Meibion Glyndŵr

Origins

In December 1962, the Western Mail reported that Birmingham Corporation had received a letter signed "Meibion Glyndŵr" threatening to poison the water supply of the planned Clywedog Reservoir.^[3] A similar threat was made in relation to Llyn Celyn during the flooding of Tryweryn, although no such action was ever taken; the name didn't re-emerge until almost two decades later.^[4] The name refers to Owain Glyndŵr, who led a major Welsh rebellion against English rule in the early 15th century.^[5] Following the failure of the 1979 Welsh devolution referendum, the militant organisation launched its first attacks in December of that year.^[1][6] The first attacks occurred in the early hours of 13 December 1979, during which a holiday home in Nefyn, another in Llanbedrog, two in Pennal near Machynlleth, and a further two in Pembrokeshire were set alight.^[7] Given the geographical distance between the attacks and the near-simultaneous detonation of the devices, the possibility that they were carried out by a single arsonist was ruled out.^[8] This marked the beginning of the arson campaign. In the first wave of attacks that followed, 22 English-owned holiday homes were destroyed within the space of a month.^[1][9] Initially, no movement claimed responsibility for the arson attacks; however, an anonymous letter, written in Welsh, was posted to HTV Wales head Geraint Talfan Davies, which read:

The houses were burnt with great sadness. We are not ferocious men. It was an act of despair. The rural areas are being destroyed all over these islands. Wales is our concern. These homes are out of reach of local people because of the economic situation. We call upon individuals of goodwill to take steps before these sorry acts take place.^[10]

Copies of the same letter were also sent to a number of prominent individuals and organisations in Wales, including the BBC, Western Mail, Dafydd Wigley, Dafydd Elis-Thomas and Geraint Howells, among others.^[11] Both Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society) and Mudiad Adfer (lit. 'restoration movement') were quick to distance themselves from the attacks, and Rhodri Williams, then deputy chairman of Cymdeithas, insisted that the group's second home campaign was dormant while it focused on securing a Welsh-language television channel. Similarly, Plaid Cymru condemned the spate of arson, and Dafydd Elis-Thomas, then Member of Parliament (MP) for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, described it as "senseless".^[12] Over the following decade, the campaign resulted in damage to 228 holiday cottages across Wales.^[1][2][13] Attacks typically occurred during the winter months, when properties were more likely to be vacant. The only injury associated with the campaign occurred when a staircase collapsed at a targeted estate agency in London, injuring a fireman.^[8] The campaign reached its peak in the late 1980s with the targeting of Conservative Party MPs' homes with letter bombs, most notably that of David Hunt, the then Secretary of State for Wales, who was targeted in 1990.^[1][14] A contemporaneous arson campaign targeting English-owned properties on the Isle of Man was also taking place,^[15] attributed to Manx nationalist organisation Fo Sostyn, Fo Ordaag (Manx for 'under England, under the thumb').^[16] Ben Lake later suggested a potential link between the two campaigns, although this was never confirmed.^[15]

Claims of responsibility

Operation Tân

Despite the number of arson attacks rising to as many as thirty by late March 1980, most of which were concentrated in the Llŷn Peninsula, police had failed to identify any suspects.^[31] The situation escalated after incendiary devices were discovered at Conservative Party offices in Cardiff, Shotton and Whitchurch on 28 March,^[32] prompting a major change in police strategy.^[31][33] Two days later, on 30 March, Special Branch and Welsh police conducted a large series of dawn raids as part of Operation Tân ('fire') in an effort to identify those responsible for the arson attacks.^[1][31][34] The coordinated raids are often referred to in relation to their timing in the early hours of Palm Sunday, also known as Sul y Blodau ('Flowering Sunday').^[35] Using the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1976, introduced to combat terrorism stemming from the Troubles, approximately fifty individuals were arrested during the operation, most of whom were in some way associated with Welsh nationalism. The powers granted to police by the Act allowed for the detention of terror suspects for up to seven days without charge if they were suspected of belonging to or supporting a proscribed organisation.^[36] During the operation, police reportedly established roadblocks across north Wales throughout the weekend.^[23]

Among those detained were former Free Wales Army (FWA) organiser Gethin ap Gruffydd and his wife, Sian Ifan, who were released two days later due to a lack of evidence linking them to the arson campaign.^[20][34] At the time, the couple organised Cofiwn (lit. 'we remember'), a Welsh nationalist society dedicated to commemorating historical figures and events.^[34] Others detained during the arrests included founding MAC member and Cymdeithas yr Iaith activist Emyr Llywelyn Jones, as well as John Barnard Jenkins.^[20] Robat Gruffudd, founder of the Welsh-language publisher Y Lolfa, was also detained, along with his wife Enid Gruffudd.^[1][20] Police were unable to secure any evidence of the Gruffudds' involvement in the arson and later released them; they were financially compensated for their time in detention.^[1][6] In 2005, Richie Thomas, the former head of South Wales Special Branch, publicly criticised the police approach to the Palm Sunday arrests, stating that the raids had been carried out too quickly. Thomas described the firebombing attacks targeting Conservative Party offices in Cardiff and Shotton as having "raised the level".^[33] Thomas' sentiment was echoed by former Llanelli CID head Roy Davies, who commented: "I have to say, from the absolute beginning, there was no evidence against any person I questioned - they were absolutely innocent."^[33][23] Leads obtained during the arrests culminated in John Jenkins' later arrest and subsequent imprisonment on 14 November 1983 for allegedly supplying Dafydd Ladd, a former member of the Angry Brigade, with the location of a safe house in Cardiff.^[37]

