FRESH CALL FOR FULL ENQUIRY
Fresh call for full inquiry
By Sharon O'Neill
in Omagh
RELATIVES of the 29 victims of the Omagh bomb yesterday voiced deep unease over the state of the police investigation.
Families issued a fresh call for a full public inquiry into the bomb investigation after expressing dissatisfaction over Sir Ronnie Flanagan's defence of the police probe into the 1998 Real IRA attack.
The police chief's rebuttal of the Police Ombudsman's damning report was not enough to convince relatives that all avenues of the investigation were exhausted in the hunt for the bombers.
Sir Ronnie personally delivered his response to criticisms of his leadership, the actions of Special Branch and senior officers in the inquiry, to relatives in Omagh in a meeting lasting almost five hours.
Families of those killed in the attack including a woman pregnant with twins and survivors of the bombing returned to the Silverbirch hotel in Omagh to hear the chief constable's version of events in a controversy that has left them devastated.
While admitting administrative errors had been made during the investigation, Sir Ronnie robustly defended his leadership and reputation of his officers.
Hitting back at Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, he said her report contained "serious errors of fact and omission" and insisted two warnings received prior to the attack could not have prevented the Omagh bombing.
But Lawrence Rush, whose wife Libbi was killed in the blast, walked out of the meeting in disgust said many questions were still left unanswered and believed the investigation was in tatters.
"Today the people of Omagh have been drowned in a long monotonous denial surrounding police investigative inaccuracies. Sir Ronnie Flanagan has done very little to appease our fears about police inadequacies.
"He has blatantly denied every allegation made against him, Special Branch and the higher ranks of the PSNI. That does not include the ordinary RUC men who we are eternally grateful to and some of the policemen who have helped us particularly in our time of need.
"We are left in this precarious position where the investigation is stagnating. It is time Sir Ronnie Flanagan produced results. Today's news will be forgotten tomorrow. But the fact remains the investigation was flawed as highlighted by Nuala O'Loan and only one man stands convicted of this atrocity.
"It is time the police force with all the reviews and all their experience and after 30 years of murder might finally come to their senses and put together a police force that is affective.
"He (Sir Ronnie) is a good talker, he is a great PR man and he is a very affable sort of person but he is defending a force and there are inadequacies, ineptitude and deceit and I think that good housekeeping is required to say the least.
"To me Ronnie Flanagan, great PR man as he is, his lost this battle."
William Gibson, whose daughter Esther was killed, was equally disappointed: "It has been three and a half years and they (investigation team) have done nothing only charge one man (Colm Murphy) who is being sentenced tomorrow. They have done nothing this side of the border as far as I am concerned."
When asked by the Irish News if he had any confidence in the investigation, he said: "I have no confidence in the whole thing to tell you the truth. I am disappointed, if you had somebody blown up three and a half years ago and nobody did anything about it, you would feel disappointed about it too."
Speaking afterwards, Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed, spoke on behalf of a number of families and said further consultation was needed on Sir Ronnie's response but added: "We are by no means happy with what we heard."
"We are out here for the truth. We are not going to get involved in this fight between Nuala O'Loan's office and the chief constable's office. We see ourselves as far above that and we would appeal to the politicians out there that have made mileage out of Omagh so far, not to jump in as they usually do on these occasions and come at it from at it from a political, religious focus but look purely at the facts as they find them," he said.
Mr Gallagher angrily hit out at Sir Ronnie's decision to appoint an senior independent officer to act as an adviser in the investigation, which Nuala O'Loan insisted should be headed by an outside police chief.
"I can see very few of them (ombudsman's recommendations) being implemented. Somebody said earlier about a public inquiry, possibly that is one of the ways of resolving this if we have an independent person to assess who is telling the truth here and who has got it wrong.
"The truth can't emerge if an organisation and there are many, not just Special Branch, working in the intelligence field that gathers information, if you don't use that information to save life what is the point in gathering it?
"We have been done wrong and that is the bottom line. We shouldn't even be here talking about this three and a half years on.
"If you look at the major crimes committed in England since the Omagh bomb, you have Jill Dando, Damilola Taylor. You have got all the various serious high-profile crimes that were committed. People are either in due process or have been convicted. But yet we have 31 including two unborn children killed, over 600 families affected and still we have somebody who wasn't even the bomber in jail at the moment."
Kevin Skelton, who lost his wife Philomena in blast, also felt disillusioned about the inquiry.
"Speaking personally there is a possibility that we need a public inquiry," he said.
A view echoed by Stanley McCombe, whose wife Ann was killed in the explosion. "We have to the truth. But I would also say that Sir Ronnie and Nuala O'Loan have to sort their own differences out and this should be done by media on TV, the world hear what we have heard."
Donna-Marie McGillion, who is stilling battle overcome severe injuries sustained in the bombing said she would study the report carefully before reaching a final judgment.
Mrs McGillion, who attended the meeting with her husband Gary, who was also injured in the blast, said: "I always had confidence in the investigation and I firmly believe that everybody will do their best and utmost to secure convictions against these people.
"Lets be reassured this is not the only atrocity that has happened in Northern Ireland. It not on affects the people of Omagh but everybody across Northern Ireland who has been affected by the troubles."
Former victims commissioner Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, who chaired the meeting, said it had been an extremely traumatic day for relatives.
"The families, and this isn't at all surprising to me, are very disturbed, very traumatised people, I think the experiences they have been through over the last three years have not been easy for them and there are very real questions clearly in their minds about the whole event.
"It was important, not only for the chief constable himself, but senior officers of the Gardai and representation from the forensic science side were there and willing to answer all the questions that were put."
As families this morning await the sentencing of Colm Murphy, the only man convicted in connection with the bombing, Michael Gallagher vowed "Our fight has just begun."
