MPs get tough with government on compensation for Canary Wharf IRA bomb victims

They want to question William Shawcross - appointed in 2019 as UK Special Representative on all victims of Gaddafi-sponsored IRA terrorism - about a “supressed” government report on how to use Libyan funds held in London.

Security guard Jonathan Ganesh... rescued from Midland Bank bombing by IRA at Canary Wharf in 1996 (Image: East London Advertiser)

Mr Shawcross submitted his report in May last year, but the government won’t release it despite calls by victims and politicians.

It centres on £10billion of Libyan assets frozen under UN sanctions since Gaddafi’s overthrow and death in 2011.

Two men killed by IRA Canary Wharf bombing in 1996... Inam Bashir (left) and John Jeffries (Image: DVA)

The government has insisted the money belongs to the Libyan people, but it emerged that the assets didn’t include the interest Britain was earning, which could be used to compensate Docklands and other victims. The government has collected £17m in interest revenue, currently around £5m every year, which critics say could be used legally for pay-outs.

The Libyan dictator had armed the IRA with weapons including Semtex plastic explosives used in bombings such as the Midland Bank HQ in Canary Wharf in March 1996, which killed two men and seriously injured another 100 people including families on Millwall’s Barkantine estate nearby.

Jonathan Ganesh (far right) leads Docklands Victims Association delegation to Parliament in long-running campaign for compensation (Image: DVA)

A campaign has been waged by the Docklands Victims Association for more than a decade for compensation on a par with money already paid out to American, French and German victims after their governments negotiated with Libya.

The MPs’ committee on Northern Ireland recommended in 2017 that the government also presses Libya for compensation, but was refused. It has now formally summoned Mr Shawcross as “a last resort” to give evidence about his unpublished report.

“There are victims who need and deserve justice,” committee chair Simon Hoare said. “This issue isn't going away, given the time elapsed since the terrorist events. A summons is a last resort after all other avenues have failed.”

Mr Shawcross is due to go before the committee on March 24. It is a rare event for a public official to be summoned to Parliament for questioning.

In memory of Inam Bashir and John Jeffries who were killed when IRA bomb destroyed Midland Bank's Canary Wharf HQ and their newsagents next door in 1996 (Image: Mike Brooke)

Other Libyan-sponsored IRA bombings include Harrods in 1983, Enniskillen in 1987 and Warrington in 1993.