TRIBUTES have been paid following the death of Birmingham Six member Paddy Hill.
Patrick ‘Paddy’ Hill died yesterday morning (December 30) “peacefully at home” in the care of his family, at the age of 80.
The Belfast native’s death was confirmed in a statement via his Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (MOJO).
Hill, who lived in Ayrshire in Scotland, founded the charity in Glasgow in 2001 to provide victim support services to innocent people in prison and following their release.
He was one of six Northern Irish men wrongly convicted of carrying out the Birmingham bombings in 1974.
Some 21 people were killed and a further 170 were injured when bombs exploded in the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pubs on November 21.
Paddy Hill pictured outside the Old Bailey in London after the Birmingham Six’s release in 1991Hill and Hugh Callaghan, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power, and John Walker were arrested shortly after the bombings and convicted in 1975 based largely on confessions extracted under duress and through the use of flawed forensic evidence.
In 1991, after 16 years in prison, their convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal, having been deemed “unsafe”, and the men were released.
Ever since his release Hill has campaigned for “those left behind, to bring a voice to the voiceless” his organisation says.
“It is with great sorrow [we announce] Paddy died this morning peacefully at home,” the organisation said in a statement yesterday.
“Our condolences to his family at this sad time,” they added.
“We ask that you respect the family’s privacy.”
Birmingham Six member Paddy Hill has died, aged 80SDLP leader Claire Hanna paid tribute to the campaigner.
“On behalf of the SDLP I extend deepest sympathies to the family of Paddy Hill, who I was fortunate to meet and spend time with in the past,” she said.
“He was a thoroughly Belfast man – decent, outspoken, combative and with no side to him.”
The South Belfast and Mid Down MP added: “He suffered the trauma and injustice of many lifetimes, brutal treatment by the West Midlands Police, being framed, and suffering torturously long false imprisonment.
“He so often acknowledged the support of those who stood by the Birmingham Six and fought for their release, and was contemptuous of those whose actions had caused his suffering and that of the victims of the Birmingham massacre.
“Paddy channelled his experiences into the MOJO organisation, alongside his great friend Gerry Conlon, and helping others who experienced grave injustices will be their legacy.”