How top cop snared Brighton bomber with tiny clue hidden on hotel keycard & went on to foil 16 more plots --[Reported by Umva mag]

A TOP cop snared the Brighton bomber with a tiny hidden clue on a hotel keycard – and it foiled 16 more plots. The bombing on October 12, 1984, tore apart the Brighton Grand Hotel. David Tadd (right) has revealed how his team solved the case and found the bomberTimes Newspapers Ltd The Grand Hotel in Brighton was devastated after a bomb attack by the IRA in 1984Getty Then PM Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis were pictured leavingGetty - Contributor The then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher and members of her cabinet were staying at the hotel while the Conservative Party conference took place. Five people were killed in the explosion and another 34 were injured. Patrick Magee, who planted the device, was handed eight life sentences at the Old Bailey in 1986 with a recommendation he serve a minimum of 35 years. He was released in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Now the former head of forensics at Scotland Yard David Tadd has revealed how his team solved the case and found Magee. The Metropolitan Police determined the bomber had put the explosive behind a bath panel in room 629. “We sifted all the rubble, looking for component parts of a device, little bits of wire, bits of batter,” Tadd told The Sunday Times. “We dealt with loads of bomb scenes, so we knew how to do it.” Tadd, along with his team of 12 forensics specialists, studied the hotel cards of hundreds of guests who’d stayed in the room. The registration cards were narrowed down to a fake name – Roy Walsh. Walsh had checked in for three days on September 15, 27 days before the bomb detonated. Tadd, now 77, found a scrap of fingerprint evidence on the card and cross-referenced it with around 200 IRA suspects. On January 17, 1985, he found out the prints matched IRA member Patrick Magee. Magee was arrested along with four others in a Glasgow flat in June. PA:Press AssociationBrighton bomber Patrick Magee leaves the Maze Prison in 1998[/caption] PADebris in Thatcher’s Napoleon suite bathroom on the first floor of the Grand Hotel[/caption] Thatcher returned to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton the morning after the bombingGetty The force discovered further plans to detonate 15 bombs at seaside resorts around Britain. Another bomb had been planted at the Rubens hotel in London, outside Buckingham Palace, and was set to detonate on July 29. Tadd concluded: “Can you imagine the mayhem it would have caused? “They had a go at the prime minister and now they were having a go at the Queen.” It comes after the daughter of an MP murdered in the Brighton bombing said it would make her life easier if the man responsible would state that the IRA’s violence was wrong. Jo Berry, whose father was Sir Anthony Berry, the former Conservative MP for Enfield Southgate, said she had struck up a “very unusual friendship” with Magee. Ms Berry, who was 27 at the time, says she cannot believe that 40 years have passed. She said: “I can still remember the day very well, I can remember the trauma, the horror, the shock, the waiting. “We had to wait until mid-afternoon to get news that they had found my dad’s body. “It was so public and it still is. There is something about terror attacks, they never go away.” She said her father was “one of those MPs who really cared”. “He was well respected on both sides of the chamber,” she said. “He was loved by the people in his constituency, he loved nothing more than meeting people and helping them. “He was very much a family man, very private man who loved nothing more than having his six children be with him. “He was a wonderful dad.” SuppliedMagee and Jo Berry, who lost her father Anthony Berry (MP) in the bombing[/caption]

Oct 13, 2024 - 12:18
How top cop snared Brighton bomber with tiny clue hidden on hotel keycard & went on to foil 16 more plots --[Reported by Umva mag]

A TOP cop snared the Brighton bomber with a tiny hidden clue on a hotel keycard – and it foiled 16 more plots.

The bombing on October 12, 1984, tore apart the Brighton Grand Hotel.

two men holding a certificate that says highly commanded
David Tadd (right) has revealed how his team solved the case and found the bomber
Times Newspapers Ltd
a black and white photo of a building with the word craig on it
The Grand Hotel in Brighton was devastated after a bomb attack by the IRA in 1984
Getty
a black and white photo of a man and woman in a car
Then PM Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis were pictured leaving
Getty - Contributor

The then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher and members of her cabinet were staying at the hotel while the Conservative Party conference took place.

Five people were killed in the explosion and another 34 were injured.

Patrick Magee, who planted the device, was handed eight life sentences at the Old Bailey in 1986 with a recommendation he serve a minimum of 35 years.

He was released in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Now the former head of forensics at Scotland Yard David Tadd has revealed how his team solved the case and found Magee.

The Metropolitan Police determined the bomber had put the explosive behind a bath panel in room 629.

“We sifted all the rubble, looking for component parts of a device, little bits of wire, bits of batter,” Tadd told The Sunday Times.

“We dealt with loads of bomb scenes, so we knew how to do it.”

Tadd, along with his team of 12 forensics specialists, studied the hotel cards of hundreds of guests who’d stayed in the room.

The registration cards were narrowed down to a fake name – Roy Walsh.

Walsh had checked in for three days on September 15, 27 days before the bomb detonated.

Tadd, now 77, found a scrap of fingerprint evidence on the card and cross-referenced it with around 200 IRA suspects.

On January 17, 1985, he found out the prints matched IRA member Patrick Magee.

Magee was arrested along with four others in a Glasgow flat in June.

a man wearing a shirt that says legend stands behind a metal fence
PA:Press Association
Brighton bomber Patrick Magee leaves the Maze Prison in 1998[/caption]
a black and white photo of a bathroom with a toilet and sink
PA
Debris in Thatcher’s Napoleon suite bathroom on the first floor of the Grand Hotel[/caption]
a man and woman are waving in front of a sign that says win thru
Thatcher returned to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton the morning after the bombing
Getty

The force discovered further plans to detonate 15 bombs at seaside resorts around Britain.

Another bomb had been planted at the Rubens hotel in London, outside Buckingham Palace, and was set to detonate on July 29.

Tadd concluded: “Can you imagine the mayhem it would have caused?

“They had a go at the prime minister and now they were having a go at the Queen.”

It comes after the daughter of an MP murdered in the Brighton bombing said it would make her life easier if the man responsible would state that the IRA’s violence was wrong.

Jo Berry, whose father was Sir Anthony Berry, the former Conservative MP for Enfield Southgate, said she had struck up a “very unusual friendship” with Magee.

Ms Berry, who was 27 at the time, says she cannot believe that 40 years have passed.

She said: “I can still remember the day very well, I can remember the trauma, the horror, the shock, the waiting.

“We had to wait until mid-afternoon to get news that they had found my dad’s body.

“It was so public and it still is. There is something about terror attacks, they never go away.”

She said her father was “one of those MPs who really cared”.

“He was well respected on both sides of the chamber,” she said.

“He was loved by the people in his constituency, he loved nothing more than meeting people and helping them.

“He was very much a family man, very private man who loved nothing more than having his six children be with him.

“He was a wonderful dad.”

a man with glasses and a beard sits next to a woman
Supplied
Magee and Jo Berry, who lost her father Anthony Berry (MP) in the bombing[/caption]




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