Bombers 'Will Never Face Justice'
A TV documentary recalling the horror of the IRA bomb in Manchester city centre
claims the culprits will never face justice.
The BBC's Inside Out, which is broadcast tonight (Monday), says that security forces
knew who had planted the bomb.
About 200 people were injured in the attack in June 1996. It was the second largest
device ever used by the IRA on the British mainland. No one was killed.
The M.E.N. named the main suspect, but he was never arrested.
The only person to be charged over the bombing was Det Ch Insp Gordon Mutch, who
was accused of leaking information to the M.E.N. He was cleared of any wrongdoing
in court.
Arrested
Former M.E.N. crime reporter Steve Panter was arrested over the leak but never charged.
The programme backs up the M.E.N's revelations and features an interview with editor
Paul Horrocks.
In the documentary at 7.30pm, Prof Richard English, who is the author of Armed Struggle
- The History Of The IRA, says that it is known who was responsible and that the
bomb was built in South Armagh.
Police said they did not have enough evidence to charge the bombers.
The story of Cathy Malcolm who was heavily pregnant at the time and ran a shop in
the Corn Exchange is told. She was traumatised by the blast and left Manchester to
live in a small village near Milton Keynes with her daughter Bethany, now aged nine.
Psychologist Noreen Tehrani says many people caught up in the blast still suffer
post-traumatic stress.
