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ANGRY BRIGADE CHRONOLOGY
1969
February 3
Unexploded dynamite charges discovered on the premises of the Bank of Bilbao and
the Bank of Spain in London.
February 9
Bank of Spain in Liverpool bombed.
March 15
Two anarchists, Alan Barlow and Phil Carver, arrested immediately following a
powerful explosion at the Bank of Bilbao in London. In their possession was a
letter claiming the action on behalf of the 1st of May Group.
August 16
Home of Duncan Sandys, Tory MP, fire-bombed.
August 17
Ulster Office in London firebombed.
August 19
Bomb explodes after being thrown into army recruiting office, Brighton.
October 9
Petrol bombs found in left luggage locker in London.
October 15
Imperial War Museum gutted by incendiary device.
1970
January 28
Bomb attack on offices of the Spanish Cultural attache in Paris.
February 10
Ian Purdie is imprisoned for 9 months for throwing a petrol bomb at the
Ulster Office in Saville Row during an Irish Civil Rights Campaign march.
February 20
3 students captured as they are about to firebomb Barclays Bank.
February 28
Bomb attack on the Bank of Bilbao and the Spanish State Railways in Paris.
March 28
Time bomb found at Waterloo Station.
May 4
American Embassy, London, firebombed.
May 10
Incendiary device discovered aboard Iberian Airliner at Heathrow. Similar
devices are found in other European capitals on planes belonging to Iberia.
May 19
Wembley Conservative Association firebombed.
May 22
High explosive device discovered at a new police station in Paddington. This
was later claimed by the prosecution in the trial of the Stoke Newington
Eight to be the first action undertaken by `The Angry Brigade'.
June 10
Brixton Conservative Association firebombed.
June 11
Stuart Christie's home raided with explosives warrant.
June 18
Lambeth Court firebombed.
June 30
Army depot, Kimber Road, London, firebombed.
June 30
Ian Purdie is released from Albany prison (Isle of Wight).
July 3
Simultaneous bomb attacks in Paris and London against Spanish State Tourist
offices, and the Spanish and Greek Embassies.
July 7
Army recruiting office, South London, firebombed. Army Officer Training
Centre, Holborn, London, firebombed.
July 10
Home of a retired policeman in Stoke Newington firebombed.
August 18
The London offices of Iberia Airlines, Spanish State airline, bombed.
August 30
The London home of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir John
Waldron, is damaged by a bomb blast. The bombing is not reported in the
national press.
September 8
The London home of Attorney General, Sir Peter Rawlinson, in Chelsea, is
bombed. Again this goes unreported .
September 17
Jake Prescott paroled from Albany Prison, Isle of Wight.
September 21
Wimbledon Conservative Association firebombed.
September 26
Hampstead Conservative Association firebombed.
September 26
Bomb exploded outside Barclays Bank, Heathrow.
September 26
Simultaneous bomb attacks against Iberia in Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris and
London airports.
October 7
BOAC Air terminal at Victoria, booby trap hand grenade found.
October 8
Second explosion at Rawlinson's home.
October 9
Italian Trade Centre, Exhibition Building, Cork Street, London, bombed.
Attacks simultaneously in Manchester, Birmingham and Paris against Italian
State buildings. The attacks were claimed on behalf of Giuseppe Pinelli the
Italian anarchist murdered by the police in 1969.
October 24
During the Council workers' strike a bomb explodes in the cleansing dept head
office, Greenford.
October 26
Administration building on Keele University campus firebombed.
October 26
Barclays Bank at Stoke Newington firebombed. Newspaper report says: `Police
are investigating several similar incidents at other branches'.
November 20
A BBC van outside the Albert Hall in London covering the Miss World contest
is bombed at 2,30 am. The prosecution claimed that Jake Prescott was
responsible for this explosion, but also brought a witness who vouched that
Jake was in fact in Edinburgh at the time. They were forced to drop this
charge.
December 3
Spanish Embassy in London machine gunned following international protests
against the trial of the Basque nationalists, the Burgos Six. This was not
reported.
December 8
Big demonstrations against the Tory Government's Industrial Relations Bill.
