When the highly civilised Lord Denning expressed his regret, quoted by Jim, that the Birmingham Six had not been hanged, he had already turned down their appeal, in these terms: 'If they won, it would mean that the police were guilty of perjury; that they were guilty of violence and threats; that the confessions were involuntary and improperly admitted in evidence.... Such an appalling vista that every sensible person would say, "It cannot be right that these actions should go any further."'

They were of course innocent (innocent of everything except being Irish) and it did indeed mean exactly what Denning said it would mean.