UK Edition
IRA bomb maker says sorry to relatives of Birmingham pub bombings victims
An IRA bomb maker who has admitted being part of the group responsible for the Birmingham pub bombings has apologised to relatives of those killed.
Michael Christopher Hayes said he was sorry that innocent people died in the 1974 twin blasts that killed 21.
The 69-year-old who lives in south Dublin refused to say if he had planted any of the bombs, but told the BBC he was speaking out to give "the point of view of a participant”.
He said he was sorry for the hurt caused to the relatives of those killed in the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town.
"My apologies and my heartfelt sympathy to all of you for a terrible tragic loss that you have been put through," he said.
"I apologise not only for myself, I apologise for all active republicans who had no intention of hurting anybody and sympathise with you."
Relatives of those killed have rejected the apology as "gutless and spineless".
Hayes said the bombs had not been intended to kill people, claiming there had been a crucial eight-minute delay before police were warned of the bombs' location.
Once he became aware of the death toll from the two bombs, he personally defused a third bomb, he said.
In 1990, Michael Hayes was named in a Granada TV documentary as one of the men who placed the bombs in the two pubs.
When asked by the BBC if he planted the bombs, he replied: “No comment. No comment.
"I've been accused of a lot of things, without one shred of forensic evidence, without one statement made, without one witness coming out against me."
However, he said he took "collective responsibility" for all the IRA's actions in England and said he was "a participant in the IRA's activities in Birmingham".
He said he had significant bomb expertise. He said: “I specialised in explosives. I knew what I was doing."
Hayes said the IRA unit in Birmingham had been shocked by the scale of the death toll.
"It was not the intention of the IRA to kill innocent people. That wasn't meant. It wouldn't have been done if that was the case."
He claimed the unit thought it had given warnings with enough time for police to evacuate buildings.
"It was only later on that we realised there was eight valuable minutes missed. We were going to give them a half-hour warning.
"Out of that half hour, eight minutes elapsed - eight priceless minutes."
He said that as he understood it one of the phone boxes used for the telephone warnings was broken and another one was being used.
Julie Hambleton, whose 18-year-old sister Maxine was killed, called Hayes a coward.
"He'll take collective responsibility for those unarmed, innocent people, but won't say who done it? He's gutless and spineless. He's told us nothing, he's admitted nothing."
New inquests into the killings were ordered last year after what a coroner called “significant” new evidence about the blasts in crowded pubs. Hearings are due to begin in September.
Birmingham’s coroner said police apparently failed to act on tip-offs terrorists were to bomb the two pubs, a coroner has said, with no indication officers took action to head off what became one of the most notorious attacks of The Troubles.
Hayes meanwhile said he had a clear conscience. He said: "I can sleep at night. Because I am not a murderer."