A FAREHAM man is set to come face-to-face with the IRA bomber who almost killed him 20 years ago.

Christopher Hill wants to meet Brighton bomber Patrick Magee to tell him that he has forgiven him.

Mr Hill, who was caught up in the 1984 blast at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, is set to return to the city tomorrow, where Magee is due to make a controversial appearance.

Mr Hill, 43, was buried under mounds of rubble when the bomb ripped open the building killing five people including Tory MP Sir Anthony Berry during the Conservative Party conference.

Magee planted the 100lb bomb with a view to wiping out Margaret Thatcher and her entire Cabinet team and still maintains that the incident contributed to the peace process.

Despite Mr Hill's horrific near-death experience, from which he miraculously escaped with just cuts and bruises, he wants to tell Magee that he understands why he did what he did.

He said: "At the end of the day, I feel that Patrick Magee had to do what he did in order to achieve peace in Northern Ireland. He struck the government and tried not to injure members of the public. Sometimes people have to go to these extremes to get somewhere and I want to tell him it's all in the past."

Magee's return to Brighton has been met with disgust by others including Jack Reece, retired Sussex Police Detective Chief Superintendant, whose team put Magee behind bars, and Conservative leader at the city's council, Garry Peltzer-Dunn.

The council chief said: "It is an insult to all those people he killed and injured. It may be 20 years ago but memories of such a despicable act remain as bad and as fresh in the mind as ever."

Ulster MP David Burnside, who was at the hotel on the night of the blast, is reported to have said that Magee has "never expressed any remorse or regret."

But Jo Tuffnell, daughter of the late Sir Anthony Berry, who has said she understands Magee's side of the conflict, and will join him as he is interviewed by Brighton broadcaster Simon Fanshawe.

It is reported that Fanshawe insists the meeting is not to allow Magee to make any political statement but to pursue reconciliation.