In January 1982, controversy arose in Wales following claims that a couple living near the village of Talysarn in Gwynedd had witnessed two plain-clothed police officers installing bugging devices in a telephone kiosk. When confronted, the alleged officers reportedly claimed to be working for the General Post Office; however, investigations by local police revealed that the Birmingham-registered vehicle used by the men was an undercover police car. Later commenting on the affair, local MP Dafydd Wigley stated: "The secret agents were not associated with the local constabulary; they were acting without authority; and there was no process of public answerability." The incident was satirised by folk singer Dafydd Iwan and the band Ar Log in the song "Ciosg Talysarn" (lit. 'Talysarn kiosk'), which mocked the extent of police surveillance efforts in Wales during the Meibion Glyndŵr campaign.^[38]

Parti Lliw Meibion Glyndŵr

In July 1989, eight men wearing paramilitary uniforms marched in a procession attended by 250 people in Abergele to commemorate the deaths of two alleged members of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru. The two, named Alwyn Jones and George Taylor, who are often referred to by Welsh nationalists as the "Abergele Martyrs", were killed when the bomb they were planting prematurely exploded on the eve of Prince Charles' investiture as the Prince of Wales in July 1969.^[39] In previous years, the occasion had been marked in Abergele with similar paramilitary displays organised by the Welsh Socialist Republican Movement and the Covenant Society of the Free Welsh, which had resulted in police warnings for the wearing of political uniforms in breach of the Public Order Act 1936.^[40] On the chest of the group's uniforms was a badge bearing the name Parti Lliw Meibion Glyndŵr (lit. 'Meibion Glyndŵr colour party'), featuring a heraldic white eagle, a symbol commonly associated with radical Welsh nationalism since its popularisation by the FWA in earlier decades.^[41] Dewi Prysor [cy] and David Gareth Davies were among those within the colour party, both of whom were later arrested on suspicion of involvement with Meibion Glyndŵr and subsequently cleared.^[42] Also present was Sion Aubrey Roberts [cy], who was the sole individual that was later convicted for involvement in the organisation.^[43]

Trial and imprisonment

A reinvestigation into postal bombings led to the conviction of Sion Aubrey Roberts in March 1993, when he was 21 years old.^[1][13] At the time the arson campaign began, Roberts was nine years old.^[10] Roberts was arrested by police during an armed raid on his flat in Llangefni, which had been under close surveillance by MI5 in the months leading up to the arrest.^[1] According to reports, he first attracted the attention of the authorities after attending a Welsh nationalist demonstration in Caernarfon in 1991, after which he was monitored by a task force comprising 38 MI5 officers.^[44] Charges focused on allegations that Roberts had sent four incendiary devices in the post to two senior police officers and two senior members of the Conservative Party, including Baron Roberts of Conwy.^[45] During the eight-week trial in Caernarfon, it was revealed that MI5 officers had repeatedly broken into Roberts' flat to conduct searches and plant bugging devices in the property.^[46] Nigel Mylne, for the defence, suggested that MI5 had planted incriminating evidence in Roberts' flat, citing what he described as the authorities' frustration at failing to secure an arrest during twelve years of the arson campaign.^[45] Similar views have been expressed by prominent figures in Wales, including former Plaid Cymru president Dafydd Iwan, who has continued to maintain that the security services were involved in the campaign in an effort to discredit Welsh nationalism.^[47] Dewi Prysor has described Iwan's stance as "fantasy", stating: "I greatly admire Dafydd, but I think he felt, as a pacifist, that the actions of Meibion Glyndŵr would damage Plaid Cymru and Welsh nationalism, so he came up with this notion that the arson campaign was planned and executed by the British state."^[48] Iwan's claims were similarly dismissed by Keith Best, former Conservative MP for Ynys Môn, as "too fanciful to be beyond belief".^[47] In another instance, Elfyn Llwyd was mocked by Welsh Labour MP Alun Pugh for "watching too many episodes of The X-Files" after suggesting that the security services were involved in the campaign.^[13]

Roberts was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in prison,^[45][46] but was released after serving 8 years in HM Prison Full Sutton.^[49] The final attack associated with Meibion Glyndŵr occurred a week after Roberts' trial, in which a Molotov cocktail was used to firebomb a holiday home named "Rose Cottage" in Gwalchmai, close to Roberts' home in Anglesey. The letters MG (for Meibion Glyndŵr) were painted on the gable of the house.^[50] Dewi Prysor later claimed that the revelation of the extent of MI5 surveillance of Roberts leading up to his arrest "put a stop to any future plans Meibion Glyndŵr had", effectively marking the end of the arson campaign.^[51] Following his prison sentence, Roberts had continued to maintain his innocence while expressing sympathy for Meibion Glyndŵr's cause.^[1] In 2021, Roberts publicly admitted his involvement with the group to Bryn Fôn during an interview conducted as part of S4C documentary Bryn Fôn: Chwilio am Feibion Glyndŵr (Welsh for 'Bryn Fôn: Search for the Sons of Glyndŵr'). Concluding the interview, Fôn asked Roberts what he would say to a victim of the arson campaign, to which Roberts replied: "Lucky you weren't in it; don't come back here."^[52] Roberts was also interviewed by the BBC in 2023 for its Firebombers documentary, during which he reiterated his admission of involvement with Meibion Glyndŵr, citing the policies of Margaret Thatcher’s government as his motivation for turning to militant action.^[53]