- January 12
- Thousands of people strike and march against the
Industrial Relations Bill. The home of Robert Carr, Minister of
Employment, in Hadley Green Road, Barnet, is bombed. First explosion
is at 10:05 pm, the second at 10:20 pm. The action is claimed by the
Angry Brigade.
"One man the police particularly want... is a Scot in his twenties who
is suspected of being involved in the bomb attack at the Iberia
Airlines office in London last August. This man was believed to be in
Paris yesterday." (The Times)
The hunt for Stuart Christie as a likely `candidate for outrage' was
on. His history as an anarchist and his involvement with the movement
in Spain made him a superb candidate for a fit-up.
Police searches extend over the whole of the London area. A number of
people were dragged up to Barnet Police Station for
questioning. "Special Branch were watching members of a group believed
to be connected with the ex-plosions". All those questioned at Barnet
in the early part of the week were released, apart from a man and a
woman who were handed over to the police in other parts of London in
connection with other offences.
In the week after the Carr bomb a police guard was provided for
Justice Melford Stevenson after he had received a phone call saying
that a bomb was to be placed at his house. This was Melford the
hanging judge who was to sentence Jake Prescott to 15 years.
Secret orders have been issued to police and security guards that
members of the organisation must be flushed out as a matter of top
priority. An undercover squad of Special Branch officers has been
formed to pursue full-time investigation into the group.
Full-time guards have been placed on Cabinet Ministers. These are
angry times... Peter Walker (environment Minister), Melford Stevenson,
Tory MP Hugh Fraser, Tory Prime Minister Heath and many others have
received threatening calls. A communique sent to the
Express newspaper says:
"THE ANGRY BRIGADE IS AFTER HEATH NOW. WE'RE GETTING CLOSER".
- January 18
- Glasgow South African Airways office firebombed.
- January 19
- Jake Prescott was arrested on a cheque charge in
Notting Hill. On January 20 he appeared in Marylebone Court, where he
was questioned by Habershon. In the time he was inside on remand, he
was put in cells with Messrs A, B and C. Habershon had an interview
with Mr A at Camberwell Court, which he took up again on February
9. Mr A made a statement that Jake "had admitted the bombings at the
DEP, Carr's home and the Miss World Contest"... Very convenient! But
unfortunately for Habershon, the jury at Jake's trial were not
prepared to believe the police witness (perhaps they had in mind the
£10,000 reward that had been offered by the Daily Mirror for police
informants)... This part of the police evidence was rejected as
a frame-up.
At this time the police were being given full rein to do what they
liked. In the midst of the hysteria that was generated by the idea
that the opposition might be armed, in the midst of the fear that came
after a cabinet minister had his front door blown off, a manhunt was
taking place `leaving no stone unturned'. Stuart Christie was
particularly a victim of this. The London evening newspapers were
trumpeting from day to day about the `young Scottish anarchist
recently returned from Spain' whom they had branded as the most
likely... people were disappearing off the streets for questioning.
The police visit offices of leading newspapers and take photographers
off to Barnet to identify people from the photos that were taken
outside Carr's house on the night of the January 12 bombing.
On February 3 Jake Prescott was released on bail. Ian Purdie was in
court at the time, as he had been for Jake's previous remands. Then,
on February 11, Jake and a Dutch friend were seized from a pub in
North London and dragged off to Barnet. They were refused any access
to lawyers for two days. Jake was interrogated by Habershon and Allard
for hours. On February 12 Jake's defence counsel began preparations
for a writ of habeas corpus on the police, which would require them to
either charge Jake or release him. On February 13 Jan Oudenaarden, the
Dutchman, was released after "the most frightening experience of my
life". Jake however was not released. He was charged with causing an
explosion at Carr's home and those at the DEP and the Miss World
contest.
Jake and Jan had been `detained for questioning' for 3 days. In the
court at Barnet, Habershon is challenged to produce `grounds for
arrest' and is threatened with legal action. It is claimed that he had
tried to persuade Jake to change his lawyer -- presumably to one who
would not cause trouble for the police...
- January 25
- Home of the Lord Provost of Glasgow bombed.
- January 27
- Communique 5 received by the Press Association. The
police were forced to admit that earlier bombings (which they had
covered up) had taken place. The police, however, imposed a press
blackout on the course of the investigations. At the same time the
Daily Mirror offers a £10,000 reward to anybody giving
information leading to a conviction.
- January 29
- The Times reports: "Scotland Yard and security
officials are becoming increasingly embarrassed and annoyed by the
activities of the Angry Brigade, who cannot now be dismissed as a
group of cranks. Some senior officers credit the group with a degree
of professional skill that has seldom been experienced".
