High Court to assess damages for relatives of Hyde Park bombing victims

By Sian Harrison, PA

Relatives of four British soldiers killed in the Hyde Park bombing who won a High Court victory against suspect John Downey will have the level of their damages award determined by a judge.

Family members of Royal Household Cavalrymen who died in the July 1982 blast brought the civil action against the convicted IRA member after a criminal case collapsed at the Old Bailey in 2014.

A High Court judge ruled last year that Downey was an “active participant” in the bombing and was jointly responsible with others for the attack, which left 31 other people injured.

At a remote High Court hearing starting on Tuesday, which is due to last two days, Mr Justice Martin Spencer will consider how much compensation the families of the victims should be awarded.

Announcing her conclusions in December following a two-day trial, Mrs Justice Yip said: “This was a deliberate, carefully planned attack on members of the military.

“I have found that the defendant was an active participant in the concerted plan to detonate the bomb, with the intent to kill or at least to cause serious harm to members of the Household Cavalry.”

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

Lawyers acting for Sarah Jane Young, L/Cpl Young’s daughter, in whose name the action against Downey has been brought, previously told the High Court that the families of those killed expect “justice” to be done.

Downey, from Co Donegal, did not play any part in the trial but filed a written defence denying any involvement in the attack.

The car bomb left in South Carriage Drive killed the four soldiers as they paraded from their barracks to Buckingham Palace.

Two were killed instantly while L/Cpl Young and Maj Bright died within days.

Seven horses had to be put down and another horse, Sefton, survived terrible injuries.