Leaked report claims RUC received warning prior to Omagh bomb

A report leaked to the media has claimed the Royal Ulster Constabulary had 11 days warning about an attack in Omagh which killed 29 people and unborn children in August 1998.

According to reports, the leaked report from the Police Ombudsman Chief Nuala O’Loan’s office states if the information had been passed on and security checkpoints been put in place, the bombers may have been deterred. It will also confirm significant shortcomings in the investigation into the worst single outrage in the history of the Troubles.

However the Northern Ireland Secretary, John Reid, has condemned the leaked version of the report. In a statement Dr Reid said: “Leaks are never helpful and usually malicious – I will not be commenting on this report until I have seen the final version.” But he did stress that media attention should never be distracted from the suffering caused to the victims and families of the Omagh bomb.

The Ombudsman’s draft report has, according to reports, found the RUC’s Special Branch were warned about an attack planned for 15 August 1998, eleven days before - but failed to pass on the information to police officers on the ground.

This unprecedented report could lead to calls for a public inquiry into how the investigation has not delivered and why, as is alleged, Special Branch officers failed to pass on information following the anonymous telephone tip-off.

In response, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (formerly known as the RUC) said the report contained “so many significant factual inaccuracies, unwarranted assumptions, misunderstandings and material omissions that a request has been made to the ombudsman's office for a reasonable period of time to respond in detail with what we see as the serious deficiencies in this report.”

The families of the Omagh Victims’ Legal Action Group have made a statement in which they said: “We are understandably disturbed by early press reports based on, what appears to be, leaked extracts from the Ombudswoman’s report. The issues that have been raised are extremely serious. We feel that they are so serious that we will refrain from full comment until such time as we have viewed and considered the completed report and its findings. We have been patient for over three years waiting for justice. We shall have to wait a little longer. Whatever the findings, we believe it should not distract from, or absolve, the murderous Real IRA who admitted responsibility for the bomb that murdered our loved ones.”

The ombudsman's draft report is now with the Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan and Dr Reid and will be presented to the families of the Omagh bomb next Wednesday. (AMcE)