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Pictured: Strolling in the sunshine, the IRA Brighton bomber



The man who came within inches of murdering Margaret Thatcher was back in England yesterday – just two days after her funeral.

Brighton bomber Patrick Magee, 61, who was given eight life sentences for killing five prominent Tories, now travels around the world lecturing on peace and reconciliation.

Yesterday he made a speech on the subject at the University of Huddersfield where, remarkably, he insisted he was ‘not a violent person’.

Magee was freed from jail in 1999 as part of the Good Friday Agreement after serving just 14 years behind bars.

But he has never apologised for trying to wipe out Mrs Thatcher and her Cabinet during the Tory party conference in 1984.

Following her death, he has declined to answer any questions about his role in one of Britain’s worst terrorist outrages.


A close friend said he did not wish to speak on the subject.

He was pictured in Belfast on Thursday, where he spends much of his time in pubs doing crosswords and sudoku puzzles.

In the city, where Magee enjoys hero status among hardline republicans, sources advised the Daily Mail not to approach him directly as this could ‘upset’ some of his supporters.

In 1986 Magee was described by an Old Bailey judge as being ‘a man of exceptional cruelty and inhumanity’, and told he must serve a minimum of 35 years in jail.

Following his release from the Maze Prison, he fathered two boys with an American novelist whom he married in 1997.

They have since divorced and his ex-wife, Barbara Byar, 50, now lives in Tralee, County Kerry, with a Croatian half her age.

One of Magee’s sons, 14, has become a champion chess player who represents Ireland in international tournaments. Miss Byar, who has remarried and has a new surname, refused to comment when approached by the Mail.

Magee’s refusal to talk about Baroness Thatcher’s death is likely to enrage Tory activists.

He provoked fury in October 2009 when he used a reception at the House of Commons to parade his lack of remorse at the atrocity.





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The former terrorist claimed the actions of the paramilitary group were no different from those of the British Army.


The man once regarded as the IRA’s top bomb-maker insisted he had no option but to pursue a path of violence. Asked whether he had sought forgiveness for his crimes, Magee said: ‘Why would I ask for forgiveness? I did what I did in full conscience.’ Magee spoke alongside Jo Berry, daughter of MP Sir Anthony Berry, one of those killed by the bombing of the Grand Hotel.





Shocked: Margaret Thatcher and husband Dennis Thatcher are pictured on the night of the Brighton Grand Hotel bombing during the Conservative Party Conference


The pair have forged a close bond and she accompanied him to the University of Huddersfield for yesterday’s conference on using linguistics to solve conflict.

At one point, Magee told the audience: ‘I’m no pacifist, I’ve witnessed too much back in Belfast to be a pacifist – but I wouldn’t consider myself to be a violent person.’


Wrecked: This image shows the aftermath of the IRA attack in Brighton

On Thursday, he was seen walking unobtrusively around Belfast city centre, enjoying a quiet cup of tea as he read newspapers which had blanket coverage of Lady Thatcher’s funeral.


Efforts to talk to the man at the centre of one of the IRA’s most audacious operations were to prove fruitless.

But his ex-wife’s brother, John Byar, was more forthcoming. Speaking from his home in Connecticut, he revealed how his sister was living in San Francisco when she met one of Magee’s friends who had escaped from prison and moved to California.

Mr Byar said: ‘He said he had a buddy in jail who would love to be writing back and forth. The next thing you know they got married. Blows my mind that she marries some guy in jail who is serving life.

‘They got married in jail and when he came out he was like a hero. We went over there afterwards.
‘Everywhere we went drinking we drank for free. If you were with Pat then you were a king because he’s a king. They treated him like a god.

‘I knew nothing about it, but over there in Tralee he was like a hero to them, but killing people is not heroic to me.’

Jo Berry, whose father was the only MP to die in the Brighton bombing, said she was ‘looking forward not back’ in her working partnership with Magee.

The unlikely pair have toured the world together addressing audiences in Rwanda, Palestine and Israel on the importance of forgiveness and understanding conflict.


She said she never had a personal relationship with Lady Thatcher but remembered being invited to the Commons for a moment of silence in honour of her father.



Attacker: Patrick Magee is pictured in his younger days. He has never apologised for trying to wipe out Mrs Thatcher and her Cabinet during the Tory party conference in 1984


She told the Mail: ‘It does bring it all back. But I don’t believe in demonising anyone.

‘He [Magee] has refused to comment on her death and I think he’s right. I think he thinks it would be an insensitive thing to do and I respect him for that.‘He doesn’t want to make it any worse for her family – what could he say? He’s really aware of not wanting to cause any more harm.’

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