APPEAL LAUNCHED BY TWO BEING SUED OVER OMAGH BOMB
Appeal launched by two being sued over Omagh bomb
TWO of the men being sued in the Omagh bomb compensation case launched an appeal yesterday against alleged legal aid bias in the civil action.
Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were challenging methods used by the Government to help fund the multi-million pound lawsuit.
Central to their case was the Lord Chancellor's decision to approve exceptional legal aid of more than �800,000 to victims' relatives taking the action.
The pair, among five men named in a �14m lawsuit over the August 1998 Real IRA attack which killed 29 people, lost a judicial review challenge brought against Lord Falconer and the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission last year.
Challenging that verdict yesterday, however, their lawyers accused the Lord Chancellor of bias and claimed he pre-determined the outcome of the legal aid process by making public pledges to offer financial assistance to the Omagh relatives before any legal authorisation.
Mary Higgins QC, for Murphy and Daly, urged the Court of Appeal to overrule the judgment that the request for authorisation of exceptional funds was lawful. With the compensation case due to begin in April, she also suggested questions over the right to a fair trial may emerge should the families succeed.
Ms Higgins said: "If the plaintiffs win their case then an issue could arise, that they couldn't have succeeded without the intervention of exceptional treatment.
"That particular argument about bias and interference with a fair trial wouldn't arise until the case is completed, we would suggest."
Along with Murphy and Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and convicted Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt are being sued over the bombing.
High profile support for the action has come from a number of celebrities and political figures, including former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson.
TWO of the men being sued in the Omagh bomb compensation case launched an appeal yesterday against alleged legal aid bias in the civil action.
Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were challenging methods used by the Government to help fund the multi-million pound lawsuit.
Central to their case was the Lord Chancellor's decision to approve exceptional legal aid of more than �800,000 to victims' relatives taking the action.
The pair, among five men named in a �14m lawsuit over the August 1998 Real IRA attack which killed 29 people, lost a judicial review challenge brought against Lord Falconer and the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission last year.
Challenging that verdict yesterday, however, their lawyers accused the Lord Chancellor of bias and claimed he pre-determined the outcome of the legal aid process by making public pledges to offer financial assistance to the Omagh relatives before any legal authorisation.
Mary Higgins QC, for Murphy and Daly, urged the Court of Appeal to overrule the judgment that the request for authorisation of exceptional funds was lawful. With the compensation case due to begin in April, she also suggested questions over the right to a fair trial may emerge should the families succeed.
Ms Higgins said: "If the plaintiffs win their case then an issue could arise, that they couldn't have succeeded without the intervention of exceptional treatment.
"That particular argument about bias and interference with a fair trial wouldn't arise until the case is completed, we would suggest."
Along with Murphy and Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and convicted Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt are being sued over the bombing.
High profile support for the action has come from a number of celebrities and political figures, including former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1066
Published Date: 19-Feb-08
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