PHONE CALLS WHICH LED TO CAPTURE
Phone calls which led to capture
IT was the Omagh College of Further Education that ultimately convicted Colm Murphy of plotting a bombing that took the lives of 29 people and two unborn children. A mobile phone mast sited at the college picked up six calls to and from Murphy's mobile phone on the day of the Omagh bombing. Experts from the Vodafone mobile phone company were able to show Dublin's Special Criminal Court that there were 11 calls to and from Murphy's mobile phone on the afternoon of August 15th, 1998.
An examination of calls routed through the mast at the College showed without doubt that Murphy's mobile phone was in Omagh on the time that the bomb car was being parked in Market Street. At 13.57pm, a call was made from Murphy's phone to another man's phone, at a time when the terrorists were delivering their bomb into Omagh. Detectives say that this phone belonged to Murphy's foreman, who innocently lent it to him. Twelve minutes later, the other man's phone rang Murphy's phone for eight seconds. Detectives believe this was to indicate that the bomb had been delivered. The remaining five were routed on the Eircell network on masts sited south of the border, as Murphy's phone was carried south of the border by the Real IRA terrorist who had delivered the bomb to Omagh.
The last call of the series was made at 5.23pm at Clarmont Carns, north of Dundalk, and near Murphy's home in Ravensdale.
After his arrest, Murphy confessed that he had given the two phones to the 30-year-old man police believed delivered the bomb.
Murphy said that the exchange took place in his own pub, the Emerald Bar in Dundalk, on the night before the Omagh bombing.
"What could I do? I could have ended up with a bullet in my head," he told gardai.
The Special Criminal Court didn't believe him - and accepted that he was a "terrorist of long standing" who had willingly handed over the mobile phones for use in a terrorist offence.
IT was the Omagh College of Further Education that ultimately convicted Colm Murphy of plotting a bombing that took the lives of 29 people and two unborn children. A mobile phone mast sited at the college picked up six calls to and from Murphy's mobile phone on the day of the Omagh bombing. Experts from the Vodafone mobile phone company were able to show Dublin's Special Criminal Court that there were 11 calls to and from Murphy's mobile phone on the afternoon of August 15th, 1998.
An examination of calls routed through the mast at the College showed without doubt that Murphy's mobile phone was in Omagh on the time that the bomb car was being parked in Market Street. At 13.57pm, a call was made from Murphy's phone to another man's phone, at a time when the terrorists were delivering their bomb into Omagh. Detectives say that this phone belonged to Murphy's foreman, who innocently lent it to him. Twelve minutes later, the other man's phone rang Murphy's phone for eight seconds. Detectives believe this was to indicate that the bomb had been delivered. The remaining five were routed on the Eircell network on masts sited south of the border, as Murphy's phone was carried south of the border by the Real IRA terrorist who had delivered the bomb to Omagh.
The last call of the series was made at 5.23pm at Clarmont Carns, north of Dundalk, and near Murphy's home in Ravensdale.
After his arrest, Murphy confessed that he had given the two phones to the 30-year-old man police believed delivered the bomb.
Murphy said that the exchange took place in his own pub, the Emerald Bar in Dundalk, on the night before the Omagh bombing.
"What could I do? I could have ended up with a bullet in my head," he told gardai.
The Special Criminal Court didn't believe him - and accepted that he was a "terrorist of long standing" who had willingly handed over the mobile phones for use in a terrorist offence.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0816
Published Date: 23-Jan-02
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