Forensic evidence found by police investigating the IRA’s Guildford bombing is DNA found on a timer, according to UTV.
Last year, Surrey Police confirmed they had identified potential forensic clues nearly 50 years after the atrocity, which killed five people in October 1974 – however the new evidence would not be investigated due to the controversial Legacy Act.
The act allows those involved with The Troubles to seek conditional immunity from prosecution.
However, UTV’s Sharon O’Neill has now revealed the evidence is a DNA profile found on the timer on one of the bombs that ripped through the bar, but is not clear if there was match on the police data base, or if the suspect is dead or alive.
Soldiers Caroline Slater (18), William Forsyth (18), John Hunter (17) and Ann Hamilton (19), and civilian Paul Craig (21) died and 65 more were injured in the explosions at the Horse And Groom and Seven Stars in the Surrey town on October 5, 1974. Another bomb detonated 30 minutes later at the Seven Stars.
The Guildford Four and Maguire Seven were wrongly convicted for the attacks – Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong, Paul Hill and Carole Richardson served 15 years in jail.
According to KRW Law, Ms Hamilton’s family were told in 2024 by Surrey Police that it had “identified a potential forensic line of enquiry” and the next step “would be a new criminal investigation”.
However, detectives are not launching any further investigations before the Legacy Act takes effect from May 1, the lawyer said.
In 2022 an inquest found the victims were unlawfully killed by a powerful time bomb planted by a “courting couple”.
At the time, Ms Hamilton’s family said Surrey Police and “other related criminal justice services and agencies” could have pursued and “continued to pursue evidential opportunities which be compromised with the further passage of time.”