1972 Aldershot bombing

On 22 February 1972, a car bomb exploded at the headquarters of the British Army's 16th Parachute Brigade in Aldershot, England. The Official Irish Republican Army (Official IRA) claimed the attack as revenge for Bloody Sunday, which had occurred on 30 January 1972 when soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment shot 28 unarmed civilians during a civil rights march in Derry, killing fourteen. Elements of the 16th Parachute Brigade had been involved in the Bloody Sunday shootings, and the brigade's headquarters was targeted in response.

A hired Ford Cortina containing a 280-pound (130 kg) time bomb was left in the car park, positioned outside the officers' mess. Despite prior warnings, the base had no security or controlled access. The bomb detonated at 12:40 pm, destroying the officers' mess and damaging nearby office buildings. The soldiers who were the intended targets were not present, as the regiment was stationed abroad and most staff officers were in their offices rather than the mess at the time.

Six civilian staff and one army chaplain were killed: five female staff members leaving the premises, a gardener, and Father Gerard Weston, a Roman Catholic priest with the Royal Army Chaplains' Department. Those who died were identified as Weston (38), gardener John Haslar (58), Jill Mansfield (34), Thelma Bosley (44), Margaret Grant (32), Sheri Munton (20), and Joan Lunn (39). Nineteen people were wounded.

On 23 February, the Official IRA issued a statement claiming responsibility, saying civilian casualties were regretted as the intended target was officers responsible for events in Derry, and warning of further attacks on British Army regimental headquarters.

The bombing drew widespread criticism because it had mostly killed civilians, and this was believed to be among the factors that led the Official IRA's leadership to declare a ceasefire on 29 May 1972, stating it would only act in self-defence thereafter. It was the Official IRA's largest attack in Great Britain during the Troubles and one of its last major actions before that ceasefire.

In November 1972, following a 21-day trial at Winchester Crown Court, Noel Jenkinson, a 42-year-old transport manager and Official IRA member, was convicted for his part in the bombing and sentenced to life imprisonment, with the presiding judge recommending he serve at least 30 years. Finbar Kissane and Michael Duignan were convicted of complicity and sentenced to prison terms of 2 years and 2.5 years respectively. Evidence against Jenkinson was linked to his fraudulent hire, with Kissane, of the Ford Cortina used in the bombing, and to a case of gelignite found in his garden shed. Jenkinson died in HMP Leicester in 1976 of heart failure, having recently expressed support for the Provisional IRA, and was buried in Dublin.