MAGISTRATE SET TO RULE ON FUTURE OF SUSPECTED OMAGH BOMBER
Magistrate set to rule on future of suspected Omagh bomber
A MAGISTRATE will rule today on whether a south Armagh man should stand trial for the Omagh bomb murders and a series of other paramilitary offences.
After a three-day committal hearing at Belfast Magistrates' Court, magistrate Desmond Perry said he would rule this morning on whether Sean Hoey (36) should be sent for trial after denying the 61 terrorist and explosive charges against him.
During submissions on day three of the hearing yesterday, the Crown revealed that timers used in a Real IRA bombing campaign in 1998,
including the Omagh atrocity, all came from the same French factory. Gordon Kerr QC said the timers were all made in the 10th week of 1997 and shipped to an outlet in Dundalk. He said the evidence against Hoey, an electrician of Molly Road, Jonesborough, was "circumstantial but cumulative".
"It is the totality of evidence which we say proves there is a prima facie case to be answered," he said.
Mr Kerr said it was the Crown case that all the bombs in the Real IRA 1998 campaign were linked to each other and to the accused.
He said the Crown would argue that Hoey had been the maker of the timing power units in the bombs.
Mr Kerr listed the similarities between the bombs and said it was his case that they did not just contain similar materials but were similar in making.
He pointed out that while all the Northern Ireland bombs were the same, they were different to others used by the Real IRA outside the jurisdiction.
He said experts had told the hearing that fibre evidence linked Hoey to eight of the devices and DNA linked him to three. A voice expert had also tied him to a warning phoned to the emergency services about one of the bombs.
Defence barrister Martin O'Rourke argued that the case against his client was "of such a tenuous nature" that no jury could rightly convict and therefore Hoey should not be returned for trial.
He said each charge should be looked at individually by the magistrates and tested before the accused was committed for trial on it.
"This is not about a large cauldron put before the court, with implications the accused was probably involved in some incidents and was therefore involved in all," he said.
"It is not a case of a row of dominos where there is evidence which knocks on to other charges."
And he said significantly, Mr Hoey had not been charged with membership of any republican organisation which may have planted bombs.
A MAGISTRATE will rule today on whether a south Armagh man should stand trial for the Omagh bomb murders and a series of other paramilitary offences.
After a three-day committal hearing at Belfast Magistrates' Court, magistrate Desmond Perry said he would rule this morning on whether Sean Hoey (36) should be sent for trial after denying the 61 terrorist and explosive charges against him.
During submissions on day three of the hearing yesterday, the Crown revealed that timers used in a Real IRA bombing campaign in 1998,
including the Omagh atrocity, all came from the same French factory. Gordon Kerr QC said the timers were all made in the 10th week of 1997 and shipped to an outlet in Dundalk. He said the evidence against Hoey, an electrician of Molly Road, Jonesborough, was "circumstantial but cumulative".
"It is the totality of evidence which we say proves there is a prima facie case to be answered," he said.
Mr Kerr said it was the Crown case that all the bombs in the Real IRA 1998 campaign were linked to each other and to the accused.
He said the Crown would argue that Hoey had been the maker of the timing power units in the bombs.
Mr Kerr listed the similarities between the bombs and said it was his case that they did not just contain similar materials but were similar in making.
He pointed out that while all the Northern Ireland bombs were the same, they were different to others used by the Real IRA outside the jurisdiction.
He said experts had told the hearing that fibre evidence linked Hoey to eight of the devices and DNA linked him to three. A voice expert had also tied him to a warning phoned to the emergency services about one of the bombs.
Defence barrister Martin O'Rourke argued that the case against his client was "of such a tenuous nature" that no jury could rightly convict and therefore Hoey should not be returned for trial.
He said each charge should be looked at individually by the magistrates and tested before the accused was committed for trial on it.
"This is not about a large cauldron put before the court, with implications the accused was probably involved in some incidents and was therefore involved in all," he said.
"It is not a case of a row of dominos where there is evidence which knocks on to other charges."
And he said significantly, Mr Hoey had not been charged with membership of any republican organisation which may have planted bombs.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0754
Published Date: 02-Sep-05
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.