The Guildford Four

Guildford Four: how the innocent were framed and the truth buried

Page Description

Uncover the story of the Guildford Four, wrongfully convicted in 1974. Learn about the injustice, their fight, and the case’s impact on justice reform.

The Guildford Four who were kidnapped by the British state & tortured into making false confessions are sentenced by a corrupt judge & a rotten system. They would spend 15 years in prison until they were freed in 1989.
RIP Gerry Conlon & Giuseppe Conlon

Part 1

Birmingham Six

Part 2

Current page

Part 3

Saint Omer France

Part 4

Kevin Strickland

Part 5

Thomas James

Part 6

Post Office Scandal

Part 7

Who cares?

In the Name of Gerry Conlon | Trailer | Available Now

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12 mei 2023
 

In 1974, Gerry Conlon was a victim of one of the worst judicial crimes in UK history. Aged 20, he and 3 others were sentenced to life in prison for an IRA bombing. “The Guildford Four” had to wait until 1989 for the court to recognize the evidence was false. Conlon became a world-famous human rights activist. Director Lorenzo Moscia met Gerry two months before his death, recording this testament to a remarkable life.

The Guildford Four were a group of four Irish men who were wrongfully convicted in 1975 of carrying out bombings in Guildford, England. The key points of their case include:

  1. Arrest: The four men were arrested in 1974 in connection with IRA bombings in Guildford, which killed five people and injured many others.

  2. Conviction: After a trial in 1975, they were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The convictions were based on confessions obtained through coercion and intimidation by the police.

  3. Appeals: The Guildford Four appealed their convictions, but their appeals were rejected. The British judiciary believed that their confessions were reliable and that there was other evidence that supported their convictions.

  4. Public support: The case attracted significant public attention, and many people believed that the Guildford Four were innocent. There were protests and campaigns to have their convictions overturned.

  5. New evidence: In 1989, new evidence came to light that suggested that the Guildford Four were innocent. The evidence included a confession from another man who had been involved in the bombings, as well as forensic evidence that was inconsistent with the prosecution’s case.

  6. Release: The Guildford Four were released in 1989 after serving 15 years in prison. Their convictions were overturned on the basis of the new evidence.

  7. Aftermath: The case led to a significant public outcry and highlighted the problems with the British criminal justice system, particularly regarding the use of confessions obtained through coercion. It also led to changes in the law regarding the admissibility of confessions in court.

Stories from The Justice Gap

Guildford Four: how the innocent were framed and the truth buried

On October 5, 1974 two public houses in Guildford, Surrey were bombed by the IRA without warning causing five deaths and over 60 injuries of varying severity. The bombs were placed in the pubs with timing devices to detonate when the bomb placers were clear of Guildford.

Read more on the link below

Guildford Four: how the innocent were framed and the truth buried

1 Guildford Four inquiry papers show reconviction attempts – Emma Vardy

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27 okt. 2016

©BBC 2016 – COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH THE ORIGINAL OWNER AND IS USED FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY. NO FINANCIAL GAIN IS MADE FROM THIS VIDEO.
 
Previously unseen files from an inquiry into the case indicate persistent attempts to try to “reconvict” the Guildford Four who were accused of exploding two bombs in October 1974.
 
Gerry Conlon (pictured), Paddy Armstrong, Paul Hill and Carole Richardson, who always protested their innocence, served 15 years before their convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1989.
 
Emma Vardy spoke to Gerry Conlon’s sister in Northern Ireland along with a Guildford Four solicitor and a friend of Mr Conlon.

THE GUILDFORD FOUR | SOLICITOR ALISTAIR LOGAN | TN-85-010-008

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15 dec. 2014.

 

Stan phillips
thank god hanging had been abolished by the time they were wrongfully arrested
hoopenhanger
Welcome home, lads.  Great job.
wks107tdv123
His name was Joe O’Connell or sometimes Joseph O’Connell but never Martin O’Connell.
John Costelloe
Taking the war to the British. Wat did they expect.

