Richard McIlkenny, who was falsely imprisoned for 16 years with five other men who became known as the Birmingham Six, has died in hospital in Dublin after a long illness. He was 73 and is understood to have been battling cancer for some time.
A spokeswoman for Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, confirmed that Mr McIlkenny died yesterday afternoon with his family at his bedside.
Mr McIlkenny came from Belfast and joined the Army in 1952. After serving for four years, he emigrated to England and was employed as a factory worker in towns in the north of England.
He was living in Birmingham when he was detained by Special Branch detectives in November 1974, following the bombing of two pubs in the British midlands city. Twenty-one people died and 162 people were injured in the blasts.
After being interrogated by police for three days, he signed a false confession in which he admitted to bombing the pubs. In August 1975 he was sentenced to life in prison along with Patrick Hill, Gerry Hunter, Hugh Callaghan, Billy Power and Johnny Walker.
All six were denied leave to appeal and had to wait until 1987, when new evidence emerged, for their case to be referred to the Court of Appeal. This appeal was rejected. In 1991 their convictions were overturned, after 16 years in jail, following a long campaign for justice here and in Britain.
Mr McIlkenny is understood to have returned to live in Maynooth, Co Kildare, with his wife.
At the time of their release, the men held an impromptu press conference outside the Old Bailey where they expressed their anger at their imprisonment for crimes they did not commit. Mr McIlkenny was the first to speak.
"We've waited a long time for this, 16 years, because of hypocrisy and brutality," he said. "But every dog has its day and we're going to have ours."
He is survived by his wife Kathleen, his daughters and his son.
In an interview with The Irish Times in November 2004, one of his co-accused, Johnny Walker, described how the men had met two years earlier and felt that "the best thing to do was to each get on with our own lives".
"I don't want to be known as 'Johnny Walker, Birmingham Six', he said. "I just want to be known as Johnny Walker. The rest of them felt the same way."