My investigation was overwhelmingly in the public interest. I have no difficulty in justifying my actions
My friend Peter Chippindale, a Guardian journalist, first drew my attention to the Birmingham pub bombings. He had reported on the trial in 1975 and remarked that he thought the men were innocent. He had come to that conclusion from his attendance at court and from talking to the relatives of the convicted men.
Little did I realise that nearly 50 years later, long after the men had been freed and their convictions quashed, the case would still play a big part in my life.
Chris Mullin was the MP for Sunderland South from 1987 to 2010. He was a minister in the Blair government and was for four years chairman of the home affairs select committee