In the early hours of December 9 the Department of Employment and
Productivity in St James Square, London, is bombed. The police had searched
the building and no sooner left it than it went off. Action claimed by the
Angry Brigade.
1971
January 12
Thousands of people strike and march against the Industrial Relations Bill.
The home of Robert Carr, Minister of Employment, in Hadley Green Road,
Barnet, is bombed. First explosion is at 10:05 pm, the second at 10:20 pm.
The action is claimed by the Angry Brigade.
"One man the police particularly want... is a Scot in his twenties who is
suspected of being involved in the bomb attack at the Iberia Airlines
office in London last August. This man was believed to be in Paris
yesterday." (The Times)
The hunt for Stuart Christie as a likely `candidate for outrage' was on. His
history as an anarchist and his involvement with the movement in Spain made
him a superb candidate for a fit-up.
Police searches extend over the whole of the London area. A number of people
were dragged up to Barnet Police Station for questioning. "Special Branch
were watching members of a group believed to be connected with the
ex-plosions". All those questioned at Barnet in the early part of the week
were released, apart from a man and a woman who were handed over to the
police in other parts of London in connection with other offences.
In the week after the Carr bomb a police guard was provided for Justice
Melford Stevenson after he had received a phone call saying that a bomb was
to be placed at his house. This was Melford the hanging judge who was to
sentence Jake Prescott to 15 years.
Secret orders have been issued to police and security guards that members of
the organisation must be flushed out as a matter of top priority. An
undercover squad of Special Branch officers has been formed to pursue
full-time investigation into the group.
Full-time guards have been placed on Cabinet Ministers. These are angry
times... Peter Walker (environment Minister), Melford Stevenson, Tory MP Hugh
Fraser, Tory Prime Minister Heath and many others have received threatening
calls. A communique sent to the Express newspaper says:
"THE ANGRY BRIGADE IS AFTER HEATH NOW. WE'RE GETTING CLOSER".
January 18
Glasgow South African Airways office firebombed.
January 19
Jake Prescott was arrested on a cheque charge in Notting Hill. On January 20
he appeared in Marylebone Court, where he was questioned by Habershon. In the
time he was inside on remand, he was put in cells with Messrs A, B and C.
Habershon had an interview with Mr A at Camberwell Court, which he took up
again on February 9. Mr A made a statement that Jake "had admitted the
bombings at the DEP, Carr's home and the Miss World Contest"... Very
convenient! But unfortunately for Habershon, the jury at Jake's trial were
not prepared to believe the police witness (perhaps they had in mind the
<20>10,000 reward that had been offered by the Daily Mirror for police
informants)... This part of the police evidence was rejected as a frame-up.
At this time the police were being given full rein to do what they liked. In
the midst of the hysteria that was generated by the idea that the opposition
might be armed, in the midst of the fear that came after a cabinet minister
had his front door blown off, a manhunt was taking place `leaving no stone
unturned'. Stuart Christie was particularly a victim of this. The London
evening newspapers were trumpeting from day to day about the `young Scottish
anarchist recently returned from Spain' whom they had branded as the most
likely... people were disappearing off the streets for questioning.
The police visit offices of leading newspapers and take photographers off to
Barnet to identify people from the photos that were taken outside Carr's
house on the night of the January 12 bombing.
On February 3 Jake Prescott was released on bail. Ian Purdie was in court at
the time, as he had been for Jake's previous remands. Then, on February 11,
Jake and a Dutch friend were seized from a pub in North London and dragged
off to Barnet. They were refused any access to lawyers for two days. Jake was
interrogated by Habershon and Allard for hours. On February 12 Jake's defence
counsel began preparations for a writ of habeas corpus on the police, which
would require them to either charge Jake or release him. On February 13 Jan
Oudenaarden, the Dutchman, was released after "the most frightening
experience of my life". Jake however was not released. He was charged with
causing an explosion at Carr's home and those at the DEP and the Miss World
contest.
Jake and Jan had been `detained for questioning' for 3 days. In the court at
Barnet, Habershon is challenged to produce `grounds for arrest' and is
threatened with legal action. It is claimed that he had tried to persuade
Jake to change his lawyer -- presumably to one who would not cause trouble
for the police...
