A widely reported letter from UK prime minister Tony Blair to one of the Guildford Four, where he was understood to have said sorry for them being wrongly convicted, was never meant as an apology.
New cabinet documents released by the National Archives in London show it was intended that Mr Blair would stop short of an apology and instead just express regret that they went through a miscarriage of justice.
A letter sent by Mr Blair to Courtney Kennedy Hill, the wife of Paul Hill, one of the Guildford Four, was reported to have been the first time that a British leader had apologised for the wrongful conviction.
Mr Hill, Gerry Conlon, Patrick Armstrong and Carole Richardson were given life sentences for bombing public houses in Guildford, Surrey, and each spent 15 years in prison. Their convictions were overturned by the court of appeal in 1989.
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In a letter to John Sawers, foreign policy adviser to Mr Blair, Stephen Harrison of the Home Office wrote: “The prime minister said ... that he was very sorry indeed that there were miscarriages of justice in Paul Hill’s case and the cases of those convicted with him.
“This was not intended to be an apology: rather, the prime minister was acknowledging that the four were victims of miscarriages of justice, and expressing his regret that this should have happened.
“However, in June this year, the letter was publicised for the first time and was widely reported in the media as an apology.”
Ms Kennedy Hill wrote to Mr Blair in April 1999 to query her husband’s compensation for the 15 “stolen years” he had spent in prison. “For this terrible miscarriage of justice Paul Hill has received no apology,” she wrote.
When Mr Blair replied the next month, he said: “I believe that it is an indictment of our system of justice and a matter for the greatest regret when anyone suffers punishment as a result of a miscarriage of justice. There were miscarriages of justice in your husband’s case and the cases of those convicted with him. I am very sorry indeed that this should have happened.”
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The letter Mr Blair sent used a similar form of words that was used by the home secretary in a letter to one of the Birmingham Six, said Mr Harrison.
Details of the letter to Ms Kennedy Hill emerged in an edition of BBC Northern Ireland’s Spotlight programme which told Mr Hill’s story in 2000.
The human rights solicitor Gareth Peirce, who was acting for one of the other members of the Guildford Four, complained about the fact the letter had only been sent to Ms Kennedy Hill and said it had caused additional hurt to the other three. Home secretary Jack Straw suggested Mr Blair write to the other members.
The following year, 2001, Anne Maguire of the Maguire Seven wrote to Mr Blair asking for an apology for herself, her husband and her sons for their wrongful conviction for the unlawful possession of explosions.
