Post by Focus on May 22, 2013 11:16:04 GMT
* John Anthony Downey, 61, is accused of being responsible for car bomb
* Explosion killed four members of the Royal Household Cavalry
* They were travelling from their barracks to Buckingham Palace
A man has been charged with the murders of four soldiers in the IRA’s 1982 Hyde Park bombing, Scotland Yard said today.
John Anthony Downey, 61, of County Donegal, Ireland, is accused of being responsible for a car bomb left in South Carriage Drive.
The explosion killed four members of the Royal Household Cavalry as they travelled from their barracks to Buckingham Palace.
Attack : A man has been charged with the murders of four soldiers in the IRA's 1982 Hyde Park bombing. The car-mounted nail bomb detonated on South Carriage Drive killing four soldiers and seven horses
Damage : This image shows a car which was wrecked following the huge explosion
He was arrested at Gatwick Airport on Sunday.
The Hyde Park bomb came just over a year after IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands died in the Maze Prison.
The Household Cavalrymen of the Blues and Royals were riding through Hyde Park on their way to the Changing of the Guard when a bomb cut through their ranks.
Four men and seven horses were killed and a number of police officers and civilians were injured.
The horse Sefton became a household name at the time because of its amazing recovery.
Horrific : The bodies of dead horses, covered by blankets, lay on the ground after an IRA bomb explosion
Michael Pedersen at the Horse of the Year Show with Sefton, the Household Cavalry horse badly injured in the IRA bombing incident in Hyde Park
Less than two hours later, a second explosion in a Regent's Park bandstand killed seven Royal Green Jackets bandsmen.
Today's allegations against Downey are not related to this second incident.
In 1987 Northern Ireland electrician Gilbert 'Danny' McNamee was charged with making the Hyde Park bomb and jailed for 25 years.
Affected : Michael Pedersen (top), a former cavalryman who survived the IRA bomb, knifed his two young children to death before killing himself. He is pictured (above) with Sefton the horse injured in the IRA bombing
Hurt : Soldiers injured in the bombing are pictured following the attack
He served 12 years before being freed under the terms of the Good Friday peace deal.
In 1998 his conviction was quashed at the High Court, after a high-profile campaign by celebrities including Eddie Izzard. But although his conviction was 'unsafe' it did not follow he was innocent of the crime, the judges said.
Surviving Sefton is given a big kiss on arrival to the army vets centre following the blast
HANG THE B**TARD!! - R. I. P. to all those who lost their lives on this horrific day, God bless you all - Fx