January 25
Home of the Lord Provost of Glasgow bombed.
January 27
Communique 5 received by the Press Association. The police were forced to
admit that earlier bombings (which they had covered up) had taken place. The
police, however, imposed a press blackout on the course of the
investigations. At the same time the Daily Mirror offers a <20>10,000 reward to
anybody giving information leading to a conviction.
January 29
The Times reports: "Scotland Yard and security officials are becoming
increasingly embarrassed and annoyed by the activities of the Angry Brigade,
who cannot now be dismissed as a group of cranks. Some senior officers credit
the group with a degree of professional skill that has seldom been
experienced".
In the weeks after the Carr bombing, the Barnet Brigade, headed by Roy
Habershon (explosives expert), Commander Bond and Commander Dace, thundered
all over London with squad cars, dogs, photographers, raiding houses of
'known left wing extremists'. Their concern (as was clear from the number of
address books, magazines, letters, etc that they took) was to draw up a
picture of the extra- parliamentary left, whose activities they were now
forced to take seriously, and whose structures they were more or less
ignorant of. These were raids of the political police in action.
The raids included:
January 13: Chris Reed, Huddleston Road, London, N7
January 14: Stuart Roche, Schools Union activist.
January 15: Ian Purdie's brother, Robert is taken up to Barnet and
questioned. The police are looking for Ian.
January 17: The house of Ann Lamche (Cinema Action) is raided. Two people
are taken off for questioning. The Agitprop house in Muswell Hill (which
the police were eager to look round) address book copied.
January 19: 4 known raids in which nothing is found. Joe Keith and Tony
Swash questioned by Habershon.
January 20: Ian Purdie questioned by Palmer-Hall at Bedford Gardens.
January 21: Paul Lewis of International Times is questioned by Habershon.
Office and home searched.
January 22: Chris Allen is questioned by Edinburgh CID. Habershon goes to
Edinburgh for three days.
January 23: Another raid in Edinburgh.
January 24: Police raid a house in London and two men, Ross Flett and Phil
Carver were dragged off to Barnet for questioning. Barnet refuses them
access to a lawyer who was present outside the station. The papers start
to talk of a Scottish anarchist.
Two men are seized by police in London and taken to Barnet for questioning
concerning `about 30 unpublicised attacks on Establishment property'
including banks, the home of Tory racist Duncan Sandys and various
Conservative Party offices.
January 29
The Evening News reports that: "... in the latest report of HM Inspector of
Explosives, `there was again a substantial increase in the number of cases
involving homemade devices. There is evidence of the increasing use of such
devices in the furtherance of political activities' ".
January 30
Slough Conservative Office firebombed.
February 3
Jake Prescott is released on bail and yet is arrested on the 11th. He is
interrogated, denied access to a lawyer for three days, and is accused of the
attacks on Carr's home and the BBC van.
February 9
The Jersey home of a local managing director firebombed.
February 11
The house in Grosvenor Avenue, Islington, where Jake Prescott had been
staying, is raided by the police. The house is searched for explosives.
Diaries, address books, newspapers and other articles are taken away, despite
protests that this does not come into the terms of the police warrants. Press
reports now make Grosvenor Avenue the centre of the conspiracy. The nearest
thing they can find...
February 11
Earlier in the day Habershon and his gang had disrupted the trial of the
people who were involved in the demonstration at the Miss World contest in
November 1970. They removed by force four of the defence witnesses who were
due to give evidence in the trial. They were taken off to Barnet, where they
were questioned and denied all access to legal representation. Habershon
comes forth in true democratic light when he says "I am not concerned with
legal niceties". Charges are brought against Scotland Yard for assault (of
those dragged away from Bow Street) and for wrongful arrest and imprisonment.
The Special Branch were present at the Miss World trial.
February 13
Searches at the homes of Hilary Creek, John Barker, Kate McLean, Chris Allen
and others in a hunt for explosives. Jake Prescott is charged with conspiracy
to cause explosions between July 30 1970 and December 1971, and with the
specific bombings of Carr's home, the Dept of Employment and the Miss World
contest.
February 15
Cannock Street is raided again.
