OMAGH BOMB TRIAL VERDICT IMMINENT
Omagh bomb trial verdict imminent
By Barry McCaffrey
THE verdict in the Omagh bombing trial is to be delivered later this week.
In September last year south Armagh man Sean Hoey went on trial charged with causing the single worst atrocity of the Troubles when 29 people - including a woman pregnant with twins - were killed in the bombing in the Co Tyrone town.
The 37-year-old electrician went on trial charged in connection with a series of dissident bomb attacks, including the Real IRA attack on Omagh in August 1998.
During 56 days of evidence the non-jury trial heard from dozens of witnesses and saw nearly 500 exhibits.
The prosecution was unable to provide forensic evidence that Mr Hoey had made the Omagh bomb but it said that similarities between that device and other Real IRA bombs, allegedly containing Hoey's DNA, proved that he must have been the bomb maker.
Much of the four-month trial was taken up with legal arguments over the credibility of a controversial DNA test, which the prosecution claimed identified Mr Hoey as having made and wired the bombs.
The credibility of the low copy number DNA tests went to the very heart of the case.
Doubt was cast over its credibility during the trial when it was shown that LCN DNA had linked a 14-year-old English schoolboy to one of the devices.
In November last year the Association of Chief Police Officers in England and Wales ordered the retesting of more than 2,000 cases involving LCN DNA after serious concerns were raised over inaccurate test results.
However, details of the reinvestigations did not emerge until after the Omagh trial had ended in January and could not be introduced by Mr Hoey's defence.
In an unusual move during the trial Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan was asked to investigate admissions from two police officers who had admitted that they had been coerced into rewriting their witness statements in a bid to "beef up" the evidence.
The ombudsman was asked to investigate the "beefed-up" statements and admissions that the officers' original statements had gone missing.
Mr Hoey is thought to be among the longest-serving remand prisoners in British penal history, having spent four years in jail awaiting trial.
Some of the Omagh victims' families have already publicly expressed concern over the case.
Earlier this year Kevin Skelton, whose wife Philomena was killed in the bombing, described the trial as a "farce".
"I watched the first two weeks of it through a video link in Omagh and I had to stop," he said.
"It was a shambles. It never should have gone to court and I wouldn't convict him [Sean Hoey] on the evidence that was presented."
By Barry McCaffrey
THE verdict in the Omagh bombing trial is to be delivered later this week.
In September last year south Armagh man Sean Hoey went on trial charged with causing the single worst atrocity of the Troubles when 29 people - including a woman pregnant with twins - were killed in the bombing in the Co Tyrone town.
The 37-year-old electrician went on trial charged in connection with a series of dissident bomb attacks, including the Real IRA attack on Omagh in August 1998.
During 56 days of evidence the non-jury trial heard from dozens of witnesses and saw nearly 500 exhibits.
The prosecution was unable to provide forensic evidence that Mr Hoey had made the Omagh bomb but it said that similarities between that device and other Real IRA bombs, allegedly containing Hoey's DNA, proved that he must have been the bomb maker.
Much of the four-month trial was taken up with legal arguments over the credibility of a controversial DNA test, which the prosecution claimed identified Mr Hoey as having made and wired the bombs.
The credibility of the low copy number DNA tests went to the very heart of the case.
Doubt was cast over its credibility during the trial when it was shown that LCN DNA had linked a 14-year-old English schoolboy to one of the devices.
In November last year the Association of Chief Police Officers in England and Wales ordered the retesting of more than 2,000 cases involving LCN DNA after serious concerns were raised over inaccurate test results.
However, details of the reinvestigations did not emerge until after the Omagh trial had ended in January and could not be introduced by Mr Hoey's defence.
In an unusual move during the trial Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan was asked to investigate admissions from two police officers who had admitted that they had been coerced into rewriting their witness statements in a bid to "beef up" the evidence.
The ombudsman was asked to investigate the "beefed-up" statements and admissions that the officers' original statements had gone missing.
Mr Hoey is thought to be among the longest-serving remand prisoners in British penal history, having spent four years in jail awaiting trial.
Some of the Omagh victims' families have already publicly expressed concern over the case.
Earlier this year Kevin Skelton, whose wife Philomena was killed in the bombing, described the trial as a "farce".
"I watched the first two weeks of it through a video link in Omagh and I had to stop," he said.
"It was a shambles. It never should have gone to court and I wouldn't convict him [Sean Hoey] on the evidence that was presented."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0860
Published Date: 18-Dec-07
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