Today marks 27 years since the IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton.

The British Government were bombed during the early hours while staying at the seafront hotel during the Conservative party conference.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher survived the 2.54am blast.

But five people were killed, including Conservative MP Anthony Berry and Parliamentary Treasury Secretary John Wakeham’s wife Roberta.

Sir Donald Maclean and his wife Muriel, were in the room in which the bomb exploded. Lady Maclean died of her injuries while Sir Donald was seriously injured.

The other people killed by the blast were Eric Taylor and Jeanne Shattock. Several more, including Margaret Tebbit, the wife of Norman Tebbit, who was then President of the Board of Trade, were left permanently disabled.

Thirty-four people were taken to the hospital and recovered from their injuries.

In September 1986, Patrick Magee, then aged 35, was found guilty of planting the bomb, detonating it, and of five counts of murder.

Magee received eight life sentences – seven for offences relating to the Brighton bombing and the eighth for a separate bombing conspiracy.

The judge recommended that he serve a minimum term of thirty-five years which was later changed to life.

He was released from prison in 1999 having served 14 years under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.