Warrington Bomb Attacks

 

The first explosion drove panicking shoppers into the path of the next blast just seconds later.

Eyewitness

 

Warrington is the main town situated between Manchester and Liverpool, and the largest town in Cheshire. On March 20, 1993, two bombs exploded in the town centre killing two young boys, which provoked widespread condemnation of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Irish terrorist organization responsible.

The onset of the troubles in Warrington started on Thursday, February 25, 1993, when three IRA terrrorists broke into a Warrington gas storage depot. After planting several Semtex bombs, the three men attempted to get away, but they were spotted by a patrolling police officer, Mark Toker, who was shot in the chase. Luckily the majority of the bombs failed to detonate, and apart from a huge fireball there were no casualties. However, if the citizens of Warrington thought they had had a lucky escape they were wrong. The three IRA men were arrested and taken into custody, but little did the police realize that the IRA would want revenge.

 

Revenge

 

The shopping mall at Warrington was packed with shoppers who had been brought out by a spell of warm spring weather. It was March 20, the day before Mother’s Day, and people were out looking for cards and gifts.

At just around midday the charity help-line of the Samaritans received a coded message that a bomb was going to explode outside the Boots shop in Liverpool, which was approximately 24 km (15 miles) from Warrington. The Merseyside police leapt into action, also warning the Cheshire police in Warrington of the threat. By the time the message got through, however, it was too late to act, as a bomb exploded in Bridge street outside the Boots store. Just minutes later a second bomb exploded outside the Argos catalogue shop. People ran in panic after the first bomb exploded, only to run into the path of the second.

The bombs had been left in two separate cast-iron litter bins, which turned them into the equivalent of two large hand grenades. As they exploded they sent small amounts of shrapnel flying through the air. There were casualties everywhere, some even lost limbs in the explosion. Those people that were not too shocked, rushed to their aid.

Buses were arranged to take people away from the area and paramedics started to arrive to administer on-the-spot treatment. In the end, crews from 17 ambulances had to deal with the casualties, and plastic surgeons were bought to Warrington General Hospital from the regional burns unit at Whiston hospital, 10 km (6 miles) away. In total there were 56 casualties.

The news that sickened the nation the most was the unnecessary death of two small boys. Jonathan Ball was only three when he died, and an only child. He was out with his babysitter in Warrington, helping her choose a Mother’s Day card. He died at the scene of the explosion and Jonathan’s father, Wilf Ball, still grieves a decade later. He said, ‘It’s hard not to be bitter. They took something away that you were living for.’

The second child was 12-year-old Tim Parry, who had been sitting on the bin at the time and took the full force of the blast. Tim was still alive when he arrived at hospital and was put on a life support machine for five days, but his little body eventually gave up fighting.

Despite the biggest murder hunt that Cheshire had ever seen, the police were unable to turn up any positive evidence and no one has ever been caught.

 

The Aftermath

 

Colin and Wendy Parry, Tim’s parents, campaigned to build a peace centre within months of their son’s death. On the seventh anniversary of the explosions, the Tim Parry–Jonathan Ball Young People’s Centre was opened. It is dedicated to working with adults, children and peace organizations that aim to resolve conflicts at a local, national and international level. The centre is run by the NSPCC and includes accommodation for visiting groups from around the world.

The River of Life project was also developed in the aftermath of the Warrington bombs. The project was an effort to bring new hope to the community and to act as a reminder of what happened on Bridge Street that day. The central design of the River of Life is a tear-shaped water feature in which water emerges from a broken glacial boulder. It then cascades onto a bronze dome, which bears the imprints of the hands of local school children. Around the dome is a disc of etched copper showing the faces of children, including those of Tim and Jonathan.

 

John Kinsella

 

One of the three men arrested for the Warrington gas works bombing was a petty thief by the name of John Kinsella. At his trial in 1994, Kinsella was sentenced to 20 years for possession of an explosive substance. He claimed that he stashed a bag of Semtex, which was to be used for future IRA operations, on an allotment, because he believed it contained some stolen silver. He denied any involvement with the IRA. He told the court that he was eager to make some extra cash and was told that if he would hide the bag he would be well rewarded.

Inmates had warned Kinsella that the IRA did not forgive informants. While he was on remand he tried to commit suicide by slashing his neck on the lid of a salmon tin.

The supposed leader of the IRA unit that carried out the gas works bombings was Páiric MacFhloinn, who was given 35 years for his part. MacFhloinn gave important evidence claiming that Kinsella had been fooled by the IRA, and Kinsella’s case was referred to the Court of Appeal. Unfortunately when the case was due to be heard, MacFhloinn backed down and told the police that the IRA leadership had told him that they did not wish him to give evidence at the appeal.

During the appeal, the Crown Court felt it was unlikely that Kinsella was a member of the IRA, as he would never have led the police to the stash of explosives. The only link with the IRA that had been found during investigations were three photographs in a family album, which included a display commemorating the death of an IRA volunteer in Belfast in 1972. After the appeal John Kinsella’s sentence was reduced from 25 to 16 years. Following the Good Friday Agreement John Kinsella was released in 1999 as part of the early release programme agreement between Ireland and the UK.

The Good Friday Agreement was a historic breakthrough, which addressed relationships between both parts of Ireland and England, Scotland and Wales. However, the process of arriving at the agreement was gruelling and very hard to put into practise, and at this stage it is still too early to say whether this document will mark a final break from the past.