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| John Anthony Downey charged over 1982 IRA Hyde Park bombing | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A man has been charged with the murder of four soldiers in the 1982 IRA bombing in Hyde Park, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. | |
| John Anthony Downey, 61, of County Donegal, Ireland has been charged with the murders of Roy John Bright, Dennis Richard Anthony Daly, Simon Andrew Tipper and Geoffrey Vernon Young. | |
| The four members of the Royal Household Cavalry were travelling to Buckingham Palace when they were killed. | The four members of the Royal Household Cavalry were travelling to Buckingham Palace when they were killed. |
| Mr Downey was arrested on Sunday. | Mr Downey was arrested on Sunday. |
| He has also been charged with intending to cause an explosion likely to endanger life and will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday afternoon. | |
| The bomb that Mr Downey is charged with planting was the first of two that caused carnage in London on that day. | |
| The Household Cavalrymen of the Blues and Royals were riding through Hyde Park on their way to the Changing of the Guard when a bomb exploded. | |
| Four men and seven horses were killed and a number of police officers and civilians were injured. | |
| Then less than two hours later, a second explosion in a Regent's Park bandstand killed seven Royal Green Jackets bandsmen. | |
| Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter-terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "The Metropolitan Police Service has been investigating the explosion near Hyde Park in London which occurred on 20 July 1982. | |
| "We have reviewed the evidence gathered and authorised them to charge John Anthony Downey, 61, of County Donegal, Ireland. | |
| "It is alleged that Downey is responsible for the improvised explosive device contained in a car parked in South Carriage Drive, SW1, London, which resulted in the deaths of four members of the Royal Household Cavalry, Blues and Royals, as they travelled on their daily route from their barracks to Buckingham Palace." | |
| In 1987 Northern Ireland electrician Gilbert "Danny" McNamee was charged with making the Hyde Park bomb and jailed for 25 years. | |
| He served 12 years before being freed under the terms of the Good Friday peace deal. | |
| In 1998 his conviction was quashed at the High Court, after a high-profile campaign by celebrities including Eddie Izzard. But although his conviction was "unsafe" it did not follow he was innocent of the crime, the judges said. |