RIP Gerry Conlon

Tramps_mate · June 21, 2014

Who was he?

Verbal Kint · June 21, 2014

Wrongly convicted of the Guildford bombing in 1975, released from prison in 1989. A film was made called In the name of the father Daniel Day Lewis played Gerry, if you haven't seen it is well worth watching, such a harrowing account of how they were convicted. After his release things didn't get much better for him by all accounts, alcohol and drug addiction problems.

RIP

Kurt. · June 21, 2014

He was one of the Guildford 4..... Wrongly convicted in about 75 of the Guildford pub bombings.... They were released and the conviction quashed in 1989 after spending almost 15 years in prison. Huge miscarriage of justice. Watch the film In The Name Of The Father...... That roughl tells the story.

tommye · June 21, 2014

Is he the fella from the opticians?

thirdmantackle · June 21, 2014

That has been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice in the history of the British justice system

I wonder how many more have occurred that have never been exposed?

luimneach · June 21, 2014

Minimeister · June 21, 2014

thirdmantackle said:
That has been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice in the history of the British justice system

I wonder how many more have occurred that have never been exposed?

Just reading before about another murder trial collapsing due to police corruption. That along with Hillsborough, Stephen Lawrence and David Morgan along with many other cases and they are just the ones we know about.

RIP.

Superhans1878 · June 21, 2014

RIP Gerry. Tragic case and a very hard film to watch. A perfect argument for the abolition of the death sentence if ever there was one.

Bluerover · June 21, 2014

RIP - very hard to think he spent all that time in prison and was completely innocent.

bluebud · June 21, 2014

thirdmantackle said:
That has been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice in the history of the British justice system

I wonder how many more have occurred that have never been exposed?

Superhans1878 said:
RIP Gerry. Tragic case and a very hard film to watch. A perfect argument for the abolition of the death sentence if ever there was one.

RIP Gerry, sounds like he had a tough time adjusting to life when he got out of prison.

One case that I always remember after watching the film as a kid is the case of Derek Bentley which was another massive miscarriage of Justice. Bentley was a 19 year old lad with mental health issues he was hung for assisting the murder of a policeman during the course of a burglary attempt. Bentley was committed based on an interpretation of the phrase "Let him have it", the lad that planned the burglary, 16 year old Christopher Craig had a gun, what happened next is the controversy, police witnesses claimed that the policeman asked Craig to "Hand over the gun, lad" and Bentley shouted the ambiguous phrase "Let him have it, Chris" to Craig. The judge decided that he ment shoot him rather than let him have the gun.

Craig was not hung as he was under age, later evidence suggests that the bullet from Craig's gun was not the bullet that killed the Policeman and that he might of accidentally been shot by another police. Craig always maintained he fired the shots from his gun in the air. Bentley received a posthumous pardon in 1998. The film about the case of Bentley and Craig is called "Let Him Have It".

blueser · June 21, 2014

shocking what happened not only to him but the whole family , the Maguire seven who lived here had pictures of the queen on their walls the youngest wanted to join the army and ended up going to jail as a kid for being bomb maker for the IRA, anyone likes reading this is worth a look

http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Fathers-Watch-Prisoner-Britain/dp/000724214X

Gerrys father came over to help he got lifted and died in jail. Horrible what the "justice" system has been guilty of, took another 16 years from his release for an apology

RIP Gerry

Billy Dean · June 21, 2014

RIP Gerry.

paultheblue · June 21, 2014

In 1974 I was living down south at the time of the Guildford Bombings in a flat with 3 other lads we had special branch round our flat turning the place over, my brother had a box of wires and electrical accessories which had borrowed from work god knows why I think he just took them for the sake of it.
The special branch were really abrupt with us questioning our where abouts over the weekend ( I had actually been up to Goodison for a match)
Why were they at our door ? I was born in Dublin so was my brother was it just random or were we selected ?
RIP Gerry Conlan you were innocent but it didn't stop them arresting you I have often wondered if that could just as easily have been me.

Clint Planet · June 22, 2014

I still remember the day the convictions were quashed and the Guildford Four walked free. It was the first time that British justice was openly discredited; the first time that the establishment (government and police) had been found to be letting its citizens down. What a day it was.

Afterwards, Conlon was asked what he was going to do with his life and he said when you've just been released from prison after serving 15 years for something you didn't do it was like being in Disneyland so from now on it's Disneyland forever.....

Rest in peace, Gerry Conlon. I hope Disneyland was okay for you.