1989 October 19

Guildford Four are cleared of IRA bombings

The Guildford Four, convicted of the 1975 IRA bombings of public houses in Guildford and Woolwich, England, are cleared of all charges after nearly 15 years in prison.

On October 5, 1974, an IRA bomb killed four people in a Guildford pub frequented by British military personnel, while another bomb in Woolwich killed three. British investigators rushed to find suspects and soon settled on Gerry Conlon and Paul Hill, two residents of Northern Ireland who had been in the area at the time of the terrorist attack.

Guildford Four are cleared of IRA bombings

Guildford Four Release: Historic Injustice Overturned – Archive Documentary (1989)

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19 okt 2023

On 19 October 1989, the Guildford Four were released after 15 years of wrongful imprisonment. Gerard Patrick “Gerry” Conlon, Paul Michael Hill, Patrick Joseph “Paddy” Armstrong, and Carole Richardson were arrested and charged with terror-related offences following the Guildford pub bombings of 5 October 1974 and the Woolwich pub bombing of 7 November 1974. Under intense coercion at the hands of the Surrey police – ranging from intimidation, threats against family members, and torture — the four made false confessions to the bombings. Convicted and given life sentences, the judge informed them that, had they been charged with treason, they would have been hanged. It would take 15 years and the steadfast campaigning by family members of the Guildford Four to see their convictions overturned. Using raw footage from the day, including interviews with Gerry Conlon, his relatives, and the family of Paddy Hill, this special documentary recounts the dramatic and emotional events of the day the Guildford Four were released.

For a small number of high profile cases related to the ongoing Troubles in Northern Ireland, the release of the Guildford Four acted as a watershed moment. The Maguire Seven, relatives of Gerry Conlon who were jailed on separate charges, also had their convictions overturned – though by that time all had served their full sentences or, in the case of Gerry Conlon’s father, Giuseppe Conlon, died in prison. The Birmingham Six, another high profile group jailed under similar circumstances following the Provisional IRA’s bombings of two pubs in Birmingham in 1974, were released less than 18 months after the Guildford Four.

2 Gerry Conlons Most Powerful Speech!

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26 nov. 2019

Gerry Conlon spoke in Trinity College in 2013 on the invitation of Afri, where he met and expressed his support for the family of Chelsea Manning (then known as Bradley). His rousing and inspirational speech on the important role of whistleblowers, fighting for justice and the need to stand up to powerful forces was one of his last public appearances before his death the following year at the age of 60. 
 
Gerry’s words ring as true today as they did on the evening he spoke them as Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning still languish in prison. As Julian Assange’s health is deteriorating rapidly everyday there is an urgent need to spread this message. 
 
Gerry’s wrongful conviction in 1974 of bombing a Guildford Pub led to him and three others being imprisoned for 15 years, he watched his father die in the same prison, his only crime being that he travelled to Britain to bring his innocent son home. This film is dedicated to all innocent prisoners around the world. 
 
For over four decades Afri has been involved in opposing war, promoting food sovereignty and tackling climate change – working especially with Secondary and Third level students as well as with the general public. We organise the annual Famine Walk in Mayo, a Hedge School in TU Blanchardstown and Féile Bríde in Kildare. Thank you for continuing to support our work.

3 In The name of Gerry Conlon. TRAILER

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1 mrt. 2015

Belfast-born Gerry Conlon was just 20 years of age in 1974 when he and three of his compatriots were wrongly convicted of one of the most heinous IRA bombings ever committed in mainland Britain. In actual fact, the only crime the four young Irish people were guilty of was that they had left their native Ireland to seek employment in England at the peak of the Anglo-Irish conflict. The “Guildford Four”, as they came to be known, proved to be the perfect scapegoats. Subjected to coercion, abuse and psychological duress, they were browbeaten into signing false confessions and ultimately convicted to life imprisonment. The Guildford Four were not the only victims of the wave of anti-Irish hysteria of the time. Gerry’s father, Giuseppe Conlon, was one of them. Giuseppe went to London to help his son, only to find himself accused of transporting explosives and sentenced to 12 years in gaol. Critically ill and deprived of medicine, he died in prison in 1980. It was not until fifteen years later, in 1989, that the innocence of Gerry Conlon and the other Guildford Four was finally proven and the British state admitted that its forces of law and order had falsified the evidence against them.
 