In the weeks
after the Carr bombing, the Barnet Brigade, headed by Roy Habershon
(explosives expert), Commander Bond and Commander Dace, thundered all
over London with squad cars, dogs, photographers, raiding houses of
'known left wing extremists'. Their concern (as was clear from the
number of address books, magazines, letters, etc that they took) was
to draw up a picture of the extra- parliamentary left, whose
activities they were now forced to take seriously, and whose
structures they were more or less ignorant of. These were raids of the
political police in action.
The raids included:
- January 29
- The Evening News reports that: "... in
the latest report of HM Inspector of Explosives, `there was again a
substantial increase in the number of cases involving homemade
devices. There is evidence of the increasing use of such devices in
the furtherance of political activities' ".
- January 30
- Slough Conservative Office firebombed.
- February 3
- Jake Prescott is released on bail and yet is arrested
on the 11th. He is interrogated, denied access to a lawyer for three
days, and is accused of the attacks on Carr's home and the BBC van.
- February 9
- The Jersey home of a local managing director
firebombed.
- February 11
- The house in Grosvenor Avenue, Islington, where Jake
Prescott had been staying, is raided by the police. The house is
searched for explosives. Diaries, address books, newspapers and other
articles are taken away, despite protests that this does not come into
the terms of the police warrants. Press reports now make Grosvenor
Avenue the centre of the conspiracy. The nearest thing they can
find...
- February 11
- Earlier in the day Habershon and his gang had
disrupted the trial of the people who were involved in the
demonstration at the Miss World contest in November 1970. They removed
by force four of the defence witnesses who were due to give evidence
in the trial. They were taken off to Barnet, where they were
questioned and denied all access to legal representation. Habershon
comes forth in true democratic light when he says "I am not concerned
with legal niceties". Charges are brought against Scotland Yard for
assault (of those dragged away from Bow Street) and for wrongful
arrest and imprisonment. The Special Branch were present at the Miss
World trial.
- February 13
- Searches at the homes of Hilary Creek, John Barker,
Kate McLean, Chris Allen and others in a hunt for explosives. Jake
Prescott is charged with conspiracy to cause explosions between July
30 1970 and December 1971, and with the specific bombings of Carr's
home, the Dept of Employment and the Miss World contest.
- February 15
- Cannock Street is raided again.
- February 19
- Habershon goes to Edinburgh. Two houses are raided
and Jane and Chris Allen are questioned. The same day The Times prints
Communique 6 from the Angry Brigade. There was also a telephone call
from an Angry Brigade spokesman to the Havering Recorder in Essex,
saying that from Saturday next a campaign of violence would be
conducted against Conservative Party policies in South Africa.
- THE RAIDS CONTINUE
- February 20
- Mike Kane's house is raided.
- March 5
- House in Talbot Road, Notting Hill raided.
- March 6
- 12 midnight, house in Tyneham Road, SW11, raided. Ian
Purdie was there and was arrested. Habershon said at Barnet that "the
raid was to find explosives and Ian Purdie. They are synonymous as far
as I am concerned." He admitted in court that he had ordered Ian to be
arrested for questioning, which is illegal.
- March 7
- Ian Purdie is charged, along with Jake Prescott, accused
of the two Angry Brigade bombings. They are both in the top security
wing at Brixton Prison -- as class A prisoners -- and are kept in
their cells for 23 hours a day.
- March 10
- The Guardian reports on police excesses in
their investigations.
- March 18
- During a major strike of Ford workers in England the
main offices of the Ford Motor Company at Gants Hill, Ilford, on the
outskirts of London, is wrecked by a powerful explosion. A thousand
word communique (Communique no 7) is delivered shortly after.
... A man walks into a London bank and demands £5,000 with the
threat of a bomb that he had with him (a biscuit tin full of coal).
- The bomb at Fords on March 18 sparks off another wave of raids:
- March 20
- House in Notting Hill raided. Defence documents seized.
- March 23
- Grosvenor Avenue raided for the second time. Dogs and
ten pigs.
- March 24
- Two houses in East London raided. First, Ron Bailey's
with explosives warrant -- impression of typewriter taken. Second,
Digger Walsh's with explosives warrant, by Cremer and Bentley.
- April 1
- Two houses in Notting Hill raided. More defence files for
the Powis Square trial are seized.
Throughout the period since their arrest, Ian and Jake have been kept
in solitary in Brixton Prison, allowed out for only one hour each
day. Their defence lawyers can only gain access to them after
bargaining with Habershon. When the defence counsel asks for evidence
of arrests to be produced, he is told this can't be done without the
permission of the Attorney General. In addition £10,000 bail for
each of the defendants is refused by the magistrate at Barnet.
- April 1
- The home of the headmaster of Roydale School is
firebombed.
