Gerry Adams tells high court he was stunned by 1996 Docklands bombing

"Those explosions brought an end to the IRA ceasefire and potentially the end to the peace strategy which I and others had worked on for 30 years. He said he had been stunned by what happened. Hill asked him: Did you know in advance about the February 96 explosion? Adams replied: No, of course not."

"Quoting from an internal British government note from 1993, Hill said: The home secretary has concluded that Adams is at the nerve centre of the PIRA [Provisional IRA]'. My question is, is that accurate? Adams said: That is not true. The British government had to come to terms that there was a possibility of peace and a political process."

Gerry Adams, 77, testified in high court that he was stunned by the 1996 Docklands bombing and had no prior knowledge of it. He is accused of being an IRA member, sitting on its army council, and bearing responsibility for the Docklands bombing, the Manchester bombing, and the 1973 Old Bailey bombing. Prosecutor Max Hill KC suggested Adams orchestrated the Docklands bombing to advance Sinn Féin's political strategy. Adams countered that the explosions ended the IRA ceasefire and undermined 30 years of peace efforts he had worked toward. When confronted with a 1993 British government assessment that he was at the nerve centre of the Provisional IRA, Adams denied its accuracy, claiming the government demonized those seeking peaceful resolution.

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