Man for court in relation to Hyde Park bomb

John Downey was arrested while travelling through Gatwick Airport

Dead horses covered up and wrecked cars at the scene of carnage in Rotten Row, Hyde Park, after a bomb exploded as the Household Cavalry was passing on July 20th, 1982. Photograph: PA NEWS/PA Wire
Dead horses covered up and wrecked cars at the scene of carnage in Rotten Row, Hyde Park, after a bomb exploded as the Household Cavalry was passing on July 20th, 1982. Photograph: PA NEWS/PA Wire

A man will appear at the Old Bailey in London this morning charged with the murder of four British solders in the 1982 Hyde Park IRA bomb blast.

John Downey, 61, of Co Donegal, was arrested at London's Gatwick Airport last month.

He is accused of being responsible for a car bomb left in South Carriage Drive which killed solders as they rode through the park to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

The explosion injured other members of the Royal Household Cavalry and killed seven horses as they travelled from their barracks to Buckingham Palace.

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Downey is charged with murdering Roy Bright, Dennis Daly, Simon Tipper and Geoffrey Young, and with intending to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.

He will appear before Mr Justice Sweeney for the preliminary hearing.

- PA