Dolours and Marian Price: The Belfast Sisters Behind the 1973 Old Bailey Bombing
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On the afternoon of the 8th of March, 1973, a car bomb exploded outside the Old Bailey, the historic Central Criminal Court in London. Windows shattered across nearby streets and hundreds of people were injured. For many people in Britain, it was a moment of sudden realisation. The violence that had dominated Northern Ireland for several years had now reached the centre of London.
Behind the attack was an Active Service Unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army made up largely of volunteers from Belfast. Among them were two sisters from West Belfast, Dolours Price and Marian Price, who would later become widely known in the media as the Price sisters.
Their involvement in the bombing, the long hunger strike that followed their imprisonment, and the political positions they took later in life placed them among the most controversial figures associated with the Troubles. Their story is also closely tied to the broader history of the conflict itself, which shaped the lives of thousands of people in Northern Ireland and beyond.
Historical Context: The Troubles in Northern Ireland
The conflict known as the Troubles lasted roughly from 1968 to 1998 and centred on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Nationalists and republicans, who were mostly Catholic, generally supported Irish reunification, while unionists and loyalists, who were mostly Protestant, supported remaining part of the United Kingdom.
The period was marked by bombings, shootings, riots and political upheaval. Paramilitary organisations such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army and various loyalist groups carried out armed campaigns, while the British Army and police forces attempted to maintain order.
By the early 1970s violence had intensified dramatically. Belfast and Derry experienced frequent gun battles and bomb attacks, and hundreds of people were killed each year.
Until 1973, most of the violence had been confined to Northern Ireland and occasionally the Republic of Ireland. The Old Bailey bombing marked a significant escalation because it brought the conflict directly to London.
Growing Up in a Republican Family
Dolours Price was born on the 16th of December, 1950, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her sister Marian was born several years later and the two grew up together in Andersonstown, a nationalist area in the west of the city.
Their upbringing took place in a household strongly connected to Irish republican politics. Their father Albert Price had previously been involved with the Irish Republican Army and had served time in prison. Their mother Christina Dolan was a member of Cumann na mBan, the republican women's organisation associated with the IRA.
Imprisonment for political activity was therefore a familiar part of family life. Both parents had been jailed at different points, reinforcing a sense that republican activism often involved sacrifice.
Another significant figure in the household was their aunt Bridie Dolan, who had been blinded and lost both hands while handling IRA explosives. She later moved in with the family. Her injuries no doubt served as a reminder of the dangers associated with militant republican activity.
Despite this environment, the sisters’ early lives were otherwise typical of Catholic teenagers growing up in Belfast during the 1960s. Dolours attended St Dominic’s Grammar School on the Falls Road, where one of her classmates was Mary Leneghan, who later became Mary McAleese, President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011.
Dolours later studied at St Mary’s College in Belfast, qualifying as a trainee teacher in 1968.
The Civil Rights Movement and Burntollet Bridge
During the late 1960s Northern Ireland entered a period of growing political tension. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement organised marches demanding reforms to address discrimination against the Catholic minority in housing, employment and voting rights.
Dolours and Marian Price both became involved in the movement.
In January 1969, they participated in the well known Belfast to Derry civil rights march. During the march protesters were attacked by loyalist counter demonstrators at Burntollet Bridge.
Marchers were beaten with sticks, stones and iron bars. Television footage of the attack circulated widely and had a profound impact on nationalist opinion.
For many young participants the incident reinforced the belief that peaceful protest alone would not bring political change. Over the following years support for republican paramilitary organisations grew significantly in nationalist areas.
By 1971, both sisters had joined the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
Joining the Provisional IRA
The Provisional IRA, founded in 1969, argued that armed struggle was necessary to defend nationalist communities and pursue Irish reunification.
Within the organisation Dolours Price became involved with a clandestine group known as “The Unknowns.” The unit carried out secret operations including transporting suspected informers across the border into the Republic of Ireland.
Several individuals taken by the IRA during this period later became known as the Disappeared because their bodies were secretly buried.
Price later stated that she had transported an alleged informer named Joe Lynskey across the border. His remains have never been recovered.
She also admitted involvement in the abduction of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten who disappeared from her Belfast home in 1972. Her remains were eventually discovered decades later in 2003 on a beach in County Louth.
Price later claimed the killing had been ordered by Gerry Adams, who she said had been her commanding officer in the IRA. Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA and rejected the allegation.
The IRA Strategy to Bomb England
By the early 1970s, the Troubles had intensified dramatically. Bombings and shootings were frequent in Northern Ireland, particularly in Belfast and Derry.
The IRA leadership decided to expand the conflict beyond Ireland.
One reason was that loyalist paramilitary groups had carried out bombings in the Republic of Ireland, including attacks in Dublin during 1972 and early 1973 that killed several people and injured more than one hundred.
IRA leaders believed that attacks in Britain would attract international attention and place pressure on the British government.
Targets were chosen carefully for their symbolic value. Attacking institutions associated with the British state would demonstrate that the IRA could operate far beyond Northern Ireland.
Planning the London Bombing Operation
An Active Service Unit consisting of eleven volunteers from the IRA Belfast Brigade was selected for the operation.
The group included:
Dolours Price
Marian Price
Gerry Kelly
Hugh Feeney
Roy Walsh
Martin Brady
William Armstrong
Paul Holmes
William McLarnon
Roisin McNearney
and one additional volunteer who later escaped arrest.
Several members travelled to London to identify suitable targets.
