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Judge vows to push ahead with families' case for compensation

A JUDGE underlined his determination yesterday to get the multi-million pound Omagh bomb compensation case under way in April. Mr Justice Morgan told lawyers for relatives of those killed in the atrocity and the five men suspected of leading the terrorist organisation behind the attack that he was not prepared to halt proceedings.
One of the men being sued by the Omagh families, Colm Murphy, is involved in legal proceedings in the Republic over offences connected to the August 1998 bombing which claimed 29 lives, including a woman pregnant with twins.
But at the High Court in Belfast Mr Justice Morgan said: "Unless it was the case that Mr Murphy's trial was likely to take place during this proposed trial I don't see any reason why it should interfere with the conduct of this litigation."
Lord Brennan, senior counsel for the families taking the £14 million civil action, said his team was seeking material from police on both sides of the border. "The PSNI's view is that they will cooperate to the extent they feel able to," he added.
As it stands, the compensation trial is due to get under way on April 7, and could run for up to two months.
The case began in 2001 with writs issued against alleged Real IRA leaders Michael McKevitt, Seamus Daly, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus McKenna, who have all denied liability.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan died in the blast, was among several relatives in court yesterday. "We hope progress has been made and the lawyers are still mindful of having the trial start in April," he said afterwards.
"As far as the families are concerned there needs to be movement forward.
"We have been in this process for seven years and we would particularly like to have this resolved before the 10th anniversary of the bombing."