1972 Aldershot bombing

1972 bombing by the Official IRA October 2013 September 2024 1972 Aldershot bombing the Troubles 300px Memorial now on the site of the building. Aldershot Garrison 16th Parachute Brigade 22 February 1972 12:15 pm GMT Car bomb 7 (1 military chaplain, 6 civilians) 19 Official IRA Noel Jenkinson Revenge for Bloody Sunday collapsed The 1972 Aldershot bombing was a car bomb attack by the Official Irish Republican Army on 22 February 1972 in Aldershot, England. The bomb targeted the headquarters of the British Army's 16th Parachute Brigade and was claimed as a revenge attack for Bloody Sunday (30 January 1972). Six civilian staff and a Catholic military chaplain were killed and 19 were wounded. It was the Official IRA's largest attack in Great Britain during "the Troubles" and one of its last major actions before it declared a permanent ceasefire in May 1972. Official IRA member Noel Jenkinson was convicted and imprisoned for his part in the bombing. Background The 1969 Northern Ireland riots marked the beginning of the conflict known as the Troubles. To maintain law and order in Northern Ireland the British Army was deployed on to its streets in rioting hot-spots such as Derry and Belfast to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). In December 1969 the Irish Republican Army split into two factions – the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA. Both factions' retaliation against the British Army during the Falls Curfew in Belfast resulted in paramilitary campaigns against the British state's forces commencing. On 30 January 1972, soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment shot 28 unarmed civilians during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Derry. Fourteen people died, including teenagers. This incident became known as Bloody Sunday and dramatically increased recruitment to the two IRAs.Bowcott Owen 15 June 2010 The legacy of the Bloody Sunday killings https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jun/15/legacy-bloody-sunday-killings The Guardian 23 February 2017 The bombing The target of the Official IRA bomb was the headquarters of the 16th Parachute Brigade,BBC – On This Day elements of which had been involved in the Bloody Sunday shootings. Despite warnings, the 'open' garrison meant there was no security or controlled access to the camp. A hired Ford Cortina car containing a 280 lb kg time bomb"Northern Ireland: Now, Bloody Tuesday" Time (6 March 1972) was left in the car park, deliberately positioned outside the officer's mess. The bomb exploded at 12:40 pmWoollacott Martin Martin Woollacott 23 February 2009 From the archives: IRA kills 7 in raid on Paras' English base https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/feb/23/ira-bomb-paras-aldershot-1972 The Guardian 23 March 2022 on 22 February, destroying the officer's mess and wrecking several nearby Army office buildings. The soldiers who were the intended targets were not present, as the regiment itself was stationed abroad and most staff officers were in their offices rather than the mess. Nonetheless, six civilian staff and one army chaplain were killedCAIN – Sutton Index of Deaths – 22 February 1972 – five female staff who were leaving the premises, a gardener, and Father Gerard Weston, a Roman Catholic priest from the Royal Army Chaplains' Department. Nineteen people were also wounded by the explosion. Aside from the priest Weston (38), the others who died during the attack were the gardener John Haslar (58), and civilians working in the Mess at the time, Jill Mansfield (34), Thelma Bosley (44), Margaret Grant (32), Sheri Munton (20) and Joan Lunn (39).Murray Douglas Douglas Murray (author) 22 February 2012 The forgotten victims of the Troubles https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-forgotten-victims-of-the-troubles The Spectator 21 July 2015 On 23 February, the Official IRA issued a statement claiming that it had carried out the attack in revenge for Bloody Sunday. It added: "Any civilian casualties would be very much regretted as our target was the officers responsible for the Derry outrages". The Official IRA also said that the bombing would be the first of many such attacks on the headquarters of British Army regiments serving in Northern Ireland. Aftermath As the bomb had mostly killed civilians, the Official IRA received harsh and widespread criticism. On 29 May 1972, the Official IRA's leadership called a ceasefireCAIN – Chronology of the Conflict – May 1972 and stated that it would only launch future attacks in self-defence. The Aldershot bombing was believed to have been one of the factors that led to this decision. In November 1972, Noel Jenkinson, 42, a transport manager, was convicted for his part in the terrorist bombing and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the presiding judge Sir Sebag Shaw recommending that he serve at least 30 years. Finbar Kissane, 32, and Michael Duignan, 2814 November 1972 The sawn-off shotgun found on Michael Francis Duignan when he was stopped on the street by Sgt. Thomas Laidlaw of Mitcham Police when patrolling his section with a constable. Duignan was found guilty of having a firearm without certificate. Duignan had set off from his home in Amity Grove, Raynes Park, to dump ammunition, guns and IRA literature in the River Wandle. