Victory for the Guildford Four – ICO and Home Office lose FOIA appeal
“There is significant public interest in allowing the public to examine and consider available information to help them understand what happened and how the miscarriage of justice occurred”
In a series of judgments, the First-Tier Tribunal has ruled that the Home Office was not entitled to withhold disclosure of a critical police investigation report into the Guildford Four pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Today, the Home Office’s attempt to appeal those judgments has failed.
On 5 October 1974, bombs were detonated by the Provisional IRA at the Horse and Groom and Seven Stars public houses in Guildford. The bombs killed five people. On 7 November 1974, another PIRA bomb was thrown through the Kings Arms pub at Woolwich, with two fatalities. In 1975, following trial at the Central Criminal Court, Paddy Armstrong, Paul Hill, Gerry Conlon and Carole Richardson were convicted of the crimes. History remembers them as ‘The Guildford Four’.
Prior to and during their trial, evidence emerged which suggested that the Guildford Four were not responsible for the bombings. Evidence from the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment demonstrated a forensic correlation between the bombings and the Provisional IRA activities of a distinct Active Service Unit. However, this evidence was not disclosed to the Guildford Four at trial. In September 1975, nine days after the trial began, Police Commander Roy Habershon produced a report dealing with investigative material concerning the activities of the Provisional IRA and analysed evidence and links between multiple IRA crimes – links which pre-dated and post-dated the bombings at Guildford. The report, which was later cited in the public inquiry chaired by Sir John May, threw doubt on the prosecution case against the Guildford Four.
Alistair Logan OBE represented Paddy Armstrong at trial. In 1976, Mr Logan interviewed members of the Provisional IRA. Two of them gave accounts of their involvement in the Guildford and Woolwich bombings. Mr Logan served this evidence on the DPP, which was ignored, and those members of the Provisional IRA were never charged.
In 1977, the Guildford Four appealed their convictions to the Court of Appeal based on the admissions made by the Provisional IRA. The appeals were dismissed. However, in 1989, fresh evidence emerged demonstrating that Surrey police officers had misled the original jury at the Guildford Four trial and the Guildford Four had their convictions quashed. When quashing the convictions, the Lord Chief Justice stated: “the Police must have lied”.
The Habershon report was never disclosed to the Guildford Four, not even in the Court of Appeal.
In August 2021, Mr Logan, who has never ceased his efforts to secure justice and transparency for the Guildford Four, applied to the Home Office for release of the Habershon Report and its indices. That request resulted in litigation before the First-Tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) between March 2024 – May 2026. In that litigation, the Home Office and Information Commissioner argued that disclosure of the requested files would be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, or the administration of justice.
Following legal argument, the First-Tier Tribunal ruled that the Home Office could not rely on these grounds and that the public interest in maintaining confidentiality did not outweigh the public interest in disclosing of the information. The Tribunal has now refused the Home Office permission to appeal.
The Home Office must now release the Habershon Report, permitting campaign groups, historians and lawyers to consider the grave miscarriage of justice of the Guildford Four in its full context.
In Logan v Information Commissioner and the Home Office Kate O’Raghallaigh led Jessie Smith, instructed by Glyn Maddocks KC, and Simon Natas of ITN Solicitors.
The first judgment of the FTT can be read here.
The second judgment of the FTT (which was handed down on 15 May 2026) can be read here.
