1973, he was interned during ''Operation Demetrius''. He was released in November 1975.
 
In June 1973, he was interned during ''Operation Demetrius''. He was released in November 1975.
  
 
==Brighton hotel bombing==
 
==Brighton hotel bombing==
The plot to bomb the Grand Hotel had started in 1981 as an act of revenge for the stance Thatcher had taken over the death of [[Bobby Sands]] and other republican hunger-strikers who had demanded political status in prison.<ref>{{cite web | title = Staying in: The night they bombed the Grand | author = Gerard Gilbert | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20030510/ai_n12684263 | publisher = ''The Independent'' | date = 10 May 2003 | accessdate = 2007-04-30}}</ref>
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The plot to bomb the Grand Hotel had started in 1981 as an act of revenge for the stance Thatcher had taken over the death of [[Bobby Sands]] and other republican hunger-strikers who had demanded political status in prison.<ref>''[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20030510/ai_n12684263 "Staying in: The night they bombed the Grand"]''</ref>
  
Magee had stayed in the hotel under the false name of Roy Walsh four weeks previously, during the weekend of 14–17 September 1984, when he planted the bomb, with a long-delay timer supplied by Provisional IRA quartermaster [[Fr Patrick Ryan]], in the bathroom wall of his room, number 629.<ref>{{cite news | title = Patrick Magee convicted of IRA terrorist attack | author = Gareth Parry | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1235581,00.html | publisher = ''The Guardian'' | date = 10 June 1986 | accessdate = 2007-04-30 | location=London}}</ref> The bomb exploded at 2:54&nbsp;a.m. on 12 October 1984, killing five people and injuring 34.<ref>{{cite news | title = 1984: Tory Cabinet in Brighton bomb blast | author = | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/12/newsid_2531000/2531583.stm | publisher = ''BBC News'' | date = 12 October 1984| accessdate = 2007-04-30}}</ref> He was arrested in the Queen's Park area of Glasgow on 22 June 1985 with other members of an active service unit, including [[Martina Anderson]], while planning other bombings. At his trial in September 1986 he received eight life sentences, with the judge branding him "a man of exceptional cruelty and inhumanity."<ref>{{cite book | last = Taylor | first = Peter | authorlink = Peter Taylor (Journalist) | title = Brits | publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing | year = 2001 | pages = 157–159 | doi = | isbn = 0-7475-5806-X}}</ref> While in prison, he completed a PhD examining the representation of Irish Republicans in 'Troubles' fiction. In August 1997, he was married for a second time.
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Patrick Magee had stayed at the Grand Hotel in Brighton under the false name of Roy Walsh four weeks previously, during the weekend of 14–17 September 1984, when he planted the bomb, with a long-delay timer supplied by Provisional IRA quartermaster [[Fr Patrick Ryan]], in the bathroom of his room, number 629.<ref>''[http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1235581,00.html "Patrick Magee convicted of IRA terrorist attack"]''</ref> The bomb exploded at 2:54&nbsp;a.m. on 12 October 1984, killing five people and injuring 34. Magee was arrested in the Queen's Park area of Glasgow on 22 June 1985 with four other members of an active service unit who were planning further bombings.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/12/newsid_2531000/2531583.stm "1984: Tory Cabinet in Brighton bomb blast"]''</ref>
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At his trial in September 1986 Magee received eight life sentences, with the judge branding him "a man of exceptional cruelty and inhumanity." While in prison, he completed an [[Open University]] PhD examining the representation of Irish Republicans in 'Troubles' fiction. In August 1997, he was married for a second time.
  
 
== After prison ==
 
== After prison ==
Magee was released from prison in 1999, having served 14 years in prison, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Originally he was sentenced to 8 life sentences and a minimum tariff of 35 years<ref>{{cite news | title = Outrage as Brighton bomber freed | author = | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/375092.stm | publisher = ''BBC News'' | date = 22 June 1999 | accessdate = 2007-04-30}}</ref> [[Jack Straw]], the then Home Secretary, attempted to block Magee's release, but this was overturned by the High Court.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/302141.stm</ref>
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Patrick Magee was released from prison in 1999, having served 14 years in prison, under the terms of the [[Good Friday Agreement]].
  