They selected four locations:
• the Old Bailey courthouse
• the Ministry of Agriculture near Whitehall
• an army recruitment office
• New Scotland Yard
The bombs were constructed in Ireland and transported to London by ferry before being placed in vehicles positioned at the targets.
8th March, 1973: The Old Bailey Bombing
The operation began early on the morning of the 8th March, 1973.
Members of the IRA unit woke around 6:00 am and drove the vehicles containing explosives to their targets across London.
At New Scotland Yard, a police officer noticed something unusual about a parked vehicle and alerted the bomb squad. Officers discovered a device containing 175 pounds of gelignite. Senior officer Peter Gurney cut the detonator wires and successfully defused the bomb.
At 2:49 pm, however, a car bomb outside the Old Bailey exploded while police were evacuating the area.
The blast caused extensive damage and injured many people nearby.
Another bomb exploded outside the Ministry of Agriculture, bringing the total number of injured to more than 200.
One man, Frederick Milton, aged 60, died of a heart attack attributed to the bombing.
A shard of glass from the explosion remains embedded in the wall of the Old Bailey staircase as a reminder of the attack.
Arrest at Heathrow Airport
The IRA volunteers intended to leave Britain before the bombs detonated.
However British authorities had been warned that an IRA unit was travelling to England.
Police began checking passengers travelling to Belfast and Dublin. Members of the IRA unit were detained at Heathrow Airport when the false names they gave did not match their travel documents.
The volunteer who had telephoned warnings about the bombs was the only member of the group who escaped arrest.
The Winchester Trial
Because the Old Bailey had been damaged by the bombing, the trial was held at Winchester Crown Court inside Winchester Castle.
Security was extremely tight and the trial lasted ten weeks.
On 14th November, 1973, the jury convicted eight members of the IRA unit, including both Price sisters.
One defendant, Roisin McNearney, was acquitted after providing information to authorities and later received a new identity.
The acquittal caused dramatic scenes in the courtroom. Several defendants began humming the Dead March from Handel’s Saul, and one threw a coin at McNearney shouting:
“Take your blood money with you.”
The remaining defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Hunger Strike and Force Feeding
Immediately after sentencing Dolours and Marian Price began a hunger strike demanding transfer to prisons in Northern Ireland.
The strike lasted over 200 days.
During much of this time prison authorities force fed the prisoners, inserting tubes down their throats while they were restrained in chairs.
Marian Price later described the experience:
“They push a metal spring device around your jaw to prise it open… then a rubber tube down your throat. You cannot move and you are terrified you will choke.”
Both sisters developed severe anorexia nervosa as a result of the hunger strike and repeated force feeding.
The International Medical Council later ruled that force feeding hunger strikers was unethical.
Transfer and Release
Following an IRA truce in 1975, the British government agreed to transfer several prisoners to Northern Ireland.
Doctors warned that Marian Price’s condition had become life threatening. She was released in 1980 under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy.
Dolours Price was released in 1981, having served around seven years in prison.
Although her physical health improved after release, she struggled with eating disorders and mental health issues for many years.
Marian Price After Prison
After leaving prison, Marian Price initially withdrew from public life.
She later returned to political activism during the 1990s, becoming a strong critic of Sinn Féin’s peace strategy.
In interviews she argued that the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 did not represent the goals many IRA volunteers believed they were fighting for.
She later remarked:
“It is certainly not what I went to prison for, and it is not what my sister went to prison for.”
In 2009, she was arrested in connection with the Massereene Barracks shooting, in which two British soldiers were killed by the Real IRA. She denied involvement in the attack but was later charged with providing property for the purposes of terrorism.
In 2011, after delivering a speech at an Easter Rising commemoration rally in Derry, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland revoked her licence and she was returned to prison.
The charges were later dismissed and Marian Price was released in May 2013.
Dolours Price After Prison
Dolours Price followed a different path after her release.
In 1983, she married Irish actor Stephen Rea, who later became internationally known for his role in the film The Crying Game.
The couple had two sons before divorcing in 2003.
In later years Price became a strong critic of Sinn Féin and the peace process. She wrote articles for The Blanket, an online journal edited by former IRA member Anthony McIntyre.
She also struggled with depression, post traumatic stress disorder and addiction to alcohol and prescription medication.
The Boston College Tapes
Between 2001 and 2006, Dolours Price participated in the Belfast Project, an oral history programme conducted by Boston College.
Former paramilitary members were interviewed about their experiences during the Troubles. Participants were promised the recordings would remain confidential until after their deaths.
However the Police Service of Northern Ireland later sought access to the tapes as part of investigations into the Disappeared.
After a lengthy legal dispute in the United States courts, some recordings were eventually released to investigators.
Final Years and Death
In 2010, Dolours Price offered to help the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains, which searches for the graves of people secretly buried during the Troubles.
The remains of Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee were eventually discovered in County Meath in 2015, though it remains unclear whether her information contributed to the discovery.
Dolours Price died on 23rd January, 2013 at her home in Malahide, County Dublin.
An inquest concluded that she died from a toxic interaction between prescribed sedatives and antidepressants. The verdict was death by misadventure.
She was buried at Milltown Cemetery in West Belfast.
Why the Old Bailey Bombing Matters Historically
The Old Bailey bombing of 1973 marked the beginning of a sustained IRA bombing campaign in England.
The attack demonstrated that the organisation could carry out operations far beyond Northern Ireland. It was followed by further bombings in British cities throughout the 1970s and 80s
For many people in Britain the explosion outside the Old Bailey was the moment when the Troubles ceased to feel like a distant conflict and became a direct concern within the United Kingdom itself.
