ALLEGED OMAGH BOMBER WAS SNIGGERING AND LAUGHING
Alleged Omagh bomber was 'sniggering' and 'laughing'
ONE of the Omagh bomb accused was seen drunkenly laughing and sniggering in a bar hours after the atrocity, the High Court heard yesterday.
Seamus Daly also allegedly teased another drinker by saying he drove the car packed with explosives to the scene of the blast.
The claims were made to police by Patrick Morgan, who worked for businessman Colm Murphy - another of the five men being sued by relatives of some of those killed in the 1998 attack.
Mr Morgan told detectives he unwittingly lent his mobile telephone to his boss the day before the August mid-afternoon massacre.
He was brought in for questioning months later because the investigation team believed this phone was used in the Vauxhall Cavalier that transported the bomb to the scene.
Transcripts from his interviews were read out at the multi-million-pound civil action in Belfast by Gerry McLoughlin, one of the detectives who spent days quizzing him.
The court heard how Mr Morgan claimed to have seen Mr Murphy in the Emerald Bar he ran in Dundalk, Co Louth on the night of the Omagh bomb.
Daly and other associates including a butcher referred to as "the fat boy" were with the pub owner, he told police. Asked by detectives about Mr Daly's behaviour on the night in question, Mr Morgan replied: "He was drunk and he was slabbering.
"He said: 'You're the boy that drove that yoke [car] to Omagh'. He was laughing, sniggering and drunk."
Mr Morgan claimed to have walked away after the comments were made, telling police he "knew his pedigree".
Mr Murphy and Mr Daly are being sued along with convicted Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell and Seamus McKenna. All five deny responsibility.
During a second day examining police interviews with Mr Morgan, who worked as a foreman for Mr Murphy on a Dublin building site, the court heard how he described Mr McKenna as a "waster" who may have left the bar earlier that night because he was drunk.
According to Mr Morgan he did not turn up for work on the building site the whole of the next week, although he said this happened quite regularly when Mr McKenna went on a binge.
At one stage in the interviews he admitted thinking those in the bar may have been involved with dissident republican organisations and sought reassurances from those questioning him by asking: "This definitely doesn't go anywhere, does it? Because I have a wife and children."
Cross-examining Mr McLoughlin, Brian Fee QC, for Mr McKenna, said the interviews with Mr Morgan focused on Mr Murphy's pub because it was believed to be a staunchly republican bar, with its regulars "tainted" by being in it.
"At times the suggestion was being put to Mr Morgan that anybody who would be drinking in the Emerald Bar is up to his neck in an illegal organisation: the Real IRA, Continuity IRA," Mr Fee said. After the barrister referred to republican paraphernalia and pictures of hunger strikers on its walls, Mr McLoughlin agreed that it was suggested to Mr Morgan that virtually no-one other than republicans would drink there.
Mr Fee rejected this assessment, before turning to the men Mr Murphy employed.
"The idea that this is some sort of Real IRA cell that makes up this workforce is not right. That's what Mr Morgan was saying," he said.
"He made it clear he didn't like Mr McKenna and he wasn't a bit afraid to make his views about Mr McKenna known.
"He regarded Mr McKenna as a complete waster - a guy who drank his head off, was a good enough worker when he put his mind to it and turned up for work but a lot of the time he was on the rip."
ONE of the Omagh bomb accused was seen drunkenly laughing and sniggering in a bar hours after the atrocity, the High Court heard yesterday.
Seamus Daly also allegedly teased another drinker by saying he drove the car packed with explosives to the scene of the blast.
The claims were made to police by Patrick Morgan, who worked for businessman Colm Murphy - another of the five men being sued by relatives of some of those killed in the 1998 attack.
Mr Morgan told detectives he unwittingly lent his mobile telephone to his boss the day before the August mid-afternoon massacre.
He was brought in for questioning months later because the investigation team believed this phone was used in the Vauxhall Cavalier that transported the bomb to the scene.
Transcripts from his interviews were read out at the multi-million-pound civil action in Belfast by Gerry McLoughlin, one of the detectives who spent days quizzing him.
The court heard how Mr Morgan claimed to have seen Mr Murphy in the Emerald Bar he ran in Dundalk, Co Louth on the night of the Omagh bomb.
Daly and other associates including a butcher referred to as "the fat boy" were with the pub owner, he told police. Asked by detectives about Mr Daly's behaviour on the night in question, Mr Morgan replied: "He was drunk and he was slabbering.
"He said: 'You're the boy that drove that yoke [car] to Omagh'. He was laughing, sniggering and drunk."
Mr Morgan claimed to have walked away after the comments were made, telling police he "knew his pedigree".
Mr Murphy and Mr Daly are being sued along with convicted Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell and Seamus McKenna. All five deny responsibility.
During a second day examining police interviews with Mr Morgan, who worked as a foreman for Mr Murphy on a Dublin building site, the court heard how he described Mr McKenna as a "waster" who may have left the bar earlier that night because he was drunk.
According to Mr Morgan he did not turn up for work on the building site the whole of the next week, although he said this happened quite regularly when Mr McKenna went on a binge.
At one stage in the interviews he admitted thinking those in the bar may have been involved with dissident republican organisations and sought reassurances from those questioning him by asking: "This definitely doesn't go anywhere, does it? Because I have a wife and children."
Cross-examining Mr McLoughlin, Brian Fee QC, for Mr McKenna, said the interviews with Mr Morgan focused on Mr Murphy's pub because it was believed to be a staunchly republican bar, with its regulars "tainted" by being in it.
"At times the suggestion was being put to Mr Morgan that anybody who would be drinking in the Emerald Bar is up to his neck in an illegal organisation: the Real IRA, Continuity IRA," Mr Fee said. After the barrister referred to republican paraphernalia and pictures of hunger strikers on its walls, Mr McLoughlin agreed that it was suggested to Mr Morgan that virtually no-one other than republicans would drink there.
Mr Fee rejected this assessment, before turning to the men Mr Murphy employed.
"The idea that this is some sort of Real IRA cell that makes up this workforce is not right. That's what Mr Morgan was saying," he said.
"He made it clear he didn't like Mr McKenna and he wasn't a bit afraid to make his views about Mr McKenna known.
"He regarded Mr McKenna as a complete waster - a guy who drank his head off, was a good enough worker when he put his mind to it and turned up for work but a lot of the time he was on the rip."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0951
Published Date: 18-Jun-08
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