2001 BBC bombing
4 March 2001 BBC bombing | |
---|---|
Part of the Dissident Irish Republican campaign | |
Location | White City, London, United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°30′41″N 0°13′29″W / 51.5113°N 0.2248°WCoordinates: 51°30′41″N 0°13′29″W / 51.5113°N 0.2248°W |
Date | 4 March 2001 12:30 am – (GMT) |
Target | BBC Television Centre |
Attack type | Car bomb |
Deaths | 0 |
Injured | 1 |
Perpetrators | Noel Maguire, Robert Hulme, Aiden Hulme, James McCormack and John Hannan |
The 2001 BBC bombing was an attack on the BBC's main news centre within BBC Television Centre, on Wood Lane in the White City area of West London.
History[]
At 12:27 am (0027 UTC) on Sunday 4 March 2001, the Real IRA, a dissident Irish republican group, detonated a car bomb outside the BBC's main news centre within BBC Television Centre, on Wood Lane in the White City area of West London.[1][2][3]
Between ten and twenty pounds of high explosive had been placed in a red taxi that had been purchased on the morning of 3 March in Edmonton, north London, and abandoned yards from the main front door of BBC Television Centre at 11 pm.[4] Police officers were attempting to carry out a controlled explosion on the bomb with a bomb-disposal robot when it went off. Staff had already been evacuated after police received a coded warning that had been given to a London hospital and charity one hour before the explosion. There were no fatalities, though one London Underground worker suffered cuts to his eye caused by glass debris.[5]
BBC cameras caught the moment of the explosion and the resulting damage—which included numerous smashed windows in the front entrance—was seen as day broke.[6]
As the explosion happened just after midnight, some reports of the incident say that it happened on 3 March rather than 4 March.
Conviction[]
The bomb was part of a Real IRA bombing campaign which would also include the Ealing bombing of 3 August 2001 and an attempted bombing in Birmingham city centre on 3 November 2001.[7] Later in November, three men—Noel Maguire, Robert Hulme, and his brother Aiden Hulme—were arrested in connection with all three bomb attacks. They were convicted at the Old Bailey on 8 April 2003,[8] together with two other men—James McCormack, of County Louth, and John Hannan, of Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, both of whom had already admitted the charge at an earlier hearing.[9] The Hulme brothers were both jailed for 20 years; Maguire, who the judge said played "a major part in the bombing conspiracy", was sentenced to 22 years; McCormack, who the judge said had played the most serious part of the five, also received 22 years; and Hannan, who was 17 at the time of the incidents, was given 16 years' detention.[10]
References[]
- ^ "Bomb blast outside BBC". BBC News Online. 4 March 2001.
- ^ Hoge, Warren (5 March 2001). "BBC in London Bombed; Outlaw I.R.A. Is Blamed". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "CNN.com - Real IRA blamed for BBC blast - March 4, 2001". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "BBC bomb prompts terror warning". BBC News Online. 5 March 2001.
- ^ "Bomb blast outside BBC". BBC News Online. 4 March 2001.
- ^ "In pictures: BBC bomb blast". BBC News Online. 4 March 2001.
- ^ "Real IRA team convicted of plotting BBC bomb blast". The Independent. London. 9 April 2003. Archived from the original on 9 August 2009.
- ^ "Real IRA team convicted of plotting BBC bomb blast". The Independent. 9 April 2003. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ Deans, Jason (22 January 2003). "Two plead guilty to BBC bombing". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Real IRA bombers jailed". BBC News Online. 9 April 2003.
- Real Irish Republican Army actions
- 2001 crimes in the United Kingdom
- 2001 in London
- Car and truck bombings in England
- BBC history
- White City, London
- March 2001 events in the United Kingdom
- Terrorist incidents in London in the 2000s
- Attacks by Republicans since the Good Friday Agreement
- History of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
- Building bombings in the United Kingdom