A great-grandmother wrongly imprisoned for nine years for involvement in IRA bomb attacks was awarded a papal honour today, bestowed upon her by the late Pope John Paul II in one of his final acts.
The late pope issued the Bene Merenti medal to Anne Maguire, three days before he died.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murpy-O'Connor, said Mrs Maguire had been awarded the medal - which translates to well-deserved - in recognition of her "remarkable ability to forgive" as well as her work for her parish, family and community.
Mrs Maguire, 68, of Willesden, north west London, was imprisoned in 1976 with five members of her family and a family friend, including her husband Patrick, her son Vincent, 17, and her 14-year-old son also called Patrick following the 1974 IRA bomb attacks in Guildford and Woolwich.
Two of her other children were left to be cared for by family and were returned to her on her release. The bomb attacks were among the most high-profile atrocities carried out by the IRA at the height of its mainland bombing campaign.
A device at the Horse and Groom pub in Guildford killed five people, four soldiers and a civilian, and left more than 100 injured.
Four people, Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong, Paul Hill and Carole Richardson, were arrested in 1974 and jailed the following year for life for the bombings and became known as the Guildford Four. Paul Hill and Paddy Armstrong were also jailed for the Woolwich bombing in which two people died.
Later Gerry Conlon's father, Guiseppe, and members of the Maguire family - the Maguire Seven - were arrested and jailed. The Maguires were convicted of possessing nitro-glycerine, which was allegedly passed to the IRA to make bombs.
Mrs Maguire was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In October 1989 the Court of Appeal quashed the sentences of the Guildford Four amid doubts raised about the evidence against them. An investigation into the case by Avon and Somerset Police found serious faults with the way Surrey Police handled the case - which is considered to be one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in Britain.
In 1991 the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of the Maguires.
Last February, Tony Blair issued a public apology to the Maguire Seven and the Guilford Four for the miscarriages of justice.
Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said: "Her work for others, her strength as a woman and a human being, her constant faith, her remarkable ability to forgive - these are the reasons why the Pope wanted to single her out and hold her up as an example."
Mrs Maguire, who is a mother of four, grandmother of seven, and great-grandmother of four, was presented with the medal by Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor during morning Mass at the Sacred Heart of Jesus parish, north London.
PA