Butler thre his bomb first , intending it to smash a window and detonate inside the pub ; however , he misaimed and the device bounced off the window-frame , exploding outside . The bombs were wrapped in industrial tape and contained shrapnel composed of nuts and bolts packed around the gelignite , which was later found to be labelled '' Irish Industrial Limited Eversoft Frangex '' . Eight people were injured inside the pub , mainly from flying glass and debris . The sociologist Steve Boysey has suggested that , had Butler 's bomb exploded as intended , the result — a consequence of the shrapnel — would have been " carnage " . O'Connell then threw his bomb , which succeeded in penetrating a pub window . This , however , failed to explode , and the Bomb Squad were later able to dismantle and forensically analyse it for clues . Following his capture in 1975 , O'Connell told Jim Nevill in an interrogation that his bomb had been a deliberate dud , and not intended to explode . This was the first occasion on which they had this opportunity . A joint investigation between the Metropolitan Police and the Royal Armament and Research Development Establishment deconstructed it and judged it to be a carbon copy of that used in the Woolwich bombing three weeks earlier . It was considered the biggest breakthrough the police had enjoyed up until then . The day after the bombing , Special Branch detained a number of suspects , although these were to have , commented McKee and Franey , " no effect at all " on the gang 's campaign . The attack on the Talbot Arms was followed by further attacks with throwing-bombs ; a month later , only about around the corner from the pub , in Wilton Street , they attempted to bomb the London flat of Prime Minister , Edward Heath , but missed him by 10 minutes . By August the following year the ASU had returned to the tactic of time bomb — rather than manually throwing devices as at the Talbot Arms attack — when they bombed the Caterham Arms pub . Although many senior Sinn Féin men and republican symapthisers were arrested under the PTA following the attack on the Talbot Arms , Boysey has noted that " the ASU , safe in their anonymity , had no such concern " , and continued their planned campaign . When they were eventually arrested and brought to trial , the Talbot Arms bombing was not among the charges , and remained on file .
Caterham Arms pub
Caterham Arms pub bombing
Talbot Arms pub bombing