1973 Old Bailey bombing was a car bomb attack carried out by the Provisional IRA ( PIRA ) which took place outside the Old Bailey Courthouse on 8 March 1973 . The attack was carried out by an 11-person ASU from the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade . The unit also exploded a second bomb which went off outside the Ministry of Agriculture near Whitehall in London at around the same time the bomb at the Old Bailey went off . This was the Provisional IRA 's first major attack on mainland Britain since the Troubles began back in 1969 ( not including the 1972 Aldershot bombing , which was carried out by the Official IRA ) . One British civilian died of a heart attack attributed to the bombing , estimates of the injured range from 180 – 220 from the two bombings . Two additional bombs were found and defused . Nine people from Belfast were convicted six months later for the bombing , one person managed to escape and one was acquitted for providing information to the police
1972 Aldershot bombing
1972 Aldershot bombing
1973 Old Bailey bombing