‘No smoking gun’ as Gerry Adams court case ends

Former Sinn Féin leader spent two days in the witness box of a London court rejecting claims he was in the IRA

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Gerry Adams attended the two-week long case at the High Court in London. Photograph: Carlos Jasso/AFP via Getty
Gerry Adams attended the two-week long case at the High Court in London. Photograph: Carlos Jasso/AFP via Getty

Three victims of the IRA’s bombing campaign in Britain have spent the past four years building a legal case in an attempt to prove that Gerry Adams was a leading member of the IRA during the Troubles.

The former Sinn Féin leader spent two days in the witness box in London, maintaining he was never a member of the republican paramilitary organisation responsible for the injuries of John Clark in the Old Bailey explosion in 1973, Jonathan Ganesh at Canary Wharf in 1996 and Barry Laycock a few months later in Manchester.

The 77-year-old appeared, according to Irish Times Ireland and Britain Editor Mark Hennessy, frail but he was robust in his denial of the claims.

So what happens next? Why might the judge rule that the case should never have been brought? And why did Adams wear a bulletproof vest on the first day of the hearing?

Hennessy explains the background to the case and the evidence presented.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and John Casey.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast

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