Jen OD
This just fills me up with sadness.What they had to endure is sickening.
sheriff144
Well said Gerry, rest in peace.
Greg Kazoo
RIP Gerry and Guiseppe. Great statement. From Hong Kong. We will carry the Human Rights Flag Gerry Conlon cherished to fight our freedom.
Vijay Singh
God rest his and his dad’s soul such sad story this was r.i.p 😪😪😪
William Coleman
I see it as a moving and challenging movie that deals with difficult issues that have yet to be fully addressed.
Klein Hocico
What hurts me that he wanted to have kids, have an own family. But this was impossible for his inmates and the police beat him so hard there that he was infertile.
Alcides agudelo romero
por favor podrías traducirla al español te lo agradecería enormemente este documental me conmueve mucho una salutación desde Colombia
Apoorva Solanki
Oh my Lord when he saw from the hole that his father naked and getting torched I Know how helpless could he feel at that time.
Ciaran Quigley
Hey Lorenzo, hope your well. Is this project going to be released?
Even in his youth
does anyone have any information on this? will it ever be released?
Bronagh McKernan
When is this being released?
Margaret Collins
Revisiting this in the face of Trudeau’s sanctions.
Kalentros
Where can I find this full movie to view or purchase?
Nik Reece
If any of them are still alive?…l wonder how the police at that time who put the Guildford four, Birmingham six, Tottenham three, and Bridgewater four sleep at night?..
Declan Oshaughnessy
Anne Maguire and her children were the biggest victims …….
Lynsey Harte
When will this be on in full?
Jack Black
Britain: Hate it and leave it. Jack, the Japan Alps Brit
thmoris seven
stuff like this is the reason people join the ira
Marc2021
Where can I watch this?
Clive Smith
So funking sad what happened to them
Colm Casey
Hard to airbrush that
Gastón F.
The film is complete?
nikki jones
How did they kill his father?

4 Life After Life A Guildford Four Memoir

13 sep. 2017

The team here at Together Digital were delighted to be able to sit down with Paddy Armstrong and Mary-Elaine Tynan to discuss his book, ‘Life After Life: a Guildford Four Memoir’ which was released earlier this year.
 
Mary-Elaine, author and journalist, worked with Paddy over the last few years to write this touching, emotional and inspiring memoir which details Paddy’s life, both before, during and after the 15 years he spent in prison as an innocent man.
 
‘Life After Life: A Guildford Four Memoir’ is published by Gill Books and is available nationwide and online, with an e-book version too.
 
For more information visit gillbooks.ie

5 Jim Sheridan looking back on In the Name of the Father (1993)

29 jul. 2015

The Irish director Jim Sheridan shocked the world in the early nineties with the political drama In the Name of the Father (1993) about Gerry Conlon who is falsely accused and imprisoned for conducting an IRA attack on a pub. We spoke with him about this breakthrough film.
 
michelle 2003
I understand exactly what he means about his father telling him he loved him and dying 2 weeks later. My dad was the same, he never once told me he loved me, then one night he said he wanted a word with me, and with tears in his eyes he said “I love you ‘Chelle.” I couldn’t understand why he did it, I thought, ‘he’s pissed again!’ but he wasn’t and then a couple of weeks later he died. It’s as if they know.
Izzy
Mr. Sheridan, if you read this, thank you, sir, for your excellent work as a director. I had not seen this film in years but it is as powerful as it was when I first saw it. I am an American but I very much remember this film. In fact, it is at the very top for films of the genre of law. I find that it appears to be reflecting what is happening to us now. Even if we prevail, which I doubt, we have lost. There is one shining hope. The young ones that are in their early to mid-20s. They come together and decide. That is COMPROMISE. And it appears to me that they tell the TRUTH. Those were the only two requirements that kept my country strong. But those on “The Hill” stole it and gave it to the “Gang” on Wall Street. They are nothing but 2-bit thieves.
Andrew Richardson
Name of the song at the start?
Long Memory
that film was full of lies

