THREE victims of bombings in England by the Irish Republican Army brought an end to their damages claim today against former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.

On what was to be the last day of the two-week civil trial in the British High Court in London, the three men’s lawyer Anne Studd said the claim would be discontinued after “proceedings developed overnight.” 

She said the development was related to an argument around “abuse of process.”

Mr Adams was being sued in London’s High Court for allegedly being directly responsible and complicit for decisions by the Provisional IRA to detonate bombs in England in 1973 and 1996. 

He was being sued for a symbolic £1 in damages.

Mr Adams, who gave evidence in the trial but who was not in court today, released a statement soon after the case was dropped, welcoming the decision by the claimants.

“I attended the civil case out of respect for them,” he said in a statement. “This decision brings to an emphatic end, a case that should never have been brought.”

Mr Adams was president of Sinn Fein between 1983 and 2018 and helped broker the 1998 Good Friday peace accord. He has always denied being an IRA member.