Peter Barnes (6 May 1907 – 7 February 1940) was born in Banagher, King's County (Offaly). As a young man Barnes joined Fianna Éireann (an Irish nationalist youth organisation) and in 1924 became a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).[1]
Barnes, along with James McCormick (also known as James Richards), were convicted of participating in the 1939 Coventry bombing, which was part of the IRA's sabotage campaign in England (the S-Plan). The Coventry bombing killed five people on 25 August 1939. Barnes was arrested on that date in London.[2] During the search of his room police discovered the address of his fiancée. At her address (also in London), police found receipts for materials associated with bomb making.[3] Although he and McCormick admitted constructing the bomb, which was intended to be used to destroy a power station, they claimed not to be involved in planting the bomb.[4] Another IRA man (Joseph "Joby" O'Sullivan) claimed that he planted the bomb and that Barnes and McCormick were innocent.[5]
From the moment of his arrest until the moment of his hanging Peter Barnes protested his innocence. On the night before his execution, he wrote a letter to his sister stating: "I am an innocent man and as I have said before, it will be known yet that I am. The only thing that worries me now is the thought of my poor father and mother, but I know God will comfort them."[6] Seán MacBride, a former Chief-of-Staff for the IRA and Irish barrister, attempted to secure their release claiming they were being illegally held without a writ of habeas corpus.[7] Also charged with murder along with James McCormick were Brigid O'Hara, Joseph and Mary Hewitt, all five pleaded not guilty before the court at Birmingham Assizes.[8] Brigid O'Hara issued statements between 28 August and 4 September to Scotland Yard and Birmingham police denying any knowledge of the bombings,[9] and later provided evidence for the prosecution.[10]
On 15 December 1939 the jury deliberated for 31 minutes before finding both Barnes and McCormick guilty of murder.[11] They were sentenced to death by Mr Justice Singleton. On 7 February 1940 Barnes and McCormick were hanged simultaneously at Winson Green Prison in Birmingham.[12]
Their trial and execution resulted in a public outcry in Ireland against Neville Chamberlain and the British Government as Peadar O'Donnell and other prominent Irish writers signed a petition campaigning for leniency towards the condemned men.[13] The executions provoked a wave of protests and marches throughout Ireland, Irish flags were flown at half-mast and, through the intervention of a sympathizer, at the World's Fair in New York.[14] The bodies of Barnes and McCormick were buried in the prison yard and in 1969, their remains were released to relatives and were flown to Dublin.[15] Their re-interment on 6 July 1969 in Ballyglass Cemetery, Mullingar was attended by an estimated 15,000 people.[16]