Five people died and 34 were injured in the early hours of October 12, 1984 at a hotel in Brighton, on the south coast of England, where delegates to the Conservative Party conference were staying. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was in the town for the conference and survived. The dead were Anthony Berry, a Member of Parliament, Eric Taylor, Jeanne Shattock, Roberta Wakeham and Muriel Maclean.
Patrick Magee, a member of an IRA unit, was convicted of the attack at the Old Bailey in London in 1986. A jury found him guilty on all charges relating to the events at the hotel, which were murder and related explosives counts. He received eight life sentences, seven of them for the Brighton attack.
Magee was arrested in 1985, the summer after the attack, and was tried at the Old Bailey about a year later. The trial judge recommended that he serve a minimum of 35 years. The verdict was unanimous.
The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 committed the British government to an accelerated release program for prisoners convicted of scheduled offenses connected with Northern Ireland. Parliament passed the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 to carry it out. Independent commissioners decided each case on its merits, and a prisoner serving a life sentence could be released only if he would not be a danger to the public. A written answer in the House of Commons in July 1999 recorded 277 releases under the scheme between September 1998 and the start of July 1999.
Magee was released in 1999 under the Good Friday Agreement early-release scheme, after serving about 13 years of his sentence. His release drew condemnation from Conservative politicians, among them a Cabinet minister who had been injured in the attack.
Since his release Magee has taken part in public talks on reconciliation with the daughter of one of the people who died. They first met around 2000 and have since shared a platform more than 300 times. In 2021 Magee published a book on the subject. He has appeared at public events marking the anniversary of the attack, including the thirtieth in 2014.
October 12, 1984: Five people die and 34 are injured at a hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference.
1985: Magee is arrested.
1986: Convicted at the Old Bailey of murder and related explosives counts; eight life sentences, with a recommended minimum of 35 years.
1998: Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 enacts the early-release scheme under the Good Friday Agreement.
1999: Magee is released under the scheme.
Around 2000: First meeting with the daughter of one of the dead.
2014: Appears in Brighton on the thirtieth anniversary.
2021: Publishes a book on the aftermath.