Isle of Man: Fresh bid for Summerland fire inquest submitted
A formal application for a fresh inquest into the deaths of 50 people in the 1973 Summerland fire disaster has been submitted to the Isle of Man's Attorney General.The Justice for Summerland Group, made up of survivors and relatives of victims, has previously called for the original misadventure verdicts to be overturned.Belfast-based human rights law firm Phoenix Law, representing the families, said it wanted to reopen the case to "ensure a comprehensive investigation" using "modern legal and forensic standards".The Isle of Man government has been contacted by the BBC for a response.
About 3,000 people were at the Summerland entertainment complex, which at the time was one of the biggest indoor leisure complexes in Europe, when a blaze broke out on the evening of 2 August 1973,It was thought to have been started by three boys from Liverpool smoking.A public inquiry held in the aftermath found there were "no villains" and only human beings who made mistakes.
'Fresh evidence'
However, making its application, Phoenix Law said there had been an "irregularity of proceedings in the original inquest" which had not commented on or addressed "substantial issues" including the cause of the fire.The firm said there was "substantial fresh evidence which was not heard at the original inquest or commission which call into question the central conclusions", suggesting the forensic analysis of the time was now "unreliable".
Manx fire crews remember 'horror' of Summerland disaster
A spokesman also said several experts had provided written support for a fresh investigation into the fire "on the premise that there have been significant developments within the forensic science on how fires are investigated". He said they had pointed to the Stardust Fire, in which 48 young people died in a fire in a north Dublin nightclub in 1981, where "the cause of fire was established many years after the event".The firm's Darragh Mackin, who last year represented many families affected in the Stardust fire, said the relatives of those killed at Summerland had "raised concerns about the original investigation" for years.It was "difficult to envisage a more compelling set of circumstances to which point firmly in favour of a fresh investigation", he added.
Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
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