THE Birmingham pub bombings coroner, hearing inquests into the deaths of 21 victims, gave his support yesterday to an application for legal funding by bereaved families.

Peter Thornton QC indicated that he wanted the funding issue, which has led to a war of words between some of the families and the government, to be settled by early next year.

Yesterday, the coroner convened the first pre-inquest hearing into the 1974 double bombings in Birmingham in a bid to establish the scope of the proceedings. He said he had neither the power nor the authority to order funding to be put in place.

On November 21 1974, the IRA planted bombs in two pubs, the Tavern in the Town and the nearby Mulberry Bush, killing 21 people and injuring 182 others.

A botched police investigation led to the wrongful convictions of the Birmingham Six — Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker — in one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in Britain.

Earlier this year, the victims’ families won a ruling from Birmingham senior coroner Louise Hunt ordering new inquest hearings.