Richard McIlkenny, one of six men wrongly imprisoned for the Birmingham pub bombings which killed 21 people, has died in hospital.
Mr McIlkenny, aged 73, had been battling cancer for some time and died at the James Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin, yesterday, said a spokeswoman for the Health Service Executive. His family were at his bedside.
Originally from Belfast, Mr McIlkenny joined the Irish Army in 1952, serving four years before emigrating to England.
He was a factory worker in towns in the North of England and was living in Birmingham when he was detained along with friends by Special Branch detectives on November 21, 1974 after two pubs in the city were bombed.
He was interrogated and beaten by police for three days until he signed a false confession admitting to bombing the pubs in which 21 people died and 162 were injured.
In March 1991, the six's convictions were quashed, and they were freed after 16 years in jail.
