Our clients are still waiting for answers as to how this was allowed to happen and accountability for the significant harm they suffered. We represent highly vulnerable individuals, including children, families and victims of trafficking and torture, who were deeply affected by their experiences at Manston. They are the victims of the inhuman and degrading treatment that occurred, and it is therefore the responsibility of the Home Office to ensure that this public inquiry is allowed to take place without any further delays.
Ministers have ruled out establishing a public inquiry into the IRA's 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. On 21 November 1974, 21 people were killed and 220 injured when bombs were detonated at the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pubs in Birmingham, in an attack widely believed to have been orchestrated by the Provisional IRA. No one has been convicted over the attacks.
All victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal seeking compensation will now be entitled to free legal advice, the government has announced. The change could potentially have a major effect on the size of the payouts some victims are able to achieve. It is one of a number of improvements to the compensation schemes available to victims, made in response to the first report from the public inquiry into the scandal, widely described as one of the UK's worst ever miscarriages of justice.
"It's difficult to say how traumatising that is for families when they sit in at an inquest and then see legal representatives try and effectively stop a coroner from making a Prevention of Future Deaths report, which is ultimately about trying to safeguard lives in the future - and I find that reprehensible."