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This clip opens with a shot of the Maguire family home at Third Avenue in London.
It was here that the group of people who came to be known as the Maguire Seven (please see below for context) were arrested.

Gavin Esler states that the Maguires seemed unlikely terrorists. Patrick (the son) was only 13 years old and Patrick (the father) was a member of the local Conservative club. The family had been in England for 20 years.

Giuseppe Conlon was in the Maguires’ home by accident. He had travelled to London from his home in Belfast out of concern for his son, Gerry Conlon; Gerry had been arrested in connection with the Guildford and Woolwich pub bombs. Giuseppe had planned to stay with his brother-in-law, Hugh Maguire. Unbeknownst to Giuseppe, Hugh had also been arrested and was being held at Guildford Police Station. Giuseppe then had to turn to his sister Anne and brother-in-law Patrick Maguire for accommodation.

Hugh Maguire was held for a week by police and set free. He tells Gavin Esler that he was sure that his relatives would also be set free in a week, yet at the time of recording they had been in custody for five years.

Gavin Esler also hears from the Conlons’ solicitor, Ted Jones. Speaking from his office in Belfast, Mr Jones states that he wasn’t surprised when Giuseppe was arrested – given the fact he was Irish and his son Gerry was already under arrest. Mr. Jones was very surprised when Giuseppe was charged and convicted.

CONTEXT
On 5 October 1974 the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) targeted Guildford, Surrey, because it was situated close to a number of garrison towns. The PIRA planted two six-pound gelignite bombs in two pubs. The first exploded just before 9.00pm in the Horse and Groom, destroying the front of the building and shattering the windows of neighbouring shops.

It killed Paul Craig, a plasterer (22 years old); two members of the Scots Guards, William Forsyth (18) and John Hunter (17); and two members of the Women’s Royal Army Corps, Caroline Jean Slater (18) and Ann Ray Hamilton (19). A further sixty-five persons were wounded.

After the first explosion, other public houses were evacuated, including the Seven Stars where the second bomb exploded at approximately 9.35 p.m. without causing any serious injuries.

On November 7 1974 Gunner Richard Dunne, a soldier (42) and Alan Horsley, a sales clerk (20) were killed when a PIRA bomb exploded in the King’s Arms in Woolwich. Twenty-six people, including five soldiers, were injured.

In December 1974 the police arrested three men and a woman: Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill, Patrick Armstrong and Carole Richardson. In October 1975 these four were convicted of the Guildford and Woolwich bombings and given life sentences. The group was known as the Guildford Four.

On 4 March 1976 the Maguire Seven were convicted of making the explosives used in these bombings. The Maguire Seven were: - Anne Maguire, Patrick Maguire (Anne’s husband), Patrick Maguire (son of Anne and Patrick), Vincent Maguire (son of Anne and Patrick), Sean Smyth (brother of Anne), Patrick O’Neill (family friend) and Giuseppe Conlon (brother-in-law of Anne Maguire and father of Gerry Conlon).

Over the years, the cases of the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven came under increasing legal scrutiny and the range of those seeking a review of the convictions extended widely. On 17 October 1989 it was announced that corruption proceedings would be taken against the police involved in the conviction of the Guildford Four. Two days later, with the exception of Paul Hill, those convicted for the bombings were released. This followed an announcement by the Director of Public Prosecutions that it would be wrong for the Crown ‘to seek to sustain’ the convictions of 1975 on the basis of confessions that they had later retracted. The Court of Appeal had decided that the DPP in 1975 had suppressed scientific evidence which conflicted with the confessions. Paul Hill remained in custody because he was implicated in a case that had not yet been resolved. His conviction was eventually quashed in April 1994.

On 26 June 1991 the Court of Appeal overturned the sentences on the Maguire Seven. All of them had completed their sentences. Afterwards many criticised the court for dismissing most of the grounds of appeal and had simply concluded that the hands of the convicted could have been innocently contaminated with nitro-glycerine.

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