Patrick Magee | |
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 Dr Patrick Magee in 2014 | |
| Born | Patrick Joseph Magee 1951 (age 73–74) Belfast,Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland |
| Known for | Brighton hotel bombing |
| Spouse(s) | Eileen McGreevy (m. 1977;div.); Barbara Byer (m. 1997) |
Patrick Joseph Magee (born 1951),[1][2] often referred to as theBrighton bomber, is a formerProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA)volunteer. In 1984 heplanted a bomb in theGrand Hotel, Brighton, targetingMargaret Thatcher, thePrime Minister, and herCabinet; the bomb killed five people.
Patrick Magee was born atBelfast and moved with his family toNorwich aged two.[3] Returning to Belfast in 1969 aged 18,[3] in 1972 Magee joined theProvisional IRA;[3][4] a suspected terrorist, he wasinterned without trial atLong Kesh between June 1973 and November 1975.[5]
Magee married fellowRepublican activist Eileen McGreevy in 1977, divorcing in the 1990s.[citation needed] In August 1997, he married anAmerican, Barbara Byer.[6]
The plot to bomb theGrand Hotel started as an act of revenge for the stance theBritish Government had taken over the1981 Irish hunger strike.[7]
Magee had stayed in the Grand Hotel Brighton under thefalse name ofRoy Walsh four weeks previously, during the weekend of 14–17 September 1984. He planted the bomb, with a long-delay timer, in the bathroom wall of his room, number 629.[8] The bomb exploded at 2:54 a.m. on 12 October 1984, killing five people and injuring 34.[9] Magee was arrested in theQueen's Park area ofGlasgow on 22 June 1985with four other IRA members, includingMartina Anderson, while planning other bombings in England.[3] In April 2023 the Scottish Special Branch officer in charge was interviewed and gave an account of the operation and arrests: "I've seen Magee on television a couple times since then and he still thinks he did the right thing, but I've always thought I'd like to meet him again and see what he has to say."[10]
At his trial in September 1986, Magee received eightlife sentences, withthe judge branding him "a man of exceptional cruelty and inhumanity".[3][11]
In August 2000, Magee admitted toThe Guardian that he carried out the bombing, but did not accept he left a fingerprint on the registration card, claiming "If that was my fingerprint I did not put it there".[12] While in prison, Magee read Politics and Modern Art, graduatingBA with first-class honours (The Open University) and received aPhD degree (Ulster University), examining the representation ofIrish republicans inTroubles fiction.[13]
Magee was released fromprison in 1999 under the terms of theGood Friday Agreement, having served 14 years. Originally he was sentenced to eight life sentences and a minimum tariff of 35 years.[14]Jack Straw, then Home Secretary, attempted to block Magee's release byjudicial review of theHigh Court of Justice in Northern Ireland, which decreed that theNorthern Ireland Sentence Review Commission had "[not] acted in bad faith" and whose decision was "totally reasoned and carefully formulated".Mr Justice (later Lord Justice) Girvan added: "Whether one agrees with the final decision or not is irrelevant in this case ... History will be the ultimate judge."[15]
Magee continues to defend his role in the blast, but he has expressed remorse for the loss of innocent lives.[16] One of the victims of the bombing wasSir Anthony Berry, whose daughterJo publicly met Magee in November 2000 aiming to achievereconciliation. They have met several dozen times since that date, giving rise to (false) rumours of romantic involvement.[17]
Harvey Thomas, a senior adviser to Thatcher who survived the bombing, saw fit to forgive Magee in 1998. Thomas since developed a friendship with Magee, including hosting him in his London home. Thomas cited hisChristian faith for enabling to offerforgiveness.[18][19]Norman Tebbit, whose wife was paralysed in the Brighton bombing, has asserted that he could forgive Magee only if he went to the police and provided them with the names of anyone else who was responsible for the bombing. Tebbit argued that Magee giving up violence was insufficient, stating: "IfDr Shipman had announced he was not going to murder any more of his patients, I don't think we would have felt that was a case for going 'good old Shipman' and giving him a slap on the back and a special award from theBMA."[20]
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