Three victims of IRA bombings have withdrawn their civil lawsuit against former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams on the final day of the trial. John Clark, Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock, who were injured in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing and the 1996 London Docklands and Manchester bombings, were seeking symbolic damages of £1 each. They alleged Adams was a member of the IRA and sat on its army council, which he denied.
The claimants’ lawyer, Anne Studd KC, told the High Court the case would be discontinued after 'proceedings developed overnight'. The judge, Mr Justice Swift, had invited submissions on whether the case constituted an abuse of process, which could have left the claimants liable for Adams’s legal costs. To avoid this, they accepted an offer to 'drop hands', meaning each party bears its own costs.
Adams, who was not in court on Friday, welcomed the end of the case, calling it 'an emphatic end to a case that should never have been brought'. He said he attended the trial out of respect for the victims and reiterated his denial of the allegations. He called for a renewed focus on the Good Friday agreement.
Barry Laycock expressed devastation but said the team had 'achieved something that successive governments have failed to do'. The claimants’ solicitors, McCue Jury, argued the evidence presented against Adams meant it was still a victory, but they were forced to discontinue due to the judge’s 'extraordinary' decision on abuse of process.
Adams’s lawyer, Edward Craven KC, had argued the claim was driven by the solicitors, highlighting a social media post and a Telegraph article suggesting the bombings were selected to prove Adams’s influence over decades. He said the trial heard little evidence directly linking Adams to the three attacks.