February 19
Habershon goes to Edinburgh. Two houses are raided and Jane and Chris Allen
are questioned. The same day The Times prints Communique 6 from the Angry
Brigade. There was also a telephone call from an Angry Brigade spokesman to
the Havering Recorder in Essex, saying that from Saturday next a campaign of
violence would be conducted against Conservative Party policies in South
Africa.
THE RAIDS CONTINUE
February 20
Mike Kane's house is raided.
March 5
House in Talbot Road, Notting Hill raided.
March 6
12 midnight, house in Tyneham Road, SW11, raided. Ian Purdie was there and
was arrested. Habershon said at Barnet that "the raid was to find explosives
and Ian Purdie. They are synonymous as far as I am concerned." He admitted in
court that he had ordered Ian to be arrested for questioning, which is
illegal.
March 7
Ian Purdie is charged, along with Jake Prescott, accused of the two Angry
Brigade bombings. They are both in the top security wing at Brixton Prison --
as class A prisoners -- and are kept in their cells for 23 hours a day.
March 10
The Guardian reports on police excesses in their investigations.
March 18
During a major strike of Ford workers in England the main offices of the Ford
Motor Company at Gants Hill, Ilford, on the outskirts of London, is wrecked
by a powerful explosion. A thousand word communique (Communique no 7) is
delivered shortly after.
... A man walks into a London bank and demands <20>5,000 with the threat of a
bomb that he had with him (a biscuit tin full of coal).
The bomb at Fords on March 18 sparks off another wave of raids:
March 20
House in Notting Hill raided. Defence documents seized.
March 23
Grosvenor Avenue raided for the second time. Dogs and ten pigs.
March 24
Two houses in East London raided. First, Ron Bailey's with explosives warrant
-- impression of typewriter taken. Second, Digger Walsh's with explosives
warrant, by Cremer and Bentley.
April 1
Two houses in Notting Hill raided. More defence files for the Powis Square
trial are seized.
Throughout the period since their arrest, Ian and Jake have been kept in
solitary in Brixton Prison, allowed out for only one hour each day. Their
defence lawyers can only gain access to them after bargaining with Habershon.
When the defence counsel asks for evidence of arrests to be produced, he is
told this can't be done without the permission of the Attorney General. In
addition <20>10,000 bail for each of the defendants is refused by the magistrate
at Barnet.
April 1
The home of the headmaster of Roydale School is firebombed.
April 5
Arson attempt at Gosport Tory Club. (Evening Standard says "this is the
latest in a series of incidents involving this club in the last six months.")
April 5
Bomb left in Leicester Square.
April 22
Committal proceedings for Jake and Ian start at Barnet Court. The committal
is to decide whether or not the magistrate feels there is enough evidence
against the two of them for a trial to be set at the Old Bailey. There is no
doubt that he will find so, but nevertheless proceedings proceed...
interminably... until May 27. Jake had been presented (April 15) with three
more charges: having conspired with Ian to cause explosions `with others'
between July 1970 and March 1971 and having actually caused the Miss World
and DEP bombings.
April 22
Arson at Whitechapel Barclays Bank.
April 23
Booby trap incendiary envelope posted to MP at House of Commons.
April 24
Second police raid in Wivenhoe, Essex. Charges: possession of drugs -- shown
photos of Jim Greenfield and Anna Mendelson and 2 others.
April 26
3rd raid on Cannock Street. Chris arrested on cheques charges.
April 28
The Times receives a liquid bomb through the post. It had a message: "From
the Vengeance Squad, the Angry Brigade, The People's Army. We will use these.
Many of them in June and July. Revolution now."
April 29
Sabotage at Nuclear Power Station, Berkeley, Gloucester (3rd such incident
within three months).
April/May
The IS printers had an intimidating visit, asking about women's newspaper.
Raids on IS members in London.
May 1
Mayday, a bomb explodes in the Biba boutique in trendy Kensington. It was
accompanied by Communique 8.
May 4
Bomb found strapped to the underside of Lady Beaverbrook's car. Inquiries
range through Kent, Essex and Oxfordshire.
May 4
Four home-made bombs found near the Sidcup and Chislehurst Grammar School,
where Prime Minister Heath received the Freedom of Bexley on Friday.