6 IRA campaign in England 1974-75 Guildford Birmingham Bombs Balcombe Street Gang

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4 feb. 2018

IRA campaign in England 1974-75 Guildford Birmingham Bombs Balcombe Street Gang

7 Guildford Four’s Gerry Conlon RIP


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27 jun. 2014

Mr. Conlon’s speech on his release from prison is one of the most iconic television moments in the 20th Century

8 The Guildford Four

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7 mrt. 2013

Nytt prosjekt 1

9 Gerry Conlon and Paddy Hill speaking at the University of Limerick, School of Law

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18 mrt. 2014

Gerry Conlon (Guildford Four) and Paddy Joe Hill (Birmingham Six) recently gave a talk ‘Miscarriages of Justice’ at the University of Limerick. The event was organised by the Cluster for Understanding Emotions in Society (CUES), School of Law, UL. Tuesday 18th March 2014.

10 Miscarriage of Justice: The Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven (UK – 1974)

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30 apr. 2021


The Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven were the collective names of two groups whose convictions in English courts in 1975 and 1976 for the Guildford pub bombings of 5 October 1974 were eventually quashed after long campaigns for justice.

The Guildford Four were wrongly convicted of bombings carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), and the Maguire Seven were wrongly convicted of handling explosives found during the investigation into the bombings. Both groups’ convictions were eventually declared “unsafe and unsatisfactory” and reversed in 1989 and 1991 respectively after they had served up to 15–16 years in prison.

Along with the Maguires and the Guildford Four, several other people faced charges relating to the bombings, six of them charged with murder, but these charges were dropped.
No one else was charged with the bombings, or supplying the material; three police officers were charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and found not guilty.

After their arrest, all four defendants confessed to the bombing under intense coercion by the police.

These statements were later retracted but remained the basis of the case against them. They would later be alleged to be the result of coercion by the police, ranging from intimidation to torture—including threats against family members—as well as the effects of drug withdrawal.

Conlon wrote in his autobiography that a key factor in his purportedly coerced confession was the fact that strengthened anti-terrorism laws passed in the early 1970s allowed the police to hold suspects without charges for up to a week, rather than the previous limit of 48 hours and that he might have been able to withstand the treatment he had received had the original time limit been in effect.

11 MUA Melbourne meeting 2011 Gerry Conlon Part 1

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10 aug. 2011

Gerry Conlon talking at the MUA Conference Melbourne 2011 Debra Weddall of Untited Productions

12 MUA Melbourne meeting 2011 Gerry Conlon Part 2

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10 aug. 2011

Gerry Conlon talking at the MUA Conference Melbourne 2011 Debra Weddall of Untited Productions

13 Gerry Conlon reading from his book Proved Innocent

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29 okt. 2013

Gerry Conlon of the Gilford 4 reads from his book Proved Innocent on Radio Free Eireann at Rocky Sullivan’s Red Hook Brooklyn

