Pub bombings campaigners have issued a “please give to our fighting fund” plea to sacked former counter terror police boss Marcus Beale.
The Justice4the21 campaign group is battling to raise a further £30,000 to afford lawyers for a court battle in a bid to ensure the terrorist suspects are investigated during the resumed inquest into the deaths of 21 victims.
Spokeswoman Julie Hambleton said: “It’s fair to say we have had an acrimonious relationship with Mr Beale - we don’t send each other Christmas cards.
“However he always said he wanted to help us.
“Well, he can no longer do that as a policeman, but he can as an individual.
“Our plea to him is no different to that which we have been forced to make over and over again to the general public.
“The public have responded in an extraordinarily generous way. Let’s see if Mr Beale is equally generous.
“He’s got a big pension pot paid for by the likes of you and me, so he won’t miss a few bob.”
Assistant Chief Constable Mr Beale was found guilty of gross misconduct after mislaying top secret documents and sacked on Wednesday, just days before he was due to retire.
The former head of West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, was dismissed without notice at a disciplinary hearing.
But he will retire with a full pension and his £215,000 lump sum as Wednesday’s hearing took place after April 6 - understood to be the date his pension becomes active.
A total of 21 people died and almost 200 were injured when bombers devastated the Tavern In The Town and The Mulberry Bush.
The Birmingham Six were later wrongly convicted after a flawed police investigation. They served almost 17 year behind bars in one of Britain’s most infamous miscarriages of justice before their sentences were quashed and they were released.
That should have resulted in inquests, which were originally opened in 1974, being properly concluded, but they were never resumed.
In 2016 Justice4the21, backed by The Birmingham Mail, successfully campaigned for a new inquest to be opened.
But the pub bombing families must raise another £30,000 in order to be represented in the Court of Appeal for their latest legal battle because the Legal Aid Agency has rejected their bid for support for the sixth time.
The families previously had to raise a similar sum to overturn Coroner Sir Peter Thornton’s controversial ruling to ban the issue of the bombers from the renewed inquest.
They sensationally won a £30,000 legal battle in the High Court where lawyers representing them persuaded judges to quash the ruling, but the Coroner has subsequently applied to the Court of Appeal for a further review.
Sir Peter, the former Chief Coroner of England and Wales, who was appointed by the Government to head the inquest because of its length and complexity, has said it was “not in the public interest of these investigations and inquests to pursue unachievable, or indeed unlawful objectives.”
All his bills in the Court of Appeal will be paid for by the tax payer.
If you can support the families visit: https:// www.gofundme.com/justice-for-the- 21