Damning fingerprint evidence links convicted IRA man John Downey to car used in Hyde Park bombing, High Court hears
DAMNING fingerprint evidence links convicted IRA man John Downey to the Hyde Park bombing, a court heard Thursday.
Five prints matching Downey’s were found on two parking tickets bought for the car used in the 1982 atrocity that killed four cavalry soldiers and left 31 others injured.
And one set of “very good quality” prints was pulled from a ticket paid for just four hours before the bomb went off, the court heard. It was used at a hotel car park in Kensington, West London, just a mile away from the scene of the blast.
Downey, 67, stands accused of causing the explosion, which also slaughtered seven cavalry horses.
Details of his alleged ties to the bombing emerged on the second day of a High Court civil trial.
It has been brought by victims’ families and is backed by The Sun’s fundraising campaign, five years after an Old Bailey criminal trial against Downey collapsed.
The prints were on two car park tickets linked to a blue Morris Marina.
The car was packed with 25lbs of mining explosive Frangex and 27.5lbs of 4in and 6in nails and detonated using a walkie-talkie as the horses trotted past.
L/Cpl Jeffrey Young, 19, Lt Anthony Daly, 23, and Trooper Simon Tipper, 19, died in the blast. Squadron Quartermaster Cpl Maj Roy Bright, 36, the standard bearer, died four days later.
Independent fingerprint expert Stephen Hughes said he had “absolutely no questions whatsoever” that the prints matched those taken from Downey on arrest in 2013.
A judgment at the High Court is expected next week.
Downey is on remand at HMP Maghaberry in Northern Ireland facing charges of murdering two Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers.
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