- April 5
- Arson attempt at Gosport Tory Club. (Evening
Standard says "this is the latest in a series of incidents
involving this club in the last six months.")
- April 5
- Bomb left in Leicester Square.
- April 22
- Committal proceedings for Jake and Ian start at Barnet
Court. The committal is to decide whether or not the magistrate feels
there is enough evidence against the two of them for a trial to be set
at the Old Bailey. There is no doubt that he will find so, but
nevertheless proceedings proceed... interminably... until May 27. Jake
had been presented (April 15) with three more charges: having
conspired with Ian to cause explosions `with others' between July 1970
and March 1971 and having actually caused the Miss World and DEP
bombings.
- April 22
- Arson at Whitechapel Barclays Bank.
- April 23
- Booby trap incendiary envelope posted to MP at House of
Commons.
- April 24
- Second police raid in Wivenhoe, Essex. Charges:
possession of drugs -- shown photos of Jim Greenfield and Anna
Mendelson and 2 others.
- April 26
- 3rd raid on Cannock Street. Chris arrested on cheques
charges.
- April 28
- The Times receives a liquid bomb through
the post. It had a message: "From the Vengeance Squad, the Angry
Brigade, The People's Army. We will use these. Many of them in June
and July. Revolution now."
- April 29
- Sabotage at Nuclear Power Station, Berkeley, Gloucester
(3rd such incident within three months).
- April/May
- The IS printers had an intimidating visit, asking about
women's newspaper. Raids on IS members in London.
- May 1
- Mayday, a bomb explodes in the Biba boutique in trendy
Kensington. It was accompanied by Communique
8.
- May 4
- Bomb found strapped to the underside of Lady Beaverbrook's
car. Inquiries range through Kent, Essex and Oxfordshire.
- May 4
- Four home-made bombs found near the Sidcup and Chislehurst
Grammar School, where Prime Minister Heath received the Freedom of
Bexley on Friday.
- May 22
- Bomb attack on Scotland Yard Computer Room at Tintagel
House, London. This is accompanied by simultaneous attacks by the
Angry Brigade, the International Solidarity Movement, and the Marius
Jacob group against British Rail, Rolls Royce and Rover offices in
Paris.
- May
- Harris Gleckman, Alan Barlow, and Smith raided for the second
time at Agitprop, Muswell Hill.
- June 1
- A letter is sent to The Times: "If Heath and
Rippon contrive to enter the Common Market without seeking the opinion
of the British people they will be on the receiving end of a
bullet. This is no idle threat. Signed: The Angry Brigade."
- July 22
- During a dispute between Ford management and the militant
shop steward John Dillon, in the Ford Liverpool plant, the Angry
Brigade blow up the home of Ford's managing director, William Batty,
in Essex. The same night a bomb damages a transformer at the Dagenham
plant of the Ford Motor Company.
By this time Scotland Yard is hopping mad. Sir John Waldron holds a
conference there, where senior police officers are told of the order
that has come from the Prime Minister, via Home Secretary Maudling,
that "The Angry Brigade must be found and smashed"... "We have been
ordered to treat the Angry Brigade as Public Enemy Number 1. This is a
top priority job."
In the words of the Sunday Telegraph:
"YARD WILL GET THE ANGRY BRIGADE.... A special team of 20 hand-picked
detectives from the Flying Squad and Special Branch, working with army
bomb disposal experts and Home Office scientists. Their leader, a
commander, whose name is being kept secret for his own safety... is
known as rough and ready... The squad is taking a tough line. It will
raid hippy communes, question avowed members of the `underground' and
build up a complete file on the sub-culture that threatens the present
social order."
- July 19
- Factory at Dordan damaged by several fires started by
incendiary devices.
- July 25
- Intimidation of a claimant in North London when police
with explosives warrant smash door in.
- July 26
- Ian Purdie refused bail of £17,500 by Melford
Stevenson.
- July 31
- Despite close police protection in the home of the
Secretary for Trade and Industry, John Davies, is badly damaged by a
powerful explosion in London. This action followed close on Davies'
announcement of his intention to close Upper Clyde Shipbuilders,
throwing thousands of men out of work. This is accompanied by the 11th Communique from the Angry Brigade.
- August 2
- Two houses in Essex searched with explosives
warrant. Judge Argyll of the OZ trial is threatened in his
Midlands home.
The trial date for Jake Prescott and Ian Purdie is set for September
7, and now the police's concern is to do everything possible to wreck
and intimidate any support action that might be planned for
them. Various houses are raided and material and addresses related to
the Ian and Jake defence is seized. One of the places raided was the
Agitprop collective in Bethnal Green, London, where
material was seized .
- August 15
- More raids: Hungerford Road, Dave Garfinkel taken for
questioning. Beresford Terrace, N5 -- documents seized. Crystal Palace
-- Sally Keith's house, floorboards ripped up.