14 Marxism 2010 – Mozzam Begg, Gerry Conlan and Gareth Peirce – Was it like this for the Irish?

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6 jun. 2012
 
Was it like this for the Irish? Muslims: the New Suspect Community
 
The MaxiMixeM Show
R.I.P Gerry Conlon. Funeral – 28-06-14. St Peter’s Cathedral in West Belfast.
christopher james
RIP gerry .it always amazes me .why the crooked cops were never bought 2 book ?.
Jonathan Leech
How can the US justify STILL hold people in Guantanomo – its disgusting
christopher james
The birmingham 6 went threw the same torture .
Conor Fields
Too heartbreaking to watch il come back on a darker day
julia taylor
Very sad that Gareth should chose this forum of all forums. Marxism even in pure theoretical form calls for a centralized state. No Marxist inspired project has ever allowed for any form of civil liberty. Liberal Democracy alone allowed for this travesty to be corrected. Gareth discovered the withheld alibi, which had it been presented in 1974 would have been disbelieved. Balcombe Street plus the tenacity of Cardinal Hume persuaded the Conservative home secretary to cut his losses and concede. Pressure groups for Republican prisoners are not listened to. But the head of the Catholic church throughout the whole of the UK, now that was a different proposition. The forced nature of the confessions had not helped the original defence team nor the falsity of the interview notes. The torture used was inhuman and indefensible yet no one ever accounted. This case proved the establishment to have been lying and the alleged scum of the earth were telling the truth. But i would hate for anyone to embrace the most hate based ideology of any because of what happened. Marxism globally has killed 50 x the number killed in the Holocaust We should retain that as our overall perspective.
Gail Day
john walsh
but you won in the end  rip xxx
john butler
the irish are still getting a hard time in england
Gail Day
christopher james
I remember front page of the sun .BOMBERS ON TRIAL they had nt even been found guilty .

15 In The Name Of The Father end scene and credits.

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27 jun. 2013

final court scene and song

16 In the Name of the Father (1993) – Not to Be Shown to the Defense Scene (9/10) | Movieclips

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8 okt 2020

In the Name of the Father – Not to Be Shown to the Defense: Gareth (Emma Thompson) presents evidence that the British government knew Gerry (Daniel Day-Lewis) was innocent.

FILM DESCRIPTION:

Unemployed young Irishman Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) gets by as a petty thief in 1970s Belfast. When local IRA leaders get fed up with him, he flees to England and meets up with his friend Paul Hill (John Lynch). On the same night that the IRA bombs a nearby pub, the friends get kicked out of their communal digs and are forced to sleep in a park. He returns to Belfast, but is arrested as the prime suspect in the bombing and imprisoned, where he spends 15 years trying to clear his name.

CREDITS:
TM & © Universal (1993)
Cast: Corin Redgrave, Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson
Director: Jim Sheridan
Screenwriter: Jim Sheridan, Terry George

In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story Paperback

Illustrated, 18 Oct. 2017

“This book is a tour de force . a chronicle of the triumph of the human spirit over extreme adversity. It is a story of hope. It is the story of a man I loved and would have taken a bullet for.” –Johnny Depp ***An electrified young man, with eyes wild and a clenched fist, bursts out of the Old Bailey and declares his innocence to the world. Gerry Conlon has just won his appeal for the 1974 Guildford pub bombing. After fifteen years in prison, freedom beckons. Or does it? Following his release, Conlon received close to one million pounds from government compensation, movie and book deals; he ran in the same circles as Johnny Depp, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Shane MacGowan. Conlon seemed to have it all. Yet within five years he was hooked on crack cocaine and eating out of bins in the backstreets of London. Beyond the elation of his release was the awful descent into addiction, isolation and self-loathing. But this is a book about the resilience of the human spirit. What emerges from the darkness and the addiction is Gerry Conlon the pacifist; the man who came to be recognised around the world as a campaigner against miscarriages of justice. In the Name of the Son also reveals damning new evidence of statement tampering by the authorities which would’ve cleared Conlon at the initial trial. Life-long friend, Richard O’Rawe, has written a powerful and candid story of Gerry Conlon’s extraordinary life following his years of brutal incarceration at the hands of the British justice system. [Subject: Irish Studies, British Studies, Biography, History, Criminal Justice]

17 Public Parking Taxi

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Public parking attendant uses people’s cars as taxi cabs right in front of their customers. A presentation of the Just For Laughs Gags. The funny hidden camera pranks show for the whole family. Juste pour rire les gags, l’émission de caméra caché la plus comique de la télé!
 
 
Part 1

Birmingham Six

Part 2

Current page

Part 3

Saint Omer France

Part 4

Kevin Strickland

Part 5

Thomas James

Part 6

Post Office Scandal

Part 7

Who cares?

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