Life After Life with Paddy Armstrong of The Guildford Four

On the 5th of October 1974, the IRA detonated two bombs in Guildford, and suspicion fell on Paddy Armstrong and three others. Wrongly convicted of terrorism, they would spend the next 15 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit and enter history as The Guildford Four. 

In his memoir, Life After Life, Paddy lays bare his experiences for the first time – his childhood in a peaceful Belfast and its descent into hell as the Troubles exploded; his escape to London and the horror of his arrest and brutal interrogation; the grim reality of his life inside and the heart-wrenching difficulty he faced rebuilding his life when the guilty verdict was overturned after a long battle in 1989. 

“Life After Life” is a nakedly honest and compelling exposure of Armstrong’s experience being wrongfully convicted, its crushing aftermath and the ultimate restoration of his life. In his review for The Observer, Chris Mullin (former MP, journalist and Man Booker judge) called it “Beautifully written. If it were a work of fiction, it would be worthy of the Man Booker shortlist.”

Belfast Book Festival is delighted to host Paddy and his co-writer Mary-Elaine Tynan for an intimate conversation about the book, Paddy’s incredible experiences and how one comes to terms with a life-changing miscarriage of justice.