McGurk's Bar bombing

On the evening of Saturday 4 December 1971, a bomb exploded at McGurk's Bar (formally the Tramore Bar), a two-storey public house on the corner of North Queen Street and Great George's Street in the New Lodge area of Belfast. The pub, owned by Patrick and Philomena McGurk, was frequented mainly by Irish Catholic nationalists. The blast caused the building to collapse, killing fifteen Catholic civilians—including two children—and wounding a further seventeen. It remains the deadliest single attack in Belfast during the Troubles. Among the dead were Philomena McGurk and her 14-year-old daughter Maria; pub owner Patrick McGurk and his three sons were seriously injured.

The bombing was carried out by a four-man Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) team who, according to the only person convicted, Robert Campbell, had originally intended to target a different pub, "The Gem," reportedly linked to the Official IRA, but turned to McGurk's after finding security guards outside their intended target.

In the aftermath, British security forces promoted the theory that the bomb had been an IRA device that exploded prematurely inside the pub—an "own goal"—despite eyewitness testimony, including from an 8-year-old boy, describing men leaving a package outside the pub before fleeing in a car. Various anonymous and pseudonymous claims of responsibility, including from a group calling itself the "Empire Loyalists" and a letter purportedly from the UVF's "Chief of Staff," complicated the investigation. Both wings of the IRA denied responsibility and blamed the UVF and security forces.

In March 1976, the RUC received intelligence linking Robert Campbell and four others to the bombing. Campbell was arrested on 27 July 1977, admitted his part during interviews at Castlereagh RUC base, but refused to name others involved. He was charged on 29 July 1977 with 15 murders and 17 attempted murders, and pleaded guilty on 6 September 1978. He received a life sentence with a recommendation to serve no less than 20 years, partly reflecting a separate conviction for the murder of a Protestant delivery driver in 1976. He served fifteen years and was released on 9 September 1993. He remains the only person charged in connection with the bombing.

Victims' relatives campaigned for decades for an independent investigation, believing the RUC probe was flawed and that the "own goal" narrative was used to discredit the IRA and avoid acknowledging loyalist violence. On 21 February 2011, the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland published a report finding no evidence that the RUC assisted the bombers, but concluding that the RUC investigation had been biased toward the view that the IRA was responsible, and that this bias hindered the inquiry. The report also found that RUC briefings to government and media were "selective" and "misleading." A memorial was erected at the bombing site for its 30th anniversary in 2001. Patrick McGurk died on 15 December 2007; family members said he had forgiven the bombers.