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-crime-terrorism-aldershot-bomb-trial-aldershot-110956715.html 23 February 2022 Alamy PA Media were both convicted of complicity and sentenced to prison terms of 2 years and 2.5 years respectively.Internet Archive http://archive.org/details/RoscCatha Rosc Catha Clann na hÉireann 1973 1, July/Aug 1973 England 4The Aldershot Bombing 1972 • The Parachute Regimental Association https://theparachuteregimentalassociation.com/hermes/an-overdue-memorial/ 2023-12-15 The Parachute Regimental AssociationResults for 'murder' Between 1st May 1972 and 31st May 1972 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1972-05-01/1972-05-31?basicsearch=murder&somesearch=murder&retrievecountrycounts=false&sortorder=score&country=scotland 2023-12-15 British Newspaper Archive Jenkinson, a Protestant originally from Loughcrew County Meath and a father of four, had been a trade unionist in London.Sinn Féin Dún Laoghaire branch 9 October 2015 Noel Jenkisindon https://m.facebook.com/SFdunlaoghaire/posts/665449746925392/ 2022-02-23 Facebook He had also been a member of the Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for Communist Unityhttps://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ireland/richards-bico.pdf marxists.org Sam Richards Notes on the evolution of the B&ICO 21 December 2016 and Clann na hÉireann, an association sympathetic to the Official IRA. The evidence relating to Jenkinson was initially linked to his fraudulent hire (with Kissane) of a Ford Cortina car that was then used in the fatal bombing leading to the subsequent discovery of a case of gelignite found in his garden shed, as publicised at the time.14 November 1972 Gelegnite bombs found in the garage of Noel Jenkinson, 42, of Muswell Hill, north London https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-gelegnite-bombs-found-in-the-garage-of-noel-jenkinson-42-of-muswell-110956706.html 23 February 2022 Alamy PA MediaJordan Hugh https://books.google.com/books?id=ABa_ElDm_GUC&dq=aldershot+%22Noel+Jenkinson%22&pg=PT49 Milestones in Murder: Defining Moments in Ulster's Terror War 2011-10-14 Random House 978-1-78057-374-8 39Healy Mick 2022-12-11 Wrongful imprisonment of an Irish communist https://socialistvoice.ie/2022/12/wrongful-imprisonment-of-an-irish-communist/ 2023-12-15 Socialist Voice The trial in Winchester Crown Court lasted 21 days. In the following years, the larger and more militant Provisional IRA continued its campaign and began to attack military and commercial targets in England. Jenkinson died in HMP Leicester in 1976 at the age of 46, with heart failure cited as the cause of death. He had been just transferred from HMP Wormwood Scrubs and had written an article expressing support for the Provisional IRA. He was buried at Dean's Grange Cemetery Dublin.Hepworth Jack https://books.google.com/books?id=xc9AEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Jenkinson+espoused%22&pg=PA39 'The Age-Old Struggle': Irish republicanism from the Battle of the Bogside to the Belfast Agreement, 1969-1998 2021-09-15 Oxford University Press 978-1-80085-759-9 References 51.2549 -0.7701 type:event_region:GB-HAM title collapsed Category:1972 in England Category:1972 murders in the United Kingdom Category:1970s in Hampshire Category:20th-century mass murders in England Bombing Category:Car and truck bombings in the 1970s Category:1972 building bombings Category:Attacks on military installations in 1972 Category:British Army in Operation Banner Category:Building bombings in England Category:Car and truck bombings in England Category:February 1972 in the United Kingdom Category:1972 mass murders Category:Military actions and engagements during the Troubles (Northern Ireland) Category:Murder in Hampshire Category:Official Irish Republican Army Category:Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom) Category:Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1972 Category:Attacks on military installations in England Category:Terrorist incidents attributed to Irish republican militant groups