IN/0777

Omagh suspect: decision Monday

OMAGH bomb suspect Sean Hoey will know on Monday if he is to be freed on bail. The 36-year-old south Armagh man, facing a total of 58 charges including the Omagh murders and causing the August 1998 bombing, has been in custody for nearly 900 days since his arrest in September 2003. Seamus Treacy QC, defending, told Belfast Crown Court judge Mr Justice Weir yesterday that had he been in England, Hoey would have had an automatic right of bail after 112 days. At the start of the hearing, Mr Justice Weir revealed that before being appointed to the bench he had appeared for the Omagh victims' families in criminal injury claims. At the end of the three-hour hearing, during which the prosecution claimed Hoey would flee and never stand trial - a claim rejected by the defence - the judge said he would like to consider "the primary question on whether or not to grant bail" over the weekend.
He said he would deliver his verdict on Monday and, given the conclusion he may reach, whether it be necessary to take the case any further. Mr Justice Weir was told that up to £50,000 in cash could be lodged in court as well as property deeds to secure bail for Hoey, of Molly Road, Jonesborough, whose mother was also willing to donate her £I,500 of life savings. Earlier, Mr Treacy said that under the law the court did not have to consider the strength of evidence against Hoey - evidence which he claimed falls far short in proving any case against him. He said the principal ground on which the Crown was opposing bail was the substantial risk of Hoey not turning up for his trial and the subsidiary ground that there was a risk of his further offending.
The defence lawyer said refusal of bail on such grounds required "a whole set of circumstances" to be taken into account, including the character of the person involved, his morals and his home links within the community.