Apology by Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, to Guildford Four and Maguire Seven, (9 February 2005)

Apology by Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, to the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven for the miscarriage of justice suffered by them, (9 February 2005)

"The Guildford and Woolwich bombings killed seven people and injured over 100. Their loss, the loss suffered by their families, will never go away. But it serves no one for the wrong people to be convicted for such an awful crime.

It is a matter of great regret when anyone suffers a miscarriage of justice. There was a miscarriage of justice in the case of Gerard Conlon and all the Guildford Four as well as Guiseppe Conlon and Annie Maguire and all of the Maguire Seven. And, as with the others, I recognise the trauma that the conviction caused the Conlon and Maguire families and the stigma which wrongly attaches to them to this day.

I am very sorry that they were subject to such an ordeal and such an injustice. That´s why I am making this apology today. They deserve to be completely and publicly exonerated."

[The above apology was recorded on video in a private office at the House of Commons, London, on Wednesday 9 February 2005, and broadcast on a number of television channels the same day.]