He continues to defend his role in the blast, but he has expressed remorse for the loss of innocent lives.<ref>{{cite news | title = Brighton bomber's regrets | author = | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/2315579.stm | publisher = ''BBC News'' | date = 11 October 2002 | accessdate = 2007-04-30}}</ref> One of the victims of the bombing was Sir Anthony Berry, whose daughter Jo Berry publicly met Magee in November 2000 in an effort at achieving reconciliation as envisioned in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement. They have met publicly on more than one hundred occasions since that date.
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Originally he was sentenced to 8 life sentences and a minimum tariff of 35 years.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/375092.stm "Outrage as Brighton bomber freed"]''</ref> [[Jack Straw]], the then Home Secretary, attempted to block Magee's release, but this was overturned by the High Court.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/302141.stm "UK Politics IRA prisoners to go free"]''</ref>
  
Harvey Thomas, a senior adviser to Thatcher who survived the bombing, forgave Magee in 1998. Thomas has since developed a friendship with Magee, including hosting him in his own home. Thomas cited his Christian faith as the reason why he felt compelled to forgive.<ref>{{cite news | title = Brighton bomb victim: Why I forgive | author = | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1480081.stm | publisher = ''BBC News'' | date = 8 August 2001 | accessdate = 2013-03-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Love Thy Enemy | author = | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-miles/love-thy-enemy_1_b_1568445.html | publisher = ''Huffington Post'' | date = 4 June 2012 | accessdate = 2013-03-07}}</ref>
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Magee continues to defend his role in the blast, but he has expressed remorse for the loss of innocent lives.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/2315579.stm "Brighton bomber's regrets"]''</ref> One of the victims of the bombing was Sir Anthony Berry, whose daughter Jo Berry publicly met Magee in November 2000 in an effort at achieving reconciliation as envisioned in the wake of the [[Good Friday Agreement]]. They have met publicly on many occasions since.
Norman Tebbit, whose wife was paraylsed in the Brighton Bomb, has asserted he could only forgive Magee if he went to the police and provided them with the names of anyone else, who was responsible for the bombing. He has argued that giving up violence is insufficient, stating: "If Dr Harold Shipman had announced he was not going to murder any more of his patients, I don't think we would have felt that was a case for going 'good old Shipman' and giving him a slap on the back and a special award from the BMA."<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/8299074.stm</ref>
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Harvey Thomas, a senior adviser to Thatcher who survived the bombing, forgave Magee in 1998. Thomas has since developed a friendship with Magee, including hosting him in his own home. Thomas cited his Christian faith as the reason why he felt compelled to forgive.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1480081.stm "Brighton bomb victim: Why I forgive"]''</ref><ref>''[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-miles/love-thy-enemy_1_b_1568445.html "Love Thy Enemy"]''</ref>
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[[Norman Tebbit]], whose wife was paraylsed in the Brighton Bomb, has asserted he could only forgive Magee if he went to the police and provided them with the names of anyone else, who was responsible for the bombing. He has argued that giving up violence is insufficient, stating: "If Dr Harold Shipman had announced he was not going to murder any more of his patients, I don't think we would have felt that was a case for going 'good old Shipman' and giving him a slap on the back and a special award from the BMA."<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/8299074.stm "Lord Tebbit on the Brighton bomb"]''</ref>
  
 
== Books ==
 
== Books ==
 
* Patrick Magee, ''Gangsters or Guerrillas? Representations of Irish Republicans in 'Troubles Fiction''' (2001) ISBN 1-900960-14-1
 
* Patrick Magee, ''Gangsters or Guerrillas? Representations of Irish Republicans in 'Troubles Fiction''' (2001) ISBN 1-900960-14-1
 
== References ==
 
<references/>
 
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==
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* [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/a-b/bomb.html The Brighton bomb – no impact?] 2004
 
* [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/a-b/bomb.html The Brighton bomb – no impact?] 2004
 
* [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bibdbs/magee01/index.html Book review, with full Appendix A: Troubles Fiction bibliography] September 2007
 
* [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/bibdbs/magee01/index.html Book review, with full Appendix A: Troubles Fiction bibliography] September 2007
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{{SMWDocs}}
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== References ==
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<references/>

Latest revision as of 12:08, 21 March 2021

Person.png Patrick Magee  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(Provisional IRA member)
Patrick Magee.jpg
"Brighton bomber"
Grand Hotel Brighton: 12 October 1984

Patrick Joseph Magee (born 1951)[1] is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer, best known for planting a bomb in Brighton's Grand Hotel, targeting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet, killing two men and three women.

