One of the three IRA men sentenced yesterday for the Guildford bombings should stay in gaol Òto a great age,Ó and the others should serve at least 30 and 35 years, the trial judge said.
Mr Justice Donaldson, sentencing Paul Hill, Gerard Conlon and Patrick Armstrong, said judges should not normally express their views but this case was different.
ÒYou three men are sentenced to life for murder and I want you to understand what that means, and I want your fellow members of the IRA to understand, and I want the people who sent you to this country to understand,Ó he said.
He warned Mr Hill that, ÒIf, as an act of mercy, you are eventually to be released it can only be on account of age or infirmity.Ó Mr Conlon was told he would serve at least 30 years and Mr Armstrong was told he would be in gaol for at least 35 years.
Paul Hill was already serving life for a murder in Belfast, he said, and he would have recommended that he was never released, but the law did not allow that. The three men were also gaoled for 20 years concurrently for conspiring to cause explosions.
At the end of the Birmingham bomb trial in August, the judge, Mr Justice Bridge, made no recommendation of minimum sentence when he gaoled for life the six men convicted of 21 murders.
Mr Justice Donaldson said the commonly held view was that life meant only 12 to 15 years unless the judge made a recommendation. He wanted to make it clear in this case that life meant longer than that.
Before the 1965 Act which abolished capital punishment, he said, convicted murderers were hanged unless there were extenuating circumstances. If there were special reasons they were given life imprisonment and were normally released on licence after a period of years. Now capital punishment had been abolished, all murderers were given life, but the ones who would have been hanged before 1965 served longer than 12 to 15 years.
When murderers were being considered for release the trial judge was normally consulted by the Home Secretary, but because the three men were so young Ñ Mr Hill and Mr Conlon are 21, and Mr Armstrong 25 Ñ and their crime so enormous, it was unlikely he would be still alive when any one considered freeing them. He was therefore making his recommendation now.
The three sat silently in the dock at the Old Bailey as the judge said there were no extenuating circumstances. ÒYour crime was directed against the community, against every man, woman and child in this country. You obviously expected to strike terror in their hearts. You did not care who you killed so long as you killed a number.Ó
The fourth defendant, 18-year-old Carole Richardson was sentenced separately and had been led from the dock before Mr Justice Donaldson made his recommendations.
He said that since she was 17 when the murders were committed, she could be sentenced only as a juvenile. She was detained during the QueenÕs pleasure. But, he said, she could be sentenced as an adult for causing an explosion, and the sentence for that was life. The Home Secretary would have to decide how long she should serve.
The four were convicted after the all-male jury had been out for 27 hours. They were found guilty of conspiring to cause explosions in the United Kingdom to endanger life and cause serious injury or damage to property, of murdering Caroline Slater, Ann Hamilton, John Hunter, William Forsyth, and Paul Craig, who died in the explosion at the Horse and Groom public house in Guildford on October 5 last year, and of causing an explosion at the Seven Stars on the same night.
Mr Armstrong was also convicted of conspiring with Mr Hill and others to commit murder at the KingÕs Arms in Woolwich, and he and Mr Hill were convicted of the murder of Alan Horsley and Richard Sloan Dunn, who died after an explosion at the that pub on November 7.
A charge against Mr Armstrong of assisting in a reconnaissance of the KingÕs Arms with intent to cause an explosion was dismissed half way through the 23-day trial.
The judge said: ÒThe English language is rich in words but no single words can adequately describe your crimes.Ó It was difficult to attribute responsibility, he said. Each had known of the plan, taken part in planning and had known and played his part in the bombings.
Mr Armstrong and Miss Richardson had gone into the Horse and Groom and planted the bomb. ÒAll around them Ñ and this was the horrifying feature Ñ they could see the people they were going to maim and kill. Then they got up and left them to their fate. I can see no evidence whatsoever that any of you gave these innocent members of the public a second thought. Miss Richardson drove straight to London to attend a pop concert and Mr Hill went to Southampton to establish an alibi. It was a callous crime, a cowardly crime and above all a completely pointless crime that will be remembered only for its infamy.Ó
The only difference at Woolwich was in the type of bomb, a shrapnel bomb, designed to shoot pieces of metal into the victims.
Mr John Leonard QC, defending, said Mr Armstrong was described by a psychiatrist as a ÒtimidÓ man and had taken part in fear of the others. Mr Arthur Mildon, QC for Mr Conlon, said nothing. Mr Eric Myers QC, defending Miss Richardson, pointed out her age.