The IRA bomb attack on Aldershot

By Paul H. Vickers, Friends of the Aldershot Military Museum

It was exactly 50 years ago that the Northern Ireland “troubles” were brought into the heart of Aldershot when terrorists from the Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched a murderous attack on the garrison.

At 12.40 pm on 22 February 1972, a bomb consisting of 200 pounds of explosive packed into a light blue Ford Cortina was detonated outside the Officers Mess of 16 Parachute Brigade in Pennefather’s Road, Montgomery Lines. The scene was described by the Aldershot News:

“As a plume of grey-brown smoke shot up into the air, windows of shops in the High Street were shattered by the force of the blast. Within seconds, ambulances and fire tenders were at the scene. And men from nearby barracks whose windows had been blown in had already dashed to the dust-shrouded wreckage to claw at the rubble with their hands to release the trapped victims.

On the scene itself, the square mess building stood a mere skeleton - with a heap of rubble as high as the ground floor spewed out in front of it. Grey concrete dust covered everything and soon the grim-faced rescue workers took on as pale a look with the powder on their faces as the injured they dragged out from the debris.

Pieces of cars - including the one used in the attack - rained down on buildings up to 150 yards away and charred wreckage from the vehicles littered Pennefather’s Road.”

Among the witnesses was Lieutenant Alan Petty, education officer to 3 Para, who said: "A car drew up outside the mess just as those inside were having drinks before lunch. Within seconds of the car being parked there was a terrific explosion. It was full of explosive and just blew up. No one saw where the driver of the car went to.” Major Michael Tarleton was in his office about 200 yards away. He recalled: “We were thrown across the room by the explosion. All the glass fell in and lights went out". After they picked themselves up from the floor he “ran out and saw the debris of the officers’ mess. The building was enveloped in smoke and when this cleared there was a mass of rubble and dust.”

Seven people were killed by the blast and 19 injured, who were taken to the Cambridge Military Hospital for treatment. Of these, two were seriously injured and 11 were kept in hospital overnight.

The 16 Parachute Brigade mess was one of four messes in Pennefather’s Road, and two others also suffered damage. The military police immediately stopped anyone from entering the area, while roadblocks were set up on all routes out of Aldershot and every car leaving the town was searched.

A statement issued by the Official branch of the IRA claimed it was a "successful retaliatory operation" to the “Bloody Sunday” clash between The Parachute Regiment and marchers in Londonderry the previous month, and they claimed “our target was the officers responsible for the Derry outrages”. However, this was patently untrue as none of the victims had any involvement with the events in Londonderry. The dead were Father Gerard Weston, a Roman Catholic Padre; Mr John Charles Hasler, a gardener; and five civilian women mess staff: Mrs Margaret Jean Grant, aged 32; Mrs Joan Violet Lunn, 39; Miss Sheri Christina Munton, 20; Mrs Mary Thelma Bosley, 44; and Miss Jill Cynthia Mansfield, 34. Padre Weston and Mr Hasler were outside the mess when the bomb went off, Padre Weston by his car and Mr Hasler working on the lawn. The five women staff were in the staff common room on the ground floor of the building.

There was revulsion throughout Britain for this cowardly act which had killed seven innocent people. It was condemned in the strongest terms by all parties in the House of Commons, the government of Northern Ireland, and by the Prime Minister and opposition leader in the Irish Republic.

A requiem mass service for Father Weston was held at the Roman Catholic garrison church of St Michael and St Sebastian, before his body was taken to his home town of Crosby for burial. Mary Bosley and Margaret Grant were buried in the Aldershot Military Cemetery, Jill Mansfield in Aldershot Town Cemetery, and Violet Lunn, Sheri Munton and John Hasler were cremated at Aldershot Crematorium. A memorial service for all those who died was held at the Royal Garrison Church of All Saints on Friday 24 March 1972.

The police arrested three men in connection with the attack and on 5 May, amid tight security, they were brought before the Aldershot Magistrates Court to face charges. Noel Jenkinson and Francis Kissane were charged with all seven murders, possession and manufacture of explosives, and various other charges, while Michael Duignan was charged with illegal possession of firearms and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. After further committal proceedings all three men were remanded in custody for trial at Winchester Crown Court.

The trial began on 16 October 1972 and lasted a month. Jenkinson was found guilty of all seven murder charges and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years. Kissane was found not guilty of the murders but guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. Duignan received three and a half years for possession of firearms and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. While in prison, Jenkinson was violently assaulted three times and was moved to a segregation block to protect him from other prisoners. In 1976 he died in prison from a heart attack.

At the time of the attack Montgomery Lines was relatively new, the barracks had been opened in 1965 and so were only seven years old. One of the design principles of the 1960s barracks was to be open, to bring the military and civilian communities closer. Regrettably this allowed the terrorists to drive in and park their car bomb directly outside their target, so one immediate effect on the wider garrison was for fences to be erected around the barracks with controlled access through guarded gates only.

The ruins of the damaged mess building were demolished. It was not rebuilt and the site was turned into a memorial garden, in the centre of which was a plinth bearing a plaque on which were the names of those who died. The area which was Montgomery Lines is now part of the Wellesley housing development, but on the site of the IRA attack a new memorial has been built ensuring that, 50 years later, the seven innocent victims are still remembered.

Credits

Article originally published in the The Garrison, Spring 2022

Copyright © Paul H. Vickers. This article, including the accompanying pictures, may not be reproduced or republished, in whole or in part, either in print or electronically, including on any websites or social media sites, without the prior permission of the author.