By Sharon O'Neill
in Omagh
RELATIVES of the 29 victims of the Omagh bomb yesterday voiced deep unease over the state of the police investigation.
Families issued a fresh call for a full public inquiry into the bomb investigation after expressing dissatisfaction over Sir Ronnie Flanagan's defence of the police probe into the 1998 Real IRA attack.
The police chief's rebuttal of the Police Ombudsman's damning report was not enough to convince relatives that all avenues of the investigation were exhausted in the hunt for the bombers.
Sir Ronnie personally delivered his response to criticisms of his leadership, the actions of Special Branch and senior officers in the inquiry, to relatives in Omagh in a meeting lasting almost five hours.
Families of those killed in the attack including a woman pregnant with twins and survivors of the bombing returned to the Silverbirch hotel in Omagh to hear the chief constable's version of events in a controversy that has left them devastated.
While admitting administrative errors had been made during the investigation, Sir Ronnie robustly defended his leadership and reputation of his officers.
Hitting back at Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, he said her report contained "serious errors of fact and omission" and insisted two warnings received prior to the attack could not have prevented the Omagh bombing.
But Lawrence Rush, whose wife Libbi was killed in the blast, walked out of the meeting in disgust said many questions were still left unanswered and believed the investigation was in tatters.
"Today the people of Omagh have been drowned in a long monotonous denial surrounding police investigative inaccuracies. Sir Ronnie Flanagan has done very little to appease our fears about police inadequacies.
"He has blatantly denied every allegation made against him, Special Branch and the higher ranks of the PSNI. That does not include the ordinary RUC men who we are eternally grateful to and some of the policemen who have helped us particularly in our time of need.
"We are left in this precarious position where the investigation is stagnating. It is time Sir Ronnie Flanagan produced results. Today's news will be forgotten tomorrow. But the fact remains the investigation was flawed as highlighted by Nuala O'Loan and only one man stands convicted of this atrocity.
"It is time the police force with all the reviews and all their experience and after 30 years of murder might finally come to their senses and put together a police force that is affective.
"He (Sir Ronnie) is a good talker, he is a great PR man and he is a very affable sort of person but he is defending a force and there are inadequacies, ineptitude and deceit and I think that good housekeeping is required to say the least.
"To me Ronnie Flanagan, great PR man as he is, his lost this battle."
William Gibson, whose daughter Esther was killed, was equally disappointed: "It has been three and a half years and they (investigation team) have done nothing only charge one man (Colm Murphy) who is being sentenced tomorrow. They have done nothing this side of the border as far as I am concerned."
When asked by the Irish News if he had any confidence in the investigation, he said: "I have no confidence in the whole thing to tell you the truth. I am disappointed, if you had somebody blown up three and a half years ago and nobody did anything about it, you would feel disappointed about it too."
Speaking afterwards, Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed, spoke on behalf of a number of families and said further consultation was needed on Sir Ronnie's response but added: "We are by no means happy with what we heard."
"We are out here for the truth. We are not going to get involved in this fight between Nuala O'Loan's office and the chief constable's office. We see ourselves as far above that and we would appeal to the politicians out there that have made mileage out of Omagh so far, not to jump in as they usually do on these occasions and come at it from at it from a political, religious focus but look purely at the facts as they find them," he said.
Mr Gallagher angrily hit out at Sir Ronnie's decision to appoint an senior independent officer to act as an adviser in the investigation, which Nuala O'Loan insisted should be headed by an outside police chief.
"I can see very few of them (ombudsman's recommendations) being implemented. Somebody said earlier about a public inquiry, possibly that is one of the ways of resolving this if we have an independent person to assess who is telling the truth here and who has got it wrong.
"The truth can't emerge if an organisation and there are many, not just Special Branch, working in the intelligence field that gathers information, if you don't use that information to save life what is the point in gathering it?
"We have been done wrong and that is the bottom line. We shouldn't even be here talking about this three and a half years on.
"If you look at the major crimes committed in England since the Omagh bomb, you have Jill Dando, Damilola Taylor. You have got all the various serious high-profile crimes that were committed. People are either in due process or have been convicted. But yet we have 31 including two unborn children killed, over 600 families affected and still we have somebody who wasn't even the bomber in jail at the moment."
Kevin Skelton, who lost his wife Philomena in blast, also felt disillusioned about the inquiry.
"Speaking personally there is a possibility that we need a public inquiry," he said.
A view echoed by Stanley McCombe, whose wife Ann was killed in the explosion. "We have to the truth. But I would also say that Sir Ronnie and Nuala O'Loan have to sort their own differences out and this should be done by media on TV, the world hear what we have heard."
Donna-Marie McGillion, who is stilling battle overcome severe injuries sustained in the bombing said she would study the report carefully before reaching a final judgment.
Mrs McGillion, who attended the meeting with her husband Gary, who was also injured in the blast, said: "I always had confidence in the investigation and I firmly believe that everybody will do their best and utmost to secure convictions against these people.
"Lets be reassured this is not the only atrocity that has happened in Northern Ireland. It not on affects the people of Omagh but everybody across Northern Ireland who has been affected by the troubles."
Former victims commissioner Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, who chaired the meeting, said it had been an extremely traumatic day for relatives.
"The families, and this isn't at all surprising to me, are very disturbed, very traumatised people, I think the experiences they have been through over the last three years have not been easy for them and there are very real questions clearly in their minds about the whole event.
"It was important, not only for the chief constable himself, but senior officers of the Gardai and representation from the forensic science side were there and willing to answer all the questions that were put."
As families this morning await the sentencing of Colm Murphy, the only man convicted in connection with the bombing, Michael Gallagher vowed "Our fight has just begun."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0522
Published Date: 25-Jan-02
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