The Grand Hotel

Brighton front from the pier looking towards the Grand Hotel.
Here in October 1984 the IRA came close to killing Margaret Thatcher.Five people died and 34 were injured. Those killed were Anthony Berry MP, Roberta Wakeham, Eric Taylor, Muriel Maclean and Jeanne Shattock. It was the most dangerous plot against a government in England since 1605. Then Guy Fawkes and others were executed for treason. We are so much more civilised. The Irish bomber was sentenced to 35 years increased to his whole life by Michael Howard. Along comes Blair with his Good Friday Agreement and its supply of "Get out of jail free" cards. So after a mere 14 years of jail this murderer walks free and so he remains. What happened to justice? The people of Northern Ireland prefer peace to justice, being too tired of violence.


The BBC reports, The bomber, Patrick Magee, was trapped by fingerprints left during his stay at the Grand.
Sentenced to eight life sentences in 1986, but released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement 14 years later, he recently said: "I stand by my actions."

"I was aware of flying through the air and then falling down," says conference organiser Harvey Thomas.
He was buried under 10 tons of rubble, with water pouring down on him from smashed storage tanks.

"I had no doubt at all that I was going to die for the first few moments," Mr Thomas says. With his wife heavily pregnant he thought he would never see his first child.

As it became more difficult to breathe, firemen heard his cries and he was pulled free with minor injuries.

Harvey Thomas, a committed Christian, is now friends with the bomber. "I wrote to Magee and said I wanted to forgive him, but I was not speaking for everyone else."
It took Mr Thomas 14 years to reach that stage and the pair first met two years later.

"It was awkward for him I think, but not for me because once you decide to forgive you no longer have the anger."

Harvey T is a gracious Christian.He takes seriously the command to forgive your enemies.However, no unrepentant person is forgiven by God and this Irish murderer in unrepentant. His day of jugdement will come. It is given to man once to die and after that .....