Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four, who spent 15 years in his prison for an IRA bombing he didn’t commit, has died today.
Mr Conlon who had been jailed for life in 1975 for the Guildford pub bombing along with Paul Hill, Carole Richardson and Paddy Armstrong, which killed five people and injured 65.
Conlan (60), had been ill for some time, died this morning at his home off the Falls Road in west Belfast. It is understood he suffered a heart attack.
Mr Conlon’s case which was most famous highlighted in the 1993 Oscar-nominated film In The Name Of The Father, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, had his conviction was quashed in 1989 following a huge campaign to free him.
Conlon along with three others who had never been to Guildford, were sentenced to life in prison on the basis of confessions obtained under torture by Surrey police.
Gerry’s father, Giuseppe, was also jailed later that year, after being arrested and charged in connection with the bombings because he travelled to England to organise legal representation for his son.
Giuseppe Conlon, along with Gerry’s aunt, Annie Maguire, her husband Paddy and their family – were also convicted on the basis of dubious forensic evidence which the prosecution claimed proved they had handled explosives used in the bombings.
Giuseppe Conlon was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and died in prison less than five years into his sentence. The forensic evidence used to secure his conviction was later exposed as fraudulent.
Mr Conlon who gave an interview last year in which he said:”There are days I wish I was still in prison. There are days I wish I was dead.”
“I remember the night before I got out, looking up at the sky through the bars at Brixton prison and crying. ‘Not crying with joy, but crying with anticipation of what lay ahead of me…because this had become my home.’
The news of his death has spread with people taking to social media to pay their respects to the man who had fought the British establishment for so long.
British Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn MP tweeted: “Sad at death of Guildford IV Gerry Conlon; lost years of his life in prison, as did his Dad, freed after years then devoted life to justice.
“RIP Gerry Conlon; you fought for justice for others!”