Mick Murray

Michael Joseph Murray, also known as Squire Murray, was a Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer, later named as an organiser of the Birmingham pub bombings, which killed 21 people on 21 November 1974.

Personal life Murray was born in Donnycarney, County Dublin and was educated at Scoil Mhuire, Marino. He ran a pub in Kilbeggan and he joined the IRA in the early 1950s. He was a father of six.

Republican activities

Prior to moving to work in England, Murray had a short spell in prison in Dublin for selling Easter lilies when he was a teenager. This was illegal at the time in the Republic of Ireland as proceeds went to the IRA.

Murray worked in Birmingham as a labourer at a forgings and press factory, while living in Watt Road, Erdington.

The two bombings resulted in the deaths of 21 people - mostly young people. A total of 182 were injured, many seriously. Murray later reportedly told Paddy Hill and Johnny Walker that the phone boxes to be used had been vandalised, requiring the finding of another, some distance away.

He was charged with explosives offenses jointly with Michael Sheehan and James Kelly ( Woods). All three were tried as part of the same trial that convicted the Birmingham Six. The Lord Bridge of Harwich was the presiding judge at the trial of the Birmingham Six, who were accused of bombings in Birmingham in November 1974.