IRA bomb victims drop civil court claim against Gerry Adams

Three victims of IRA bombings in England have dropped their civil claim for damages against former Irish republican leader Gerry Adams, their lawyer told the High Court in London on Friday.

The three men -- injured in IRA bomb blasts in the 1970s and 1990s -- had sued Adams for a symbolic one pound in damages.

On the last day of the two-week trial their lawyer Anne Studd told the court that overnight "the parties have reached agreement".

"The parties have agreed... that the claim is discontinued," said a statement read by judge Jonathan Swift.

The three men were seeking to hold former Sinn Fein president Adams, who was not in court on Friday, personally responsible for orchestrating the blasts.

They also sought to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Adams was a senior IRA member.

Three people died in the three bombings -- in London in 1973, and in London and Manchester in 1996 --  and scores more were injured.

Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA, a statement that he repeated multiple times during the trial.

He also "categorically" denied involvement in the bombings.

"To be clear, I had no involvement in or advance knowledge" of the bombings," he said.

It was the first time the 77-year-old -- who has been embroiled in several legal spats over his role in the Troubles -- has testified in an English court.

The Troubles -- the three-decades-long violent sectarian conflict over British rule in Northern Ireland that ignited in the late 1960s -- ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

After the court announcement, Adams said in a message posted on social media that he "welcomed" the decision to drop the claim.

"I attended the civil case out of respect for them ... This decision brings to an emphatic end, a case that should never have been brought," he said.