Hyde Park bomb: man charged over infamous IRA attack

John Anthony Downey faces four counts of murder over nail-bomb blast that killed soldiers and horses

Hyde Park bombing
(Image credit: 2012 Getty Images)

THE full horror of the IRA's 1982 bombing of guardsmen in London's Hyde Park lives on in the photographs of dead and dying horses partially shrouded by tarpaulins. Now, more than 30 years since the 20 July atrocity which killed four members of the Royal Household Cavalry and seven of its horses, a man has been charged with their murder.

John Anthony Downey, a 61-year-old from Donegal, was arrested at Gatwick Airport on Sunday and appeared before Westminster Magistrates this afternoon. He is accused of the murders of guardsmen Roy John Bright, Dennis Richard Anthony Daly, Simon Andrew Tipper and Geoffrey Vernon Young and also faces a charge of intending to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More