Warrington bombing remembered 25 years on

Devastating terrorist incident happened 25 years ago today in the Cheshire town.

On this day, March 20th, 1993 two bombs went off within minutes of each other on Bridge Street in Warrington town centre.

The first device went off outside a branch of Boots and the second, 100 yards away, outside Argos. The bombs had been placed inside cast iron litter bins creating large amounts of shrapnel.

Two young boys were killed by the blasts. Jonathan Ball was just three years-old and died at the scene; while twelve year-old Tim Parry passed away days later when his life-support system was switched off by doctors.

Another survivor, 32 year-old Bronwen Vickers died just over a year later. The mother of two young daughters had to have her leg amputated due to her injuries, but died of cancer.

Dozens of innocent people were injured, three of them seriously. 

The Provisional IRA admitted responsibility for the attack but defended itself by saying it had issued two warnings to the police and the Samaritans. However, this was thoroughly disputed by the police, saying that only one warning was given prior to the blasts, and that the information given was too vague. Allegedly, the warning given to a Samaritans in Liverpool was that a bomb had been placed outside a "Boots", but failed to say where.

The town centre incident followed an earlier attack where the IRA had planted explosives at gas holders on Winwick Road in the town. A police officer was shot while the three IRA members responsible tried to escape. Two of them were detained after a high-speed chase near Croft, the third man escaped. A short while later the bombs went off sending a fireball 1,000 feet into the sky. No one was injured, but the blast caused major damage to the facility, and created widespread disruption.

While three men were sentenced for their part in the first bombing, the murders of Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry remain unsolved as of 2018.

Representatives of Cheshire Constabulary and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, who were deployed to Bridge Street that day to deal with the aftermath of the town centre bombing, will attend a special 25th anniversary event along with Princess Anne today.