A civil claim seeking damages from former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams was discontinued on Friday after three men who survived Provisional IRA bombings in England withdrew their case.
The High Court trial in London was due to conclude the final day of a two-week hearing, but proceedings were stopped after Adams’s lawyer, Edward Craven, argued the claim seemed designed to produce a “public inquiry–style” exposure and could amount to an abuse of the court’s process. The claimants’ solicitor told the court the action would be discontinued after “proceedings developed overnight” in response to that point. She added her clients would not be ordered to pay Adams’s costs and gave no further information.
The three men alleged Adams was “directly responsible for and complicit in those decisions made by that organization to detonate bombs on the British mainland in 1973 and 1996.” They were survivors of the 1973 Old Bailey bombing in London, the 1996 Docklands attack in London, and the 1996 Arndale shopping centre bombing in Manchester. The claim sought a symbolic £1 in damages and accused Adams of being a leading member of the Provisional IRA at the relevant times, including serving on its Army Council.
Adams described the case’s discontinuance as an “emphatic end,” saying the claims “should never have been brought.” He denied any involvement in the attacks and rejected claims he was an IRA member. He said he attended the trial “out of respect” for the victims and to defend himself against what he called smears and false accusations. While he made clear he did not defend all IRA actions, he reiterated his longstanding view on the legitimacy of the republican cause and the Irish people’s right to self-determination.
The hearing was the first time Adams, now 77, had given evidence in an English court. Adams, who became Sinn Féin leader in 1983, has long been associated with the Troubles but later played a prominent role in the peace process that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. He served as an MP for Northern Ireland from 1983–1992 and 1997–2011, but, in line with Sinn Féin’s policy, did not take his seat in the UK House of Commons.