Jo & Pat

Jo Berry & Pat Magee

On 12 October 1984, Jo Berry awoke  to the news of a bomb detonation in the hotel where her father was staying. Sir Anthony Berry, a Conservative Party MP,  was one of five people killed in the bombing at the  Grand hotel in Brighton, England. The bomber, Patrick Magee of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), received eight life sentences. After serving 14 years, Pat was released under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Jo struggled with her anger at his release: “How dare anybody think their need to be heard is so important that they killed my father.” This anger eventually led her to contact Pat, hoping to get some clarity on why he had killed her father. Through their first conversation and the many that follow, Jo and Pat learn to understand and respect each other as people rather than enemies.