The Road to Balcombe Street: The IRA Reign of Terror in London

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Harry Duggan was one of four children of Mr and Mrs Harry Duggan, of Feakle, Co Clare. He was born in Kilburn, London, before returning to Co Clare with the family when he was three. He left school at 14 and became a carpenter in a local factory. He became active in Sinn Fein when the troubles started in the late 1960s and in 1972 his family was told he was "killed in action". His father searched a graveyard in Scarriff, Co Clare, after gardai had said his son had been buried secretly. Between them, including additional sentences, they were sentenced to more than 600 years in prison. Photo: Mr John Matthews and his wife Shelia, aged 53, the couple who are the hostages for the four IRA gunmen holed up in the council flat at 22b Balcombe Street, Marylebone. The couple are pictured at a dance.

The previously secret list, made public today by the National Archives, includes the dates and venues of specific functions, among them events held by the Law Society, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the Combined Cadet Defence Corps. ON May 10 1998, four men made a dramatic appearance on the platform at a special Sinn Fein conference in Dublin. There was ‘stamping of feet, wild applause and triumphant cheering’ during a 10 minute ovation while the men known as the Balcombe Street gang stood grinning with clenched fists in the air. At the same conference, and to great applause, Gerry Adams described the four men as ‘our Nelson Mandelas!’ Not long after the press conference, on the 27th of November, Duggan and Doherty staked out McWhirter’s house in Enfield. When Mrs McWhirter arrived home they confronted her with two hand guns and demanded her keys. She ran past them and rang the house’s doorbell. When Ross opened the door, Duggan shot him in the abdomen and then at point-blank range in his head. Leaving him bleeding profusely on his doorstep they made their escape in Mrs McWhirter’s blue Ford Granada. Ross McWhirter died not long after he was admitted to hospital and Duggan later said:On the second day of the siege, police were able to speak to Mrs Matthews using a phone which had been passed down through the window from the flat above. There was no child in the flat. One reporter who was covering the events for radio was Jon Snow, now a Channel 4 newsreader. “I think we all fell victim to Balcombe Street fever,” he recalled. The hostages John Matthews, 54, and his wife Sheila, 53, have been taken to University College Hospital where a spokesman said they were "shaken and weak" but doing well.

In May 1998, four days after the Balcombe Street gang were being feted in Dublin, and twenty three years after they had murdered her father, Diana Hamilton-Fairley, now a doctor but at the time of his death a 19 year old medical student, spoke at a Belfast conference in favour of the Good Friday agreement. She said that she accepted the early release of the gang as part of the agreement and that she was aware that the peace process would be long and painful. She added: The Allsop Arms is a traditional English pub located on Gloucester Place. The pub features a cozy interior with a wood-burning fireplace, leather banquettes, and a range of classic pub games like darts and pool. Last May, they were allowed out for a single day to attend a special Sinn Fein conference called to consider the Good Friday Agreement, and were given a warm reception from hundreds of delegates.Tributes paid to former MPS commissioner". Police Professional. 13 November 2017 . Retrieved 13 November 2017. But if they thought charm was going to help get them what they wanted – a plane to take them to Ireland – they were mistaken. During the negotiations O’Connell let slip that the men were confined to the front living room in the Matthews’ flat. With its classic wooden interiors and friendly staff, this pub is perfect for a casual drink or a cozy night out with friends. They also serve a selection of traditional British pub food, making it the perfect place for a hearty meal. Couple under siege in Balcombe StreetThree armed IRA men on the run from police have burst into a flat in central London and taken at least two people hostage.