Northern Ireland’s Gerry Adams tells bombings trial he was never in IRA

Gerry Adams, one of Northern Ireland’s most prominent political figures, told London’s High Court on Tuesday he had never been a member of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army but said he would not distance himself from the group.

The ex-leader of Sinn Fein, formerly the IRA’s political wing ‌and now the largest party in the Northern Irish Assembly, became the best-known face of the movement seeking to end British rule in Northern Ireland.

He later reinvented himself as a peacemaker after helping secure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended three decades of sectarian conflict known as the Troubles, in which some 3,600 people were killed.

He is being sued in a civil case by three people injured in three bombings: one at London’s ‌Old Bailey court in 1973, the Provisional IRA’s first on the British mainland, and two 1996 blasts, targeting London’s Docklands and Manchester.

They are seeking a finding on the balance of probabilities that Adams is ‌personally liable for the bombings as a senior member of the Provisional IRA and later its powerful ⁠Army Council.

The 77-year-old told the court ⁠that he was never involved in the paramilitary group. He added: “I’m glad that there is a peace process but I don’t distance myself from the IRA.”