GCHQ'S OMAGH TAPES STUNNED SPECIAL BRANCH
GCHQ's Omagh tapes 'stunned' Special Branch
Ware briefed ex-cops before BBC expose
BY ALAN MURRAY
newseditor@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
SENIOR police officers who investigated the Omagh bombing were stunned when Panorama reporter John Ware told them that GCHQ had listened to the bombers talking on mobiles on their way to the town.
The former senior RUC officers were briefed by the reporter days before the flagship BBC programme was broadcast a week ago but had no idea beforehand of the bombshell disclosure he would tell them.
Five former officers who held the ranks of Chief Superintendent and Assistant Chief Constable in 1998 agreed to meet the Panorama reporter after he made contact with one of the former officers.
One of the men who attended the briefing said he was stunned and disturbed by the BBC man's claims that GCHQ had recordings of the bombers.
"At first we were stunned because we had never heard this before in intelligence or CID circles. Those of us in the Branch knew that the head of South Region requested the one mobile number to be monitored but that was nearly all we knew.
"On either the Tuesday night after the bombing or the Wednesday morning five names of dissident republicans were passed to the South Region Chief Superintendent by GCHQ and those were forwarded to the head of CID and then onto the team investigating the bombing.
"But we were not told why the names were relevant or what they may have done in relation to the bombing on the day or before the day of the attack, we were just given five names and told to work on them. To learn over 10 years later that the government's secret listening station had much more than this was stunning and why it wasn't passed on is bewildering", the former Special Branch officer said.
The former officer, who didn't want his name published, said that he believed that the most likely reasons more details weren't passed on to the Special Branch from GCHQ about the bombers was because of the cult of secrecy which exists within the special listening station and MI5 or, severe embarrassment that the bomb run was 'missed'.
"If you made a request to GCHQ and you got something back from them you didn't ring up and say how do you know this, they wouldn't have told you anyway. You would assume that it was through listening to phone conversations but you would never know if it was the target's home line, mobile, his girlfriend's or his mate's phone or anyone else connected with him.
"In this instance we gave the number, so we knew who had it and its connection with the Banbridge bombing and GCHQ knew that connection. If we had been told on the Saturday night, and GCHQ should have realised the significance of what had been said on the transmissions within hours of the bombing, then arrest operations would have taken place on Sunday or at the latest on Monday morning probably on both sides of the border", the former SB officer said.
The man said that it was the feeling among the group of former officers that John Ware believed that the calls made from the mobile were being monitored in real time and that the reporter had seen proof of the recording or was relying on a contact who could be trusted implicitly.
"John Ware didn't divulge his source or indicate how he came to know what he knows about the GCHQ dimension and we wouldn't expect anything different, said the former Special Branch officer.
Ware briefed ex-cops before BBC expose
BY ALAN MURRAY
newseditor@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
SENIOR police officers who investigated the Omagh bombing were stunned when Panorama reporter John Ware told them that GCHQ had listened to the bombers talking on mobiles on their way to the town.
The former senior RUC officers were briefed by the reporter days before the flagship BBC programme was broadcast a week ago but had no idea beforehand of the bombshell disclosure he would tell them.
Five former officers who held the ranks of Chief Superintendent and Assistant Chief Constable in 1998 agreed to meet the Panorama reporter after he made contact with one of the former officers.
One of the men who attended the briefing said he was stunned and disturbed by the BBC man's claims that GCHQ had recordings of the bombers.
"At first we were stunned because we had never heard this before in intelligence or CID circles. Those of us in the Branch knew that the head of South Region requested the one mobile number to be monitored but that was nearly all we knew.
"On either the Tuesday night after the bombing or the Wednesday morning five names of dissident republicans were passed to the South Region Chief Superintendent by GCHQ and those were forwarded to the head of CID and then onto the team investigating the bombing.
"But we were not told why the names were relevant or what they may have done in relation to the bombing on the day or before the day of the attack, we were just given five names and told to work on them. To learn over 10 years later that the government's secret listening station had much more than this was stunning and why it wasn't passed on is bewildering", the former Special Branch officer said.
The former officer, who didn't want his name published, said that he believed that the most likely reasons more details weren't passed on to the Special Branch from GCHQ about the bombers was because of the cult of secrecy which exists within the special listening station and MI5 or, severe embarrassment that the bomb run was 'missed'.
"If you made a request to GCHQ and you got something back from them you didn't ring up and say how do you know this, they wouldn't have told you anyway. You would assume that it was through listening to phone conversations but you would never know if it was the target's home line, mobile, his girlfriend's or his mate's phone or anyone else connected with him.
"In this instance we gave the number, so we knew who had it and its connection with the Banbridge bombing and GCHQ knew that connection. If we had been told on the Saturday night, and GCHQ should have realised the significance of what had been said on the transmissions within hours of the bombing, then arrest operations would have taken place on Sunday or at the latest on Monday morning probably on both sides of the border", the former SB officer said.
The man said that it was the feeling among the group of former officers that John Ware believed that the calls made from the mobile were being monitored in real time and that the reporter had seen proof of the recording or was relying on a contact who could be trusted implicitly.
"John Ware didn't divulge his source or indicate how he came to know what he knows about the GCHQ dimension and we wouldn't expect anything different, said the former Special Branch officer.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1116
Published Date: 25-Nov-08
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