Roy Walsh ( September 1949 – 16 October 2024) was a Provisional IRA volunteer. He was convicted for his part in the IRA's

1973 Old Bailey bombing The 1973 Old Bailey bombing (dubbed as Bloody Thursday by newspapers in Britain) was a car bomb attack carried out by the Provisional IRA (IRA) which took place outside the Old Bailey Courthouse on 8 March 1973. The attack was carried out by an ...

which injured over 200 people.

IRA activity

Walsh joined the IRA in the wake of the August 1969 riots in Belfast in which Bombay Street a Catholic/Nationalist area was burned to the ground by a Loyalist sectarian mob, 1,820 families (mostly Catholics) had to be evacuated and the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

sent in to keep the peace. Walsh joined the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional IRA, which in 1973 was allegedly Commanded by

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams (; born 6 October 1948) is a retired Irish Republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. From 1983 to 19 ...

at the time and Adams picked the 11-person

Active service unit An active service unit (ASU; ) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) Clandestine cell system, cell of four to ten members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks. In 2002, the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were i ...

(ASU) to carry out the 1973 London bombings. Walsh, along with

Gerry Kelly Gerard Kelly (; born 5 April 1953) is an Irish republican politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer who played a leading role in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998. He is cur ...

Hugh Feeney Hugh Feeney (born 1951) is a former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who, together with Dolours Price and Marian Price, organised the car bombings of the Old Bailey and Great Scotland Yard on 8 March 1973. He and ten memb ...

, sisters

Dolours Price Dolours Price (16 December 1950 – 23 January 2013) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer. She grew up in an Irish republican family and joined the IRA in 1971. She was sent to jail for her role in the 1973 Old Bailey bombin ...

and

Marian Price Marian Price (born 1954), also known by her married name as Marian McGlinchey, is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer. Born into a Republican family in Belfast, Price joined the IRA in 1971, along with her sister Dolo ...

, and six others from the Belfast Brigade made up the rest of the ASU tasked with the London bombings. Initially six targets in London had been planned to bomb but this was scaled down to four targets, one of which had been picked to bomb was the Old Bailey courthouse - this was the target Roy Walsh was selected to bomb. On 8 March 1973 at about 06:00 am, Roy Walsh and Gerry Kelly primed their

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roug ...

which weighed about 100 lb and drove to the Old Bailey, three other bombs were planted by other IRA volunteers around London and all timed to go off at roughly the same time. Before the bomb went off Walsh along with nine other members of his team were caught trying to leave the country at Heathrow Airport and detained there and then. The bomb at the Old Bailey exploded at 14:49 pm and injured between 180–200 people, one person died of a heart attack attributed to the bomb. At his trial on 14 November 1973, Roy Walsh received life imprisonment for the bombings and 20 years for conspiracy along with seven other IRA volunteers. Walsh along with several other IRA prisoners and dozens of inmates was involved in the Albany Prison Riot of May 1983. Several prisoners, prison officers and one warder received minor injuries during the riot.

Release

Walsh was released in 1994, after having served nearly 21 years in English prisons, making him one of the longest serving IRA prisoners in an English jail. Only the members of the Balcombe Street Gang served longer sentences. In an interview with

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politic ...

, Walsh said that he was "shocked that there was so many casualties because our intention was never, never to injure anyone" and that given the warnings, "it was the slowness of the police reactions that caused the injuries." He stated that he did not regret his involvement, but regretted getting caught. Walsh died in Belfast on 16 October 2024, aged 75.

References

Sources

Peter Taylor - Behind The Mask: The IRA and Sinn FeinRuan O'Donnell -Special The IRA IN English Prisons Vol.2: 1978-1985
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Roy 1949 births 2024 deaths Prisoners from Northern Ireland sentenced to life imprisonment Paramilitaries from Belfast Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by England and Wales Provisional Irish Republican Army members Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict