IN/0946

Garda 'concocted' Omagh evidence
By Sarah Stack PA

SENIOR garda who probed the Omagh bombing yesterday denied that he manufactured the interview notes of a prime suspect.
Detective Garda James Hanley rejected claims that officers inserted stock Garda phrases into statements.
Dermot Fee QC, for Colm Murphy, told the landmark civil action that similar statements appeared in the transcript of notes taken by the retired officer in other high-profile court cases in the Republic.
The barrister criticised Mr Hanley's evidence that Garda members did not exchange information between interviews.
Mr Fee also raised concerns over why interviews were not tape recorded and queried why there were only a small number of notes from interviews which were up to four hours long.
"Mr Murphy says he made no incriminating admissions or remarks at any time during his interview," Mr Fee said.
"What he says happened here is more has been added on to the interview notes by gardai."
Mr Fee accused the officers of concocting admissions in order to make Murphy liable for the incident.
"I deny that happened," Mr Hanley said.
The RIRA bomb exploded on August 15 1998, killing 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins.
Alleged RIRA leader Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell - said to be his number two - Murphy, Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly all deny any involvement.
The £14 million ground-breaking action by six families is the first time the victims of terrorism have confronted the alleged perpetrators and the first time evidence from a Northern Ireland case has been heard in the Republic.
The court heard Murphy was arrested in February 1999 for the unlawful possession of explosive substances in Dundalk between August 13 and 15, 1998.
He was interviewed 16 times by three teams of gardai during his three-day detention at Monaghan Garda Station.
Mr Fee said his client's position throughout his criminal trial was that interviewing officers concocted admissions.
Murphy (56) was convicted in connection with Omagh in 2002 but later had his conviction overturned following claims that two officers lied during his trial.
Detective gardai John Fahy and Liam Donnell had pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury, forgery and using a forged document.
During their trial in October 2006 a judge directed the jury to find the detectives not guilty on grounds that the forged interview notes and technical analysis of them were inadmissible.
Mr Fee said Murphy's statements included a number of "stock Garda phrases" which he claimed also appeared in interviews conducted by Mr Hanley following the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin.
The barrister read from one of Murphy's interviews: "This is a dangerous scene. I'm happy if I get 20 years. My conscious is clear. I wasn't in Omagh."
"This phrase came from you, the garda interviewing Mr Murphy. He never uttered those words," Mr Fee said.
"He said those exact words," Mr Hanley replied.
The evidence from gardai is being heard by district judge Conal Gibbons in the presence of Mr Justice Morgan who has no judicial powers in the court.