Terrorist Patrick Magee has said he would bomb Brighton again.

The convicted IRA killer admitted if he could turn the clock back two decades, he would still activate the timer which triggered the deadly bomb.

This Tuesday will be the 20th anniversary of the day Magee checked into the Grand hotel in Brighton under the name Roy Walsh and planted the deadly device under a bath in room 629.

Five innocent people were killed and 34 injured when the explosives were detonated six weeks later at 2.54am on Friday, October 12, 1984.

During an exclusive interview with The Argus on the anniversary of the bombing, the Republican said he regretted the loss of life.

But he added: "We always look back with the benefit of hindsight to see if we would do things differently and that is very true 20 years on.

"But I have to say I would have done it - I would have planted the bomb in the hotel.

"I still believe Brighton made a contribution to the peace process.

"Brighton in itself would not have been sufficient. We had to prove we could sustain it and we did prove that."

Magee also argued the IRA would have bombed a Labour cabinet and said the attack on Margaret Thatcher was not "personal."

He said: "I do see this as a legitimate operation. The intention was to target the British political establishment.

"I didn't target Margaret Thatcher, the IRA did not target Thatcher. I was targeting the British establishment - it could just have easily been a Labour government.

"Brighton would have made such a statement that we had to go for it but we did try to minimise the risk.

"We were more concerned about staff at the hotel. That was a big concern of mine. The operation was timed with a view of protecting the hotel.

"But I would not have been concerned about the relatives of the Tories. At that time I would have seen them as part of the political establishment. Now I see them as innocent and I cannot justify that."

He added: "Any civilian that was caught up in the bombing I do apologise to. I am sorry, I do regret that.

"How could I not regret that Margaret Tebbit is in a wheelchair? I do regret that. Whatever I do will not bridge that gap."

Magee was convicted of the bombing in September 1986 and received eight life sentences which the judge said should mean 35 years behind bars.

But the father-of-two was released from the Maze prison five years ago as part of the Good Friday Agreement and now lives in West Belfast with his second wife and two sons.