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 11-person active service unit (ASU) from the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade. The unit also exploded a second bomb which went off outside the Ministry of Agriculture near Whitehall in London at around the same time the bomb at the Old Bailey went off.
| 1973 Old Bailey Bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Troubles | |
Entrance door to the Old Bailey | |
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51.5158°N 0.1018°W |
| Date | 8 March 1973 14:49 (UTC) |
| Target | Old Bailey Courthouse |
Attack type | Car bomb |
| Deaths | 1 British civilian (heart attack) |
| Injured | 243 |
| Perpetrator | Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade |
| Assailants | Hugh Feeney, Gerry Kelly, Dolours Price, Marian Price, Robert Walsh, and other IRA volunteers |
| Convicted | all but McNearney (acquitted for providing information) |
| Verdict | life in prison (later reduced to 20 years) |
This was the Provisional IRA's first major attack in England since the Troubles began in the late 1960s. One British civilian died of a heart attack attributed to the bombing. Estimates of the injured range from 180 to 220 from the two bombings. Two additional bombs were found and defused. Nine people from Belfast were convicted six months later for the bombing, one person managed to escape and one was acquitted for providing information to the police.