PHONE CALL TOLD OF OMAGH BOMB 'REGRET'
Phone call told of Omagh bomb 'regret'
A MAN claiming to be associated with the Omagh bombers told a journalist they "regretted" killing 29 people in the atrocity, a court heard yesterday.
Reading a number of statements to the Belfast Crown Court trial of Sean Gerard Hoey, prosecuting lawyer Ciaran Murphy told the court that Michael O'Toole, a journalist with the Irish News, received a phone call from a man three days after the devastating explosion.
Quoting from the statement, Mr O'Toole said the caller told him that "at no time" did any of the warning phone calls made to the UTV newsroom and the Samaritans claim the bomb was close to the courthouse, claiming instead it was a "commercial target".
The reporter also said in his statement that the caller claimed it was "not our intention to kill civilians" and when asked by Mr O'Toole if they regretted the deaths, he was told, "of course we regret the deaths - we never meant to kill any civilians".
The caller also told the journalist the call was in response to appeals by Bertie Ahern and also revealed to Mr O'Toole that "operations will be suspended from midnight".
Hoey, from the Molly Road in Jonesborough, south Armagh, denies a total of 58 charges, including the worst terrorist atrocity to be committed in Northern Ireland - the Omagh bombing in which 29 people, including unborn twins lost their lives.
The trial yesterday heard evidence relating to the phone calls made in relation to warnings about the various bomb attacks, including Omagh.
In a taped recording played to the court, Margaret Hall, a programmes assistant in the UTV newsroom can be heard telling a 999 operator that she was "only after receiving a phone call from a man with a country accent that there is a bomb on Omagh Main Street near the courthouse".
She is also heard telling the officer that the unknown male caller had told her in the first call she received that it would go off in half an hour but that in a second call, the man claims it is due to go off in 15 minutes.
A MAN claiming to be associated with the Omagh bombers told a journalist they "regretted" killing 29 people in the atrocity, a court heard yesterday.
Reading a number of statements to the Belfast Crown Court trial of Sean Gerard Hoey, prosecuting lawyer Ciaran Murphy told the court that Michael O'Toole, a journalist with the Irish News, received a phone call from a man three days after the devastating explosion.
Quoting from the statement, Mr O'Toole said the caller told him that "at no time" did any of the warning phone calls made to the UTV newsroom and the Samaritans claim the bomb was close to the courthouse, claiming instead it was a "commercial target".
The reporter also said in his statement that the caller claimed it was "not our intention to kill civilians" and when asked by Mr O'Toole if they regretted the deaths, he was told, "of course we regret the deaths - we never meant to kill any civilians".
The caller also told the journalist the call was in response to appeals by Bertie Ahern and also revealed to Mr O'Toole that "operations will be suspended from midnight".
Hoey, from the Molly Road in Jonesborough, south Armagh, denies a total of 58 charges, including the worst terrorist atrocity to be committed in Northern Ireland - the Omagh bombing in which 29 people, including unborn twins lost their lives.
The trial yesterday heard evidence relating to the phone calls made in relation to warnings about the various bomb attacks, including Omagh.
In a taped recording played to the court, Margaret Hall, a programmes assistant in the UTV newsroom can be heard telling a 999 operator that she was "only after receiving a phone call from a man with a country accent that there is a bomb on Omagh Main Street near the courthouse".
She is also heard telling the officer that the unknown male caller had told her in the first call she received that it would go off in half an hour but that in a second call, the man claims it is due to go off in 15 minutes.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1025
Published Date: 13-Oct-06
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