Balcombe Street Siege
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The Balcombe Street Siege was an incident involving the Provisional IRA (Irish Republican Army) on December 6, 1975.
It started as a running gun battle through the city as police pursued two men through the streets of London for the murder of right wing political agitator, Guinness Book of Records co-founder and TV personality Ross McWhirter. The two men ended up in a flat on Balcombe Street, in the Marylebone area, taking its two residents hostage.
The men claimed they were members of the IRA and demanded a plane to fly both them and their hostages to Ireland. Scotland Yard refused, creating a 6 day standoff between the men and the police.
The men surrendered once the 22 SAS deployment was publicised. They were finally talked down by the police, and both the suspects and the hostages were unharmed. The whole ordeal was watched by millions on television.
The captors, along with two accomplices, are still known as the Balcombe Street Gang. The four men were Hugh Doherty, Martin O'Connell, Eddie Butler and Harry Duggan. They were given multiple life sentences in 1977 for varying terrorist crimes, as well as McWhirter's murder, but were released in 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
During their trial they instructed their lawyers to "draw attention to the fact that four totally innocent people were serving massive sentences" for three bombings in Woolwich and Guildford. They were never charged with these offences.
References
- An Phoblacht/Republican News (http://republican-news.org/archive/1998/May07/07balc.html), (May 7 1998)he:מצור רחוב בלקומבי