May 22
Bomb attack on Scotland Yard Computer Room at Tintagel House, London. This is
accompanied by simultaneous attacks by the Angry Brigade, the International
Solidarity Movement, and the Marius Jacob group against British Rail, Rolls
Royce and Rover offices in Paris.
May
Harris Gleckman, Alan Barlow, and Smith raided for the second time at
Agitprop, Muswell Hill.
June 1
A letter is sent to The Times: "If Heath and Rippon contrive to enter the
Common Market without seeking the opinion of the British people they will be
on the receiving end of a bullet. This is no idle threat. Signed: The Angry
Brigade."
July 22
During a dispute between Ford management and the militant shop steward John
Dillon, in the Ford Liverpool plant, the Angry Brigade blow up the home of
Ford's managing director, William Batty, in Essex. The same night a bomb
damages a transformer at the Dagenham plant of the Ford Motor Company.
By this time Scotland Yard is hopping mad. Sir John Waldron holds a
conference there, where senior police officers are told of the order that has
come from the Prime Minister, via Home Secretary Maudling, that "The Angry
Brigade must be found and smashed"... "We have been ordered to treat the
Angry Brigade as Public Enemy Number 1. This is a top priority job."
In the words of the Sunday Telegraph:
"YARD WILL GET THE ANGRY BRIGADE.... A special team of 20 hand-picked
detectives from the Flying Squad and Special Branch, working with army
bomb disposal experts and Home Office scientists. Their leader, a
commander, whose name is being kept secret for his own safety... is known
as rough and ready... The squad is taking a tough line. It will raid hippy
communes, question avowed members of the `underground' and build up a
complete file on the sub-culture that threatens the present social order."
July 19
Factory at Dordan damaged by several fires started by incendiary devices.
July 25
Intimidation of a claimant in North London when police with explosives
warrant smash door in.
July 26
Ian Purdie refused bail of <20>17,500 by Melford Stevenson.
July 31
Despite close police protection in the home of the Secretary for Trade and
Industry, John Davies, is badly damaged by a powerful explosion in London.
This action followed close on Davies' announcement of his intention to close
Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, throwing thousands of men out of work. This is
accompanied by the 11th Communique from the Angry Brigade.
August 2
Two houses in Essex searched with explosives warrant. Judge Argyll of the OZ
trial is threatened in his Midlands home.
The trial date for Jake Prescott and Ian Purdie is set for September 7, and
now the police's concern is to do everything possible to wreck and intimidate
any support action that might be planned for them. Various houses are raided
and material and addresses related to the Ian and Jake defence is seized. One
of the places raided was the Agitprop collective in Bethnal Green, London,
where material was seized .
August 15
More raids: Hungerford Road, Dave Garfinkel taken for questioning. Beresford
Terrace, N5 -- documents seized. Crystal Palace -- Sally Keith's house,
floorboards ripped up.
August 15
Following the announcement by the British Government that internment was to
be introduced in Ireland, there was a powerful explosion at the Army
recruiting centre in Holloway Road, North London. This was accompanied by a
Communique signed `Angry Brigade Moonlighters Cell'.
August 16
Agitprop, Bethnal Green again raided with explosives warrant.
August 17
Wilson and Habershon raid house in Talbot Road, Notting Hill, with warrant
for stolen goods.
August 21
House in Amhurst Road, London, raided by Special Branch and CID. Jim
Greenfield, Anna Mendelson, John Barker and Hilary Creek are arrested. The
four are taken to the `Bomb Squad' HQ in Albany Street, London, where the two
men are subjected to a brutal beating-up to extract a confession from them.
August 21
Stuart Christie arrested at Amhurst Road, London, while visiting the house.
One hour later Chris Bott is also arrested at the same place. Both are taken
to join the others at Albany Street Police Station. Incriminating evidence in
the form of two detonators is planted by police officers in Christie's car.
Both men are also verballed.
August 23
All are charged at Albany Street Police Station with:
1. Conspiring to cause explosions between January 1 1968 and August 21 1971.
2. Possessing explosive substances for an unlawful purpose.
3. Possessing a pistol without a firearms certificate.
4. Possessing eight rounds of ammunition without a firearms certificate.
5. Possessing two machine guns without the authority of the Secretary of
State.
