OMAGH TRIAL DEFENCE SEEKS TO BLOCK PHONE EVIDENCE
Omagh trial defence seeks to block phone evidence
PHONE records involving a convicted Real IRA man being sued by families of the Omagh bomb victims should not be used in evidence as it breaches privacy, a court heard yesterday.
Counsel for the families want details on calls made and received by Seamus Daly given in evidence in their landmark civil action against five men they accuse of the 1998 atrocity. But during hearings in Dublin the dissident republican's barrister Dermot Fee QC objected, claiming the records cannot be used in a civil trial.
Daly is being sued by the families for �14m along with Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the Real IRA, Liam Campbell, said to be his number two, Colm Murphy and Seamus McKenna. All deny any involvement. "It is a document retained by the guards under the restricted provisions of the Telecommunications Act," Mr Fee said. "Is it proper then that they, for the advancement of the plaintiff's civil case, say we are making that available to you?"
Brett Lockhart SC, acting for the families, said there was no legal reason for the records not to be used.
Judge Conal Gibbons, who is hearing evidence in the presence of Mr Justice Morgan, who has presided over the case in Belfast Crown Court, asked both parties to put their arguments in writing by the end of the month.
PHONE records involving a convicted Real IRA man being sued by families of the Omagh bomb victims should not be used in evidence as it breaches privacy, a court heard yesterday.
Counsel for the families want details on calls made and received by Seamus Daly given in evidence in their landmark civil action against five men they accuse of the 1998 atrocity. But during hearings in Dublin the dissident republican's barrister Dermot Fee QC objected, claiming the records cannot be used in a civil trial.
Daly is being sued by the families for �14m along with Michael McKevitt, the alleged leader of the Real IRA, Liam Campbell, said to be his number two, Colm Murphy and Seamus McKenna. All deny any involvement. "It is a document retained by the guards under the restricted provisions of the Telecommunications Act," Mr Fee said. "Is it proper then that they, for the advancement of the plaintiff's civil case, say we are making that available to you?"
Brett Lockhart SC, acting for the families, said there was no legal reason for the records not to be used.
Judge Conal Gibbons, who is hearing evidence in the presence of Mr Justice Morgan, who has presided over the case in Belfast Crown Court, asked both parties to put their arguments in writing by the end of the month.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1107
Published Date: 11-Sep-08
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