West Ham station attack

{{Infobox terrorist attack

|partof=the Troubles

|title=West Ham station attack

|image=West Ham station - geograph.org.uk - 646671.jpg

|caption=A platform at the station in 1986

|location=West Ham, London, United Kingdom

|target=

|date=15 March 1976

|time=4:45 pm

|timezone=UTC

|type=Bombing and shooting

|fatalities= 1

|injuries=9

|perp=Adrian Vincent Donnelly (Provisional IRA)

}}

{{Campaignbox The Troubles in Britain and Europe|state=collapsed}}

The West Ham station attack was a bombing and shooting attack at West Ham station in east London on 15 March 1976. A {{cvt|5|lb|kg|lk=in}} bomb on a Metropolitan line train exploded prematurely in the front carriage of the train, injuring seven passengers. The bomb detonated prior to reaching the City of London, where it was thought the intended target was Liverpool Street station at rush hour.Murders of London: In the Steps of the Capital's Killers by David Long, 2012, p. 36.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/36302066/|title=The Ogden Standard-Examiner from Ogden, Utah on March 17, 1976 · Page 4|work=Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-05-16|language=en}} Adrian Vincent Donnelly, a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) member, then shot Post Office engineer Peter Chalk in the chest, and killed train driver Joseph Stephen, who had attempted to catch him.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/15/newsid_2543000/2543605.stm |title=1976: Tube driver shot dead |website=BBC On This Day |year=2008 |access-date=11 November 2017 }} Donnelly exited the station to the street and threatened people with his revolver before PC Raymond Kiff caught up with him. Shouting "You English bastards!", Donnelly shot himself in the chest, but he survived and was apprehended by Kiff.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/50138756/|title=The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, on March 17, 1976 · Page 18|work=Newspapers.com|access-date=2018-05-16|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0uQaDQAAQBAJ&dq=julius+stephen&pg=PT93|title=The Railway Policeman's Casebook|last=Stacpoole-Ryding|first=Richard|date=2016-09-15|publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited|isbn=9781445656472|language=en}}

Perpetrator

Adrian Vincent Donnelly, 36 at the time, was originally from Castlefin, County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland but lived in London from 1971.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} He was part of an active service unit involved in planting 16 bombs. In 1977 at the Old Bailey, he was convicted of murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by Mr Justice Croom-Johnson with a minimum of 30 years.{{cite web|url=http://www.blackkalendar.nl/content.php?key=21487|website=Black Kalendar|title=Adrian Vincent Donnelly jail sentence|access-date=11 November 2017}} He was released after 21 years in August 1998 as one of the earliest beneficiaries of the Good Friday Agreement's prisoner release scheme.{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/northern_ireland/latest_news/143446.stm|title=BBC News {{!}} Latest News {{!}} The freed prisoners|website=news.bbc.co.uk|access-date=2018-05-16}} He died on 25 August 2019.{{Cite web |title='He died happy things had changed' - brother of IRA's Tube bomber |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/herald/news/he-died-happy-things-had-changed-brother-of-iras-tube-bomber-38447044.html |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=independent |date=29 August 2019 |language=en}}

Aftermath

Eleven days prior, an IRA bomb had exploded in a train at Cannon Street station. The day after the West Ham attack, a bomb on a train at Wood Green tube station exploded, injuring a man.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nickcooper.org.uk/subterra/lu/luterror.htm|title=Terrorist Attacks on the London Underground|website=www.nickcooper.org.uk|access-date=2018-05-16}} On 17 March, a {{cvt|9|lb|kg}} bomb was discovered in a train at Neasden Depot.{{cite news |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS34438770/TTDA?u=kccl&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=073dc4eb |last=Borrell |first=Clive |work=The Times |title=Armed police to travel on Tube |date=18 March 1976 |issue=59656 |page=2 |access-date=22 January 2022}} After these events, London Transport launched a security operation and assigned 1,000 plainclothed policemen on the London Underground system.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/19/archives/1000-1olicemen-assigned-to-londons-subway-after-ombings.html|title=1,000 Policemen Assigned to London's Subway After Bombings|last=Weinraub|first=Bernard|date=1976-03-19|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-05-16|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

An appeal to raise money was launched for the family of the driver of the train, Joseph Stephen, who left behind a widow and a family. £17,000 had been raised by August 1976.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VjmwDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22julius+stephen%22+west+indian&pg=PA376|title=London: Bombed Blitzed and Blown Up: The British Capital Under Attack Since 1867|last=Jones|first=Ian|date=2016-10-31|publisher=Frontline Books|isbn=9781473878990|language=en}}