I generally do not approve of capital punishment, but at times like this do I wonder why the security services are issued with firearms.... That this piece of vermin should be released and allowed to walk among Human Beings is a disgrace.

Brighton bomber Patrick Magee has returned to the town 30 years after his deadly device ripped through the Grand Hotel killing five people.

The Republican, who was handed eight life sentences in 1986, planted the bomb that targeted Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Cabinet during their annual conference in 1984.

Magee was back in the city to take part in a panel discussion following a screening of documentary Beyond Right & Wrong at The Old Market in Hove.

The programme follows the story of Jo Berry, whose father Sir Anthony Berry was killed in the explosion, and her reconciliatory journey with Magee.

He previously returned to Brighton in 2004 to take part in a panel discussion with Ms Berry. But Lord Tebbit, who was trade and industry secretary at the time, said he could not forgive the bomber.

The former minister was severely injured in the blast and his wife Margaret was left paralysed from the neck down and needing 24-hour care.

Writing for The Telegraph, he said: “I am often asked if I can find it in my heart to forgive the creature, Patrick Magee, who planted the bomb.

“That, of course, is not possible, for Magee has never repented.”

Staff at the hotel held a minute’s silence to mark the 30th anniversary of the outrage, which killed five seriously injured 34 others.

Magee was released in 1999 under the Good Friday Agreement – having served 13 years for the crime.