Overview
- Judge Jonathan Swift recorded the discontinuance with no order as to costs at the High Court in London on the final day of the trial.
- Gerry Adams, who testified earlier in the case, denied IRA membership or involvement in the 1973 and 1996 attacks and later welcomed an “emphatic end.”
- The suit had sought a balance‑of‑probabilities finding that Adams was personally liable for the Old Bailey, London Docklands and Manchester Arndale bombings, for a symbolic £1.
- Defense submissions argued the decades‑long delay was prejudicial and suggested the case risked becoming a public‑inquiry‑style exercise, raising abuse‑of‑process concerns.
- The claimants’ legal team said they accepted Adams’s offer to settle without damages due to a late costs risk after the court raised abuse‑of‑process issues, and one claimant said he was “completely devastated.”