2001 BBC bombing
{{Short description|2001 IRA terrorist attack on the BBC headquarters in London}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox terrorist attack
| title = 4 March 2001 BBC bombing
| partof = the Dissident Irish Republican campaign
| image =
| caption = BBC News coverage revealed the extent of the damage to the front of the building from the bomb.
| location = White City, London, United Kingdom
| coordinates = {{Coord|51.5113|-0.2248|type:event_region:GB-HMF|display=it}}
| target = BBC Television Centre
| date = 4 March 2001
| time-begin = 12:30 am
| time-end =
| timezone = GMT
| type = Car bomb
| fatalities = 0
| injuries = 1
| perps = Noel Maguire, Robert Hulme, Aiden Hulme, James McCormack and John Hannan
}}
{{Campaignbox Dissident Irish Republican Campaign}}
{{Campaignbox Northern Ireland Troubles|state=collapsed}}
The 2001 BBC bombing was a terrorist attack on the BBC's main news centre within BBC Television Centre, on Wood Lane in the White City area of West London.
History
At 12:27 am (0027 UTC) on 4 March 2001, the Real IRA, a dissident Irish republican group, detonated a car bomb outside the BBC's main news centre within BBC Television Centre, on Wood Lane in the White City area of West London.{{Cite news|title=Bomb blast outside BBC |newspaper=BBC News Online |date=4 March 2001|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1201273.stm}}{{Cite news|last=Hoge|first=Warren|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/05/world/bbc-in-london-bombed-outlaw-ira-is-blamed.html|title=BBC in London Bombed; Outlaw I.R.A. Is Blamed|date=2001-03-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-24|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/UK/03/04/britain.blast/|title=CNN.com - Real IRA blamed for BBC blast - March 4, 2001|website=CNN|access-date=2020-03-24}}
Between ten and twenty pounds (approximately 4.5 to 9 kilograms) of high explosives had been placed in a red taxi (erroneously identified in early reports as a black taxi). The taxi was purchased on the morning of 3 March in Edmonton, north London, and abandoned yards from the main front door of BBC Television Centre at 11 pm.{{Cite news|title=BBC bomb prompts terror warning |newspaper=BBC News Online |date=5 March 2001|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1201444.stm}} Police officers were attempting to carry out a controlled explosion on the bomb with a bomb disposal robot when it went off. Staff had already been evacuated after police received a coded warning that had been given to a London hospital and charity one hour before the explosion. There were no fatalities, though one London Underground worker suffered cuts to his eye caused by glass debris.{{Cite news|title=Bomb blast outside BBC |newspaper=BBC News Online |date=4 March 2001|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1200999.stm}}
BBC cameraman Jon Brotherton caught the moment of the explosion and the resulting damage—which included numerous smashed windows in the front entrance—was seen as day broke.{{Cite news|title=In pictures: BBC bomb blast |newspaper=BBC News Online |date=4 March 2001|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1201203.stm}}
Conviction
The bomb was part of a Real IRA bombing campaign which included the Ealing bombing on 2 August 2001 and an attempted bombing in Birmingham city centre on 3 November 2001.{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/real-ira-team-convicted-of-plotting-bbc-bomb-blast-593877.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090809232906/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/real-ira-team-convicted-of-plotting-bbc-bomb-blast-593877.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=9 August 2009 | location=London | work=The Independent | title=Real IRA team convicted of plotting BBC bomb blast | date=9 April 2023}} Later in November, three men—Noel Maguire, Robert Hulme, and his brother Aiden Hulme—were arrested in connection with all three bomb attacks. They were convicted at the Old Bailey on 9 April 2003,{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/real-ira-team-convicted-of-plotting-bbc-bomb-blast-114366.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/real-ira-team-convicted-of-plotting-bbc-bomb-blast-114366.html |archive-date=1 May 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=Real IRA team convicted of plotting BBC bomb blast|date=2003-04-09|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2020-03-24}}{{cbignore}} together with two other men—James McCormack, of County Louth, and John Hannan, of Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, both of whom had already admitted the charge at an earlier hearing.{{Cite news|last=Deans|first=Jason|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/jan/22/broadcasting.bbc1|title=Two plead guilty to BBC bombing|date=2003-01-22|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-24|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} The Hulme brothers were both jailed for 20 years; Maguire, who the judge said played "a major part in the bombing conspiracy", was sentenced to 22 years; McCormack, who the judge said had played the most serious part of the five, also received 22 years; and Hannan, who was 17 at the time of the incidents, was given 16 years' detention.{{Cite news|title=Real IRA bombers jailed |newspaper=BBC News Online |date=9 April 2003|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2930957.stm}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{RIRA/32CSM}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:BBC Bombing}}
Category:Real Irish Republican Army actions
Category:Car and truck bombings in London
Category:March 2001 in the United Kingdom
Category:Terrorist incidents in London in the 2000s
Category:Attacks by Republicans since the Good Friday Agreement
Category:21st century in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Category:Building bombings in London
Category:Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 2001
Category:Car and truck bombings in 2001
Category:2001 building bombings
Category:Attacks on mass media offices in Europe
Category:March 2001 crimes in Europe
Category:Attacks on commercial buildings in the United Kingdom