BT/0944

Real IRA leader loses £lm legal aid battle

REAL IRA leader Michael McKevitt today lost a legal battle for £lm from the public purse to defend a multi-million pound claim brought against him by victims of the Omagh bombing.
McKevitt (54), from Blackrock, Co Louth, is being sued for £14m along with four others suspected of carrying out the 1998 atrocity in which 29 people were killed.
He was initially granted legal aid to defend the civil action in the High Court in Belfast but it was set aside after the Legal Services Commission ruled he had not told the truth in his application.
McKevitt claimed he was not a member of the Real IRA, which carried out the bombing, but was later convicted of membership and directing terrorism.
He was jailed for 20 years at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin last year.
Last month he applied for a judicial review of the no-funding decision and his lawyers argued that it was incompatible with his right to a fair trial under the Human Rights Convention.
It was also claimed that his constitutional right was further undermined by the Government's decision to give £800,000 towards the legal costs of the people bringing the case.
The court heard the probable cost of defending the action would be £lm and there would be further substantial costs in relation to interlocutory applications.
In a reserved judgment today Mr Justice Girvan said he was satisfied the decision to withhold legal aid was based on good reasons and was not wrong in law. He referred to case law, saying it was clear that the judge hearing the civil claim had a vital role to play in ensuring a fair trial.
If he considered that it was in the interests of a fair trial that the defendant receive legal aid he could give a ruling to that effect.
Mr Justice Girvan said counsel for the Commission had stated that if the trial judge was to so indicate then the Commission would be bound to consider an application for legal aid in the light of the court's view.