4 March 2001 BBC bombing

Infobox terrorist attack
title=4 March 2001 BBC bombing


caption=BBC News coverage revealed the extent of the damage to the front of the building from the bomb.
location=White City, London, United Kingdom
target=The BBC main news centre
date=4 March 2001
time-begin=12:30am
time-end=
timezone=UTC
type=Car bomb
fatalities=0
injuries=1
perps=Noel Maguire, Robert Hulme, Aiden Hulme, James McCormack and John Hannan

On Sunday, 4 March, 2001 the Real IRA detonated a car bomb outside the BBC's main news centre in the White City area of West London at 0030GMT. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1201273.stm Bomb blast outside BBC] ] Officers were carrying out a controlled explosion on the bomb with a bomb-disposal robot when it went off yards from the front door of BBC Television Centre. Staff had already been evacuated after police received a coded warning. A London Underground worker suffered deep cuts and some damage was caused to the front of the BBC building.

As the explosion happened just after midnight some reports of the incident say that it happened on 3 March when in fact it was 4 March.

In November 2001, three men; Noel Maguire, Robert Hulme and his brother Aiden Hulme were arrested in connection with three bomb attacks in the U.K. The first being outside the BBC on 4 March 2001 the second in Ealing Broadway on 3 August 2001 (See 3 August 2001 Ealing bombing) and the third in Birmingham on 3 November 2001. They were all later convicted at the Old Bailey on 8 April 2003. Robert Hulme and Aiden Hulme were each jailed for 20 years. Noel Maguire, who the judge said played "a major part in the bombing conspiracy", was sentenced to 22 years.

Two other men, James McCormack, of County Louth, and John Hannan, of Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, had already admitted the charge at an earlier hearing. James McCormack, who played the most serious part of the five, the judge said, was jailed for 22 years. John Hannan, who was 17 at the time of the incidents, was given 16 years detention.

References

ee also

*List of terrorist incidents
*List of terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom
*List of terrorist incidents in London

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1201273.stm Report on the incident by the BBC]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1200999.stm Second report on the incident by the BBC]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2930957.stm Report on the Real IRA bombers being jailed]