BT/1075

Victims' families lay out evidence
BY LESLEY-ANNE HENRY
lhenry@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

LAWYERS representing families of Omagh bomb victims were expected to start presenting evidence today against the alleged perpetrators of the 1998 terrorist atrocity.
The long awaited multi-million pound civil action, which opened in Belfast yesterday, is being taken by relatives of six people killed by the bomb on August 15, 1998, who believe five men - Michael McKevitt (58), Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell (43) and Colm Murphy (56) - were responsible. All have denied any part in the bombing.
The four-week long case, is being presided over by Mr Justice Morgan and proceedings could shift to Dublin to hear evidence from 24 Gardai officers.
The landmark civil suit follows the failure of the authorities to bring anyone to justice in almost a decade. Last December south Armagh electrician Sean Hoey was acquitted of 29 counts of murder and all other charges related to the Omagh bomb.
The action, taken by the families affected by the bomb and in the name of Mark Breslin whose wife died in the blast, has been funded by public donations of £1.2m topped up with £800,000 from the Government.
A high powered legal team, which includes London solicitor Jason McCue, senior counsel Lord Daniel Brennan QC and Dr Tony McGleenan junior counsel, has been employed by the families to seek exemplary damages of £14m for physical and psychological hurt caused by the lethal blast.
In a specially adapted room at Belfast's High Court Lord Brennan described the bombing as a "massacre of innocents" which went down in history as the "most infamous atrocity on the island of Ireland".
During his day long opening submission Lord Brennan said he would present "solid and wide ranging evidence" including telephone matrix cell site analysis, which links Seamus McKenna to the bomb car and Seamus Daly to a scout car; statements from British and Irish police officers and statements from an FBI agent David Rupert who had infiltrated the Real IRA in the wake of Omagh. The evidence, he claimed, would expose the activities of the Real IRA.
Lord Brennan said all five defendants were convicted terrorists who knew or knew of each other.
Lord Brennan claimed McKevitt had been quartermaster of the Provisional IRA but had split from them in 1997 - taking equipment and men with him.
It was claimed Liam Campbell was another senior figure within the Real IRA. The court was told that during an RIRA army council vote after Omagh, Campbell was among a minority who voted against a ceasefire.
Lord Brennan said it was "inconceivable" that given their positions of power in the RIRA McKevitt and Campbell were not aware of the Omagh bomb.
It was claimed in court that Colm Murphy was a member of the Continuity IRA which had co-ordinated the bomb with the Real IRA. Murphy (56) was sentenced to 14 years in prison in Dublin in 2002 for conspiracy to cause the Omagh explosion, but had the conviction overturned and is awaiting a retrial.
Lord Brennan alleged that Seamus Daly and Seamus McKenna were foot soldiers within the Real IRA and had travelled to Omagh separately in the bomb car and a scout car on August 15.