10/01/2011

Omagh Bereaved Face Dissident Court Appeal

Four people will begin a court appeal today after they were successfully sued by families bereaved in the bloody Omagh bombing in 1998.

The four dissident republicans, Michael McKevitt, Seamus Daly, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy were found liable for the 1998 bombing but are to challenge the judgment.

Relatives who lost loved ones in the attack are also appealing against the £1.6m in compensation recommended at the conclusion of their historic civil action in June 2009.

The Real IRA's bombing in the Co Tyrone town on August 15 killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins. More than 200 were injured in the car bomb blast. No-one has ever been successfully convicted of the Omagh bombing, with the only man jailed in connection with the attack, 57-year-old Co Louth builder Colm Murphy, cleared after a retrial in Dublin.

In December 2007, Sean Hoey, 38, from Jonesborough, South Armagh, was cleared at Belfast Crown Court of murdering the 29 people. He was acquitted of 58 charges, including some not directly linked to the bombing.

The latest legal challenge over the case is set to begin at the Court of Appeal in Belfast's Royal Courts of Justice and could last up to two weeks.

The families' ground-breaking multi-million pound civil action was described by them as a bid to bring as much information into the public domain as possible and it was the first time a civil action had been brought in a case of its kind, but came at high cost - an estimated £2m in legal fees.

(BMcC/GK)

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24 October 2001
Real IRA member receives five-year sentence
A criminal court in Dublin has found a man guilty of membership of the Real IRA, the group who claimed responsibility for the Omagh bombing in August 1998 which claimed 29 lives. Liam Campbell, 39, from County Louth, was convicted of being a member of the outlawed organisation and sentenced at Dublin’s Special Criminal Court on Tuesday October 23.
25 February 2002
Omagh bomb investigators arrest three men
Three men have been arrested in the Republic of Ireland in connection with the Omagh bombing in 1998. One man in his 20s and another in his 30s were arrested in Monaghan on Sunday morning and a third man in 30s was arrested in Co Louth on Monday morning. The three men were taken to Carrickmacross Garda station to be questioned.
09 April 2003
Real IRA gang sentenced to 100 years in jail
Five men have been jailed for a total of 100 years for planning and subsequently launching a Real IRA bombing campaign in England.
22 July 2002
Man charged with causing mainland explosions
A 19-year-old man has been charged with plotting to cause explosions following an investigation into a suspected Real IRA bombing campaign. John Paul Gerard Hannan was been remanded in custody after appearing at the Old Bailey today. He is charged with plotting to cause an explosion and possessing weapons.
28 August 2001
Bomb alert causes chaos at Ballycastle Fair
A bomb with a timing unit, detonator and two cylinders of flammable liquid has been defused by Army Technical Officers in Ballycastle. The bomb had been abandoned in a white Ford Sierra in Castle Street. The car is believed to have been left at the scene in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The Castle Street area has now been re-opened.