6. Possessing 36 rounds of ammunition without a firearms certificate.
7. Jim: attempting to cause an explosion in May 1970.
8. Anna and Jim: attempting to cause an explosion in Manchester, October
1970.
9. Stuart: possessing one round of ammunition without a firearm certificate.
(This was dated back 2 years when a bullet was taken from his flat. No
charges were preferred against him at the time.)
10. John, Jim and Stuart: possessing explosive substances.
11. Jim, John and Hilary: receiving stolen vehicle.
12. Stuart: possessing explosive substances. (The two detonators planted by
the police). All are refused bail and remanded in custody to await trial.
August 29
Military wing of Edinburgh Castle bombed.
September 10
Ipswich Courthouse bombed.
September 16
Bomb discovered in officers' mess inside Dartmoor prison. (News not released
for two weeks).
September 20
Support of Chelsea Bridge opposite army barracks bombed. (Blast heard three
miles away.)
September 24
Despite the fact that the police claim to have arrested all the Angry
Brigade, the Albany Street Army Barracks (near the Bomb Squad HQ) is bombed
by the Angry Brigade in protest against the actions of the British Army in
Northern Ireland.
October 15
Maryhill Barracks Army HQ, Glasgow, firebombed.
October 20
Home of Bryant, Birmingham building boss, bombed while his workers are on
strike. Communique issued by the Angry Brigade.
October 30
Post Office Tower in London is bombed by the Angry Brigade.
October 30
'The Cunning Man' Pub, Reading, which refused to serve workers from the M4
site, bombed.
November 1
Army Tank HQ in Everton Street, London, bombed by the Angry Brigade.
November 6
Amsterdam: attack against Lloyds Bank; Basle: Italian Consulate attacked;
Rome: British Embassy attacked; Barcelona: British Embassy attacked. All in
support of the `Stoke Newington Eight' and the Italian anarchists imprisoned
on trumped-up charges of 'conspiracy' and subversion.
November 11
Haverstock Street, Islington, raided. Angie Weir arrested, taken to Albany
Street and charged with conspiracy to cause explosions.
November 17
89 Talbot Road raided: Chris Allen ends up similarly charged.
November 26
Pauline Conroy arrested in her flat in Powis Square and charged.
November 29
Broadstairs Courthouse firebombed.
December 1
Trial of Ian Purdie and Jake Prescott ends. Ian Purdie found not guilty on
all charges. Jake Prescott found not guilty of specific bombings, but guilty
of conspiracy to cause bombings on the basis of having written three
envelopes, and was sentenced to fifteen years.
December 15
Jordanian Ambassador, London, machine-gunned in his car.
December 18
Kate McLean arrested and charged along with Angela Weir, Chris Allen and
Pauline Conroy, who had been arrested during the course of November. of
having conspired with the six people already arrested on conspiracy charges.
Shortly before the opening of Committal proceedings against the ten
militants, Attorney General, Sir Peter Rawlinson, the victim of one of the
Angry Brigade attacks, decided there was insufficient evidence for a case to
be made against Pauline Conroy and Chris Allen, and they were released from
custody.
1972
January 22
Explosive letter sent to MP at House of Commons.
February 1
Rhodesia House in London firebombed.
February 3
Kirkgate, Huddersfield, Army Recruiting Office destroyed by firebombs.
February 17
Bonhill Street Social Security Office, London, firebombed. Liverpool Army HQ,
Edge Lane, bombed. Severe damage.
February 22
Aldershot Paras HQ bombed -- 7 killed.
March 10
South African Airways, London, firebombed.
March 15
(Approx) Prison officer shot outside Wandsworth Prison.
March 20
Two shots fired through the front of the Army Recruiting Office, Slough,
Bucks.
March
Four members of the Workers' Party of Scotland sentenced to a total of 81
years as a result of an expropriation carried out against the Bank of
Scotland in June, 1971. The comrades, who defended their actions politically
in court, were dealt the highest sentences ever by a Scottish court for
robbery: William McPherson, 26 years, Matt Lygate, 25 years, and Ian Doran
were virtually ignored by the revolutionary left.