Investigators traced the source of the time bomb to Room 629, and began looking through the names of everyone who had stayed in the Grand Hotel in the month before the attack. They ruled out 800 people from 50 countries, and eventually homed in on Patrick Magee, after a fingerprint on the room card was said to have matched one taken years previously after a run-in with the law in Norwich, according to the BBC. (In August 2000, Magee is reported to have said: "If that was my fingerprint I did not put it there.")[2]

Police bided their time, and eventually traced Magee to a safe-house in Glasgow, the following summer. He was arrested on 22 June 1985 along with four other members of an IRA unit, including future Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson, who was then 23 years of age.[3]

Patrick Magee is often referred to as the "Brighton bomber."[4]

Mrs Thatcher will now realise that Britain cannot occupy our country and torture our prisoners and shoot our people in their own streets and get away with it. Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always. Give Ireland peace and there will be no more war.” (IRA Statement, 13 October 1984)[5]

Early life and IRA career

Patrick Magee was born in Belfast but moved with his family to Norwich when he was four years old. He returned to Belfast at the age of 20 in 1971 and later joined the Provisional IRA.[6]

In June 1973, he was interned during Operation Demetrius. He was released in November 1975.

Brighton hotel bombing

The plot to bomb the Grand Hotel had started in 1981 as an act of revenge for the stance Thatcher had taken over the death of Bobby Sands and other republican hunger-strikers who had demanded political status in prison.[7]

Patrick Magee had stayed at the Grand Hotel in Brighton under the false name of Roy Walsh four weeks previously, during the weekend of 14–17 September 1984, when he planted the bomb, with a long-delay timer supplied by Provisional IRA quartermaster Fr Patrick Ryan, in the bathroom of his room, number 629.[8] The bomb exploded at 2:54 a.m. on 12 October 1984, killing five people and injuring 34. Magee was arrested in the Queen's Park area of Glasgow on 22 June 1985 with four other members of an active service unit who were planning further bombings.[9]

At his trial in September 1986 Magee received eight life sentences, with the judge branding him "a man of exceptional cruelty and inhumanity." While in prison, he completed an Open University PhD examining the representation of Irish Republicans in 'Troubles' fiction. In August 1997, he was married for a second time.

After prison

Patrick Magee was released from prison in 1999, having served 14 years in prison, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Originally he was sentenced to 8 life sentences and a minimum tariff of 35 years.[10] Jack Straw, the then Home Secretary, attempted to block Magee's release, but this was overturned by the High Court.[11]

Magee continues to defend his role in the blast, but he has expressed remorse for the loss of innocent lives.[12] One of the victims of the bombing was Sir Anthony Berry, whose daughter Jo Berry publicly met Magee in November 2000 in an effort at achieving reconciliation as envisioned in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement. They have met publicly on many occasions since.

Harvey Thomas, a senior adviser to Thatcher who survived the bombing, forgave Magee in 1998. Thomas has since developed a friendship with Magee, including hosting him in his own home. Thomas cited his Christian faith as the reason why he felt compelled to forgive.[13][14] Norman Tebbit, whose wife was paraylsed in the Brighton Bomb, has asserted he could only forgive Magee if he went to the police and provided them with the names of anyone else, who was responsible for the bombing. He has argued that giving up violence is insufficient, stating: "If Dr Harold Shipman had announced he was not going to murder any more of his patients, I don't think we would have felt that was a case for going 'good old Shipman' and giving him a slap on the back and a special award from the BMA."[15]

Books

  • Patrick Magee, Gangsters or Guerrillas? Representations of Irish Republicans in 'Troubles Fiction' (2001) ISBN 1-900960-14-1

External links

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References