40 years on and no justice for the Birmingham pub bombings victims
They were just innocents out for a drink but 21 people never came home from their night in the pub, victims of a terrorist atrocity.
It is exactly 40 years since the bombing of two Birmingham pubs - the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern In The Town.
A further 182 people were injured in the attacks of November 21 1974.
8.11pm - Irish accented man calls the offices of two Birmingham newspapers and, using an IRA codeword, says there is a bomb in the Rotunda and another in the tax office in New Street. Police are immediately alerted
8.17pm - As police search the upper floors of the Rotunda, a bomb explodes in the Mulberry Bush on the lower two floors, killing 10 and injuring dozens.
8.27pm - Another bomb explodes in the Tavern in the Town on New Street. Eleven people die and many more are injured. A bus is wrecked in the blast.
Later that night - Five men travelling from Birmingham to Belfast for a funeral are stopped in Heysham, Lancashire.
They are searched by police and taken to Morecambe police station for forensic tests.
November 22 1974
5am - A third, unexploded bomb, undergoes a controlled detonation by Barclay's Bank in Edgbaston.
Later that day - The five men arrested are transferred to the custody of West Midlands Serious Crime Squad police unit. A sixth, Hugh Callaghan, is also arrested in Birmingham.
Rest of 1974 and early 1975
During their time in custody the men claim to have been deprived of food and sleep, interrogated for up 12 hours at a time, beaten, threatened and subjected to mock executions.
May 12 1975
The men, who become known as the Birmingham Six, are charged murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.
June 9 1975
A trial begins at the Crown Court sitting at Lancaster Castle.
August 15 1975
Having been found guilty by a jury, the Six are were each handed 21 life sentences - one for each of the people killed in the two pub bombings.
March 1976
An application by the Six to appeal is dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
January 17 1980
Court of Appeal strikes out a claim for damages against West Midlands Police by the Birmingham Six
1985
World In Action journalist Chris Mullin begins a series of programmes that cast doubt on the convictions.
January 1988
A six-week hearing concludes that the convictions were safe.