March 30
Bomb containing 13 sticks of gelignite planted on railway line near
Stranraer, Glasgow, used by the Army to transport men and equipment to ferry
for N. Ireland.
April 6
2nd bomb (13 sticks) planted on rail link near Glasgow.
April 24
Homemade bomb planted at police headquarters at Sleaford, Lancs. 15 year old
boy held.
April 26
Bomb blast and fire at Tory HQ, Billericay, Essex.
May 1
Explosion at CS gas factory.
May 30
Trial of `Stoke Newington Eight' accused of conspiracy to cause Angry Brigade
bombings, begins in No 1 Court at the Old Bailey in London. This was to be
the longest trial in the history of the British legal system.
Excerpt from a Stoke Newington Eight Defence Bulletin:
THE TRIAL SO FAR...
Has been four months of prosecution, four months of police witness after
witness contradicting each other, changing their story, LYING, broken only
for four weeks when the judge had his holiday...
A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE
The Press have reported nothing of all this -- just as they never reported
the bombings until it suited them. What are they scared of?
WHAT CONSPIRACY?
The only concrete evidence is the guns and gelignite `found' by the police
in the flat where 4 of the defendants lived. At first the police said that
2 of the 4 were there throughout the raid; then they admitted that at one
point they were taken out of the flat then brought back. WHY? The
fingerprint expert admitted that there were no prints on the guns and
explosives. WHY NOT?
The prosecution's story changed from day to day. It emerged that the
police would have fallen flat over the guns and gelly as they came into
the flat if it had been where they said it was, instead of 'finding' it
ten minutes later; so they suddenly `remembered' for the first time -- a
year later -- that it had been covered with clothes.
POLICE CONSPIRACY
One detective was forced to admit that he had altered his notebook during
the trial. Another gave the game away altogether when he said that he and
a colleague sat down in the kitchen and `decided' what happened in the
raid.
NO CONSPIRACY
The rest of the evidence against the eight is research, letter and
articles written by the defendants for different underground papers (
Frendz, Strike) and broadsheets. The prosecution call them proof of
conspiracy because they mention such political targets as the Industrial
Relations Act, Fair Rents Act, Miss World contest, etc.
Their scientific experts' tried to pin 25 of the bombings that took place
in England between 1968 and 1971 on to these people, claiming that these
bombings were `associated' -- disregarding other similar bombings and
covering up the differences between the 25. But the explosions were
claimed by groups as different as the 1st of May group, the Angry Brigade,
The Wild Bunch and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And the `set'
didn't include 3 claimed by the Angry Brigade AFTER Amhurst Road was
raided.
Now the defence is beginning, the truth can come out: the only conspiracy
there's been is a STATE CONSPIRACY.
Police explosives expert testifies that between March 1968 and August 1971
there had been 123 known attacks on property.
November 24
During his summing up Mr Justice James directed the jury to ignore the
defence's protestations that it was a political trial. He said: "It is not (a
political trial) and I direct you to have none of it. Political trials are
trials of people for their political views. We do not have them in this
country."
December 6
The trial ends. Jim Greenfield, Anna Mendleson, Hilary Creek and John Barker
are sentenced to 10 years for `conspiracy to cause explosions'. The other
four charged are acquitted, and the sentence of Jake Prescott is reduced to
10 years.
December 7
After the Angry Brigade sentences the previous day, Scotland Yard names two
more people they want in connection with the bombings: Gerry Osner and Sarah
Poulikakou, both living abroad at the time. 300 people marched in protest to
Holloway Prison.
In all, 12 people were arrested and charged -- 2 had the charges against them
withdrawn, 5 were acquitted, five were convicted and imprisoned for
conspiracy.
Following the trial Commander Bond was promoted to Deputy Assistant
Commissioner at Scotland Yard. Det. Chief Superintendent Habershon was made
Commander and seconded to the Home Office's Research and Planning Office in
1973. In June 1974 he headed the police investi- gation into the killing of
Kevin Gateley, the Warwick Uni- versity student, in Red Lion Square on June
5th 1974 -- as a result of which the police were absolved of all respon-
sibility. In April 1975 Commander Habershon was appoint- ed head of the Bomb
Squad, replacing Robert Huntley.