Families of the Birmingham pub bombing victims yesterday demanded that a former IRA commander implicated in the atrocity be arrested after he confessed to being behind Lord Mountbatten's murder.

Michael Hayes told The Mail on Sunday that he designed and masterminded the attack that blew up the pleasure boat of King Charles's beloved great-uncle in 1979.

The unrepentant grandfather has always denied claims he was responsible for the two Birmingham blasts, which killed 21 people in 1974, despite claiming to have defused a third device.

Yesterday Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine, 18, was killed in the atrocity and who has led the Birmingham families' fight for justice, said that Hayes 'absolutely should be arrested'. Ms Hambleton, 61, added: 'He has made admissions, and if you or I said such a thing our feet wouldn't touch the ground.'

Lord Mountbatten, a mentor to Prince Philip and Charles, was murdered aged 79 during a holiday at his summer home in Co Sligo.

Families of the Birmingham pub bombing victims yesterday demanded that a former IRA commander implicated in the atrocity be arrested after he confessed to being behind Lord Mountbatten's (pictured) murder

Michael Hayes (pictured) told The Mail on Sunday that he designed and masterminded the attack that blew up the pleasure boat of King Charles's beloved great-uncle in 1979

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EXCLUSIVE I masterminded the plot to blow up Lord Mountbatten: Ex-IRA commander sensationally confesses to being behind the assassination of King Charles's beloved great-uncle who was murdered aged 79 during a holiday at his summer home in Ireland

His grandson Nicholas, 14, was also killed along with Doreen Brabourne, 83, Nicholas's grandmother, and crewman Paul Maxwell, 15, of Enniskillen.

Only one IRA member was convicted. Thomas McMahon was jailed for life for murder but freed under the Good Friday Agreement.

After being approached by a Mail on Sunday reporter, Hayes bragged: 'I blew up Earl Mountbatten.'

Sickeningly he said that he did not regret this and coldly described the two teenagers who died as 'casualties of war'.

Legal experts said his admission could make him liable for prosecution for the murders in the Republic of Ireland.

Politicians including MP Ian Paisley Jr and former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith called for Hayes to be arrested.

Yesterday Julie Hambleton (pictured, outside the Civil Justice Centre in Birmingham after the conclusion of the Birmingham Inquests in 2019), whose sister Maxine, 18, was killed in the atrocity and who has led the Birmingham families' fight for justice, said that Hayes 'absolutely should be arrested'

Politicians including MP Ian Paisley Jr (pictured, on Wednesday) and former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith called for Hayes to be arrested

An anonymous ex-IRA member told the 2019 inquests into the Birmingham bombings that Hayes, a toolsetter in the city at the time, was one of four men involved. Hayes, now living in Dublin, has consistently denied building the bombs used to destroy the Tavern in the Town and Mulberry Bush pubs.

Now he has linked himself to the murder of Lord Mountbatten. Asked if he designed the bomb, he boasted: 'Yes, I blew him up. McMahon put it on his boat...I planned everything, I am commander in chief.' The Irish police have so far not commented on if they will take action.