- August 15
- Following the announcement by the British Government
that internment was to be introduced in Ireland, there was a powerful
explosion at the Army recruiting centre in Holloway Road, North
London. This was accompanied by a Communique signed `Angry Brigade
Moonlighters Cell'.
- August 16
- Agitprop, Bethnal Green again raided with
explosives warrant.
- August 17
- Wilson and Habershon raid house in Talbot Road, Notting
Hill, with warrant for stolen goods.
- August 21
- House in Amhurst Road, London, raided by Special Branch
and CID. Jim Greenfield, Anna Mendelson, John Barker and Hilary Creek
are arrested. The four are taken to the `Bomb Squad' HQ in Albany
Street, London, where the two men are subjected to a brutal beating-up
to extract a confession from them.
- August 21
- Stuart Christie arrested at Amhurst Road, London, while
visiting the house. One hour later Chris Bott is also arrested at the
same place. Both are taken to join the others at Albany Street Police
Station. Incriminating evidence in the form of two detonators is
planted by police officers in Christie's car. Both men are also
verballed.
- August 23
- All are charged at Albany Street Police Station with:
- Conspiring to cause explosions between January 1 1968 and August
21 1971.
- Possessing explosive substances for an unlawful purpose.
- Possessing a pistol without a firearms certificate.
- Possessing eight rounds of ammunition without a firearms
certificate.
- Possessing two machine guns without the authority of the Secretary
of State.
- Possessing 36 rounds of ammunition without a firearms certificate.
- Jim: attempting to cause an explosion in May 1970.
- Anna and Jim: attempting to cause an explosion in Manchester,
October 1970.
- Stuart: possessing one round of ammunition without a firearm
certificate. (This was dated back 2 years when a bullet was taken from
his flat. No charges were preferred against him at the time.)
- John, Jim and Stuart: possessing explosive substances.
- Jim, John and Hilary: receiving stolen vehicle.
- Stuart: possessing explosive substances. (The two detonators
planted by the police). All are refused bail and remanded in custody
to await trial.
- August 29
- Military wing of Edinburgh Castle bombed.
- September 10
- Ipswich Courthouse bombed.
- September 16
- Bomb discovered in officers' mess inside Dartmoor
prison. (News not released for two weeks).
- September 20
- Support of Chelsea Bridge opposite army barracks
bombed. (Blast heard three miles away.)
- September 24
- Despite the fact that the police claim to have
arrested all the Angry Brigade, the Albany Street Army Barracks (near
the Bomb Squad HQ) is bombed by the Angry Brigade in protest against
the actions of the British Army in Northern Ireland.
- October 15
- Maryhill Barracks Army HQ, Glasgow, firebombed.
- October 20
- Home of Bryant, Birmingham building boss, bombed while
his workers are on strike. Communique issued by the Angry Brigade.
- October 30
- Post Office Tower in London is bombed by the Angry
Brigade.
- October 30
- 'The Cunning Man' Pub, Reading, which refused to serve
workers from the M4 site, bombed.
- November 1
- Army Tank HQ in Everton Street, London, bombed by the
Angry Brigade.
- November 6
- Amsterdam: attack against Lloyds Bank; Basle: Italian
Consulate attacked; Rome: British Embassy attacked; Barcelona: British
Embassy attacked. All in support of the `Stoke Newington Eight' and
the Italian anarchists imprisoned on trumped-up charges of
'conspiracy' and subversion.
- November 11
- Haverstock Street, Islington, raided. Angie Weir
arrested, taken to Albany Street and charged with conspiracy to cause
explosions.
- November 17
- 89 Talbot Road raided: Chris Allen ends up similarly
charged.
- November 26
- Pauline Conroy arrested in her flat in Powis Square
and charged.
- November 29
- Broadstairs Courthouse firebombed.
- December 1
- Trial of Ian Purdie and Jake Prescott ends. Ian
Purdie found not guilty on all charges. Jake Prescott found not guilty
of specific bombings, but guilty of conspiracy to cause bombings on
the basis of having written three envelopes, and was sentenced to
fifteen years.
- December 15
- Jordanian Ambassador, London, machine-gunned in his
car.
- December 18
- Kate McLean arrested and charged along with Angela
Weir, Chris Allen and Pauline Conroy, who had been arrested during the
course of November. of having conspired with the six people already
arrested on conspiracy charges. Shortly before the opening of
Committal proceedings against the ten militants, Attorney General, Sir
Peter Rawlinson, the victim of one of the Angry Brigade attacks,
decided there was insufficient evidence for a case to be made against
Pauline Conroy and Chris Allen, and they were released from custody.
1970
Chronology
1972
Contents