Families of four soldiers killed in 1982 Hyde Park bombing launch damages bid against IRA terrorist

Relatives of soldiers killed by an IRA bomb that was the responsibility of terrorist John Downey could learn today how much money he will pay them after last year’s civil action win against him. 

Last year the High Court ruled that he was involved in the 1982 Hyde Park car bombing that murdered four servicemen and was an ‘active participant’.

Lance Cpl Jeffrey Young, 19, Trooper Simon Tipper, 19, Lieutenant Anthony “Digger” Daly, 23, and Cpl Major Roy Bright, 36, were all killed in the blast. 

Compensation could provide crumbs of comfort to the men’s devastated families, still hunting for justice over their loved ones’ deaths.

Simon Tipper (top left) and Jeffrey Young (top right) and Anthony ‘Denis’ Daly (left) and Roy Bright (right) were killed in the terror attack in Hyde Park in a devastating 1982 car bombing 

Downey’s Old Bailey criminal trial collapsed in 2014 due to provisions in the Good Friday Agreement.

But a civil action, led by Lance Cpl Jeffrey Young’s daughter Sarahjane, 42, and funded by campaigners, brought him back to court.  

Downey is currently on bail in Northern Ireland, accused of killing two more soldiers in 1972.

Last year the High Court in London heard there was ‘no question whatsoever’ his fingerprints were on car park tickets linked to the explosion which killed four Royal Household Cavalrymen.

The scene following the IRA car bomb blast in Hyde Park, London, on July 20, 1982

An expert said they were found on cards in the Morris Marina car that exploded and caused the ‘cold-blooded killing’ of British soldiers 37 years ago.

The Marina had been bought the week before the attack on July 20, 1982 at a car auction in Enfield by a man with an Irish accent who gave false details, according to a court document.

Fingerprint expert Stephen Hughes told the court that the quality of the five fingerprints found on the tickets ‘varies, but they are all identifiable’.

‘I have absolutely no question whatsoever they are made by the same person,’ he said.

Squadron Quartermaster Corporal Roy Bright, 36, Lieutenant Dennis Daly, 23, Trooper Simon Tipper, 19, and Lance Corporal Jeffrey Young, also 19, were killed by a car bomb as they rode through the central London park to attend the changing of the guard.   

Downey was charged with the murders but his prosecution at the Old Bailey collapsed in 2014 after it was revealed that he had received a written assurance from former prime minister Tony Blair’s government in 2007 that he was no longer wanted.

Family members of those killed launched legal action against Downey after the collapse of the trial and yesterday arrived at the High Court in London where they are bringing a civil action against him and hope Mrs Justice Yip will say he was responsible.  

Lawyers acting for Sarah-Jane Young, L/Cpl Young’s daughter, in whose name the action is being brought, told the hearing the families of those killed expect ‘justice’ to be done.

Lord Brennan QC, who is acting for Sarah Jane Young, said the fingerprint evidence was served on Mr Downey in preparation for the hearing but he has ‘totally failed ever to deal with it,’ he told the court.

Victims families at the High Court in London for the ruling in the civil case last year

At the start of last year’s hearing Lord Brennan QC said: ‘Thirty-seven years after, if justice can properly be done, as it can be in this case, then let it be done.

‘That will reflect the expectation of the bereaved families and the injured, it reflects the state of our law, it accords with the conviction of our community and the sentiment lying beneath it is deeply felt.’

He added: ‘Its (the bombing’s) objective was cold-blooded killing, with vicious brutality and maximum harm.

‘The claimant’s case is that these devastating consequences were intended, including the murder of these four soldiers.’