The Guildford Four And Maguire Seven write essay help Canadian Studies essay help

This act allows suspected terrorists to be taken into custody for seven days without being charged, only citizens who have lived in Britain for 20 years can bypass this law. This act is what enabled the police to capture the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven. The Convicted The Guildford Four were the first to be arrested under the Protection of Terrorism act consisting of Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill, Carole Richardson and Patrick Armstrong. Hill was the first to be arrested as he was already thought to be the murderer of a British soldier8. He was only 21 at the time, he was born and raised in Belfast but was apprehended in South Hampton. Gerry Conlon, also from Belfast was arrested soon after Hill and also 21 .

Gerry was a petty thief and was forced to leave Belfast after causing a riot for being mistaken as Gunmen by English soldiers in Belfast. 9 Gerry gets on a boat with Paul Hill and they head towards London where they find Patrick Armstrong, 25 and his girlfriend Carole Richardson, 17. In their interrogation none of the alibis checked out, but that was soon quashed. For Carole, she could not remember her whereabouts of that night. Though, a friend named Frank Johnson turned up with photo evidence of being with her the night of the bombings, this evidence was not presented to the court. 0 Previous to the event, Hill and Conlon lived with Patrick and Carole in London for free and lived freely. It wasn’t ong into their trip that they found themselves homeless on the night of the Guildford Bombings and disputing with a man named Charles Burke for a park bench. 11 After 700 pounds12. Once apprehended, the interrogators tortured and threatened Hill and Conlon until they ended up with a list of false names said to get out of the agony. The police also got confessions from the Guildford Four for their convictions.

These confessions were nothing more but lie’s to save them from more torture. In his confession, Gerry gave up the address of his Aunt Annie Maguire. This information allowed the police to investigate Annie. By following her, the police saw Guiseppe Conlon, Gerrys father, delivering what they thought was materials to make a bomb for the IRA13. After blowing a simple family visit out of proportion, the Maguire Seven were all tested for nitro-glycerine. Unfortunately, this test proved to be positive and soon the Maguire Seven found themselves in court. 4 The seven people included; Anne Maguire, Patrick “Paddy’ Maguire, Patrick Maguire, Vincent Maguire, Sean Smith, Patrick O’Neil, and lastly Guiseppe Conlon. Alibis were presented at the time of the bombing, but were still charged on the account of possession for explosives. Tried and convicted on March 4th 1976, Anne and Paddy served 14 years, Patrick 4, Vincent 5, and the rest served 12. At the time of the trial, Patrick and Vincent were very young ages of 14 and 17 respectively. Guiseppe unfortunately had only one lung, emphysema, and was enduring chemotherapy.

In Jail, Guiseppe received such poor treatment that he received Benylin instead of the right medication. 1 5 January, the year of 1980 Guiseppe Conlon died in prison before he experienced being a free man once again. 16 While serving the time in Jail, the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven ere seen as the worst possible criminals, terrorists. Everyone in Jail treated them with disrespect, even police. Patrick was told by a guard that if “[Patrick] and a murderer both escaped and they could only choose one to chase they would go after [him],” because in their eyes he was a very young terrorist. 7 Gerry received much worse treatment, he was beaten brutally, stung with ends of lit cigarettes, and ate that had feces in it. Altogether, the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven experienced the brutality of Jail for something that they did not do. Please excuse this blank section as I could not get rid of it It is known that the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven were wrongfully convicted but to this day no one else has faced charges for those bombings. Though, December 12th 1975 four men were arrested for the Balcombe Street Siege.

Joseph O’Connell, Harry Duggan, Hugh Doherty and Eddie Butler, also known as the Balcombe Street Gang engaged themselves in a high speed chase and six day siege, holding a married couple hostage in their own home until finally giving themselves up to the police. It was stated during the trial by Joseph O’Connell that “four totally innocent people ere serving massive sentences” and claimed that they were the ones to do it. 18 Balcombe Street Gang and kept the innocent people in Jail as scapegoats in order to save them from the embarrassment they brought upon the country.

The men who prosecuted the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven are almost as guilty as the Balcombe Street Gang. Even though the detectives were cleared in court for conspiracy to prevent the course of Justice19, it is still believed that the police and even Government kept the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven in Jail because the whole Justice system would be humiliated. The police failed in many circumstances to act upon valuable information as they were blindly determined. In 1977 the Guildford Four appealed their case based on the confession from O’Connell, this appeal was rejected. 0 Furthermore, in police documents a statement was found by Charles Burke, written only one month after the conviction and matched Conlon’s almost exactly. The file was discovered by Conlon’s lawyer, Gareth Peirce, with a note attached citing