Oliver Kamm argues Why Tebbit is right not to forgive the ex-terrorist. I beg to differ. Lord Tebbit should forgive Roy Walsh. Nobody is asking him to forget. I don't know Lord Tebbit, but what I saw of him when the Tory Party was in power I didn't like. Whether it is him that has mellowed with old age, or myself, or both of us, I don't know. However, when I saw him recently on 18doughtystreet.com, the internet TV station, in a pub in London talking and listening to taxi drivers, and the like, I still did not agree with everything he had to say, although I did note that he has a human side to his character. He was no longer the hate character. Nor for that matter is Margaret Thatcher, anymore, who was the intended target for assassination by the Brighton bomber.
Patrick Joseph Magee was born in Belfast in 1951, and moved with his family to live in Norwich in 1953. During his teenage years he became known to the Norfolk police as a bit of a tearaway and a thief. He identified himself with Roy Walsh the lead character in Cosh, which was the first British film to receive the X certificate by the British Board of Film Censors. In 1969, at the age of 18, he returned to Belfast as he was troubled by the Troubles and wanted to be part of the struggle. So, he enlisted as a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). During the height of the Troubles in the 1970s he became so adept with explosive devices that the PIRA promoted him to being their Chief Explosives Officer. In 1973 he was sentenced to two years imprisonment after admitting to being a member of the IRA. When he was released he then moved back to Britain and attempted other bombings, evading police by escaping to Amsterdam and Dublin, before returning once again to England. By this time Roy had risen through the ranks to become Commander in Chief of all the units operating in mainland Britain.
The plot to bomb the Grand Hotel in Brighton had started in 1981 as an act of revenge for the hard-line stance Margaret Thatcher had taken over the death of Bobby Sands and other IRA hunger strikers that were fighting for political status in prison. Patrick Joseph Magee had booked into the hotel using the name of Roy Walsh three weeks previously, and planted the bomb, with a long-delay timer, in the bathroom wall of his room, number 629. The bomb exploded at 2:54 am on 12 October 1984, killing five people and injuring 34. Following the bombing, he escaped to Holland, but later returned to England. He was arrested in Glasgow on 24 June 1985 while planning other bombings and at his trial in September 1986 he received eight life sentences, and the trial judge recommended that he serve a minimum 35 years tariff, with the judge branding him "a man of exceptional cruelty and inhumanity". While in prison, in spite of being constantly moved around the Dispersal System, he gained a PhD BA (first class hons) in 'Troubles fiction'.
I didn't find Roy Walsh to be either exceptionally cruel or lacking in humanity. I came to have the greatest respect for him. He had a soft spot for all of those who suffered miscarriages of justice, the Birmingham 6; Guildford 4; and Maguire 7. Each time he passed Hughie Callaghan who the media had miss-labelled "The Colonel", he would give a mock salute and address him by "rank". Although the two sides of the conflict had a truce in English prisons, the Troubles still existed with the prison authorities, and prison officers many of whom were ex-service men, and some were members of the National Front (BNP). The IRA retaliated with attacks upon off duty prison officers, in response to any of their members being attacked by on duty prison officers. Then because peace talks were underway in Ireland a calm descended on the English prisons. High ranking politicians, including John Major, visited Roy Walsh and he was very much a part of the secret talks which led to the Good Friday peace agreement.
Jo Berry, the daughter of Sir Anthony Berry MP, who died as a result of the Brighton bomb, entered into a process of reconciliation with Roy Walsh. He has publicly stated that he regretted the loss of innocent lives. Initially the contact was via letters, but they were later to meet face to face with the assistance of the Forgiveness Project which is an organisation working to promote conflict resolution, reconciliation and victim support. It is not an easy process to go through. It requires examining one's own feelings and thought processes, and taking into account the perspectives of others. I remember my foster father once saying to me that he could forgive me but not forget the hurt I had caused. It's a two-way process. All I do know is that holding onto the notion of unforgiveness only serves to hurt the bearer of those thoughts and it is not the original source to blame. This is self-inflicted. And, this is why I say that Tebbit is wrong not to forgive Roy Walsh.
UPDATE: Iain Dale has posted an opposite view to mine.
