LAWSUIT RULING IN FAMILIES' FAVOUR
Lawsuit ruling in families' favour
TWO of the men being sued over the bombing failed yesterday to have all evidence supplied by police to victims' families banned from the multi-million-pound compensation case. Lawyers for Colm Murphy, pictured right, and Seamus Daly, below right, wanted Interview notes, internal reports and cell-site evidence excluded from the civil action. They had claimed that disclosure by the PSNI to relatives of some of those murdered in the 1998 Real IRA attack was unlawful. It was also argued that providing support to the families seeking exemplary damages strengthened suspicions of bias. However, as the trial resumed at the High Court In Belfast Mr Justice Morgan said there was no evidence that police had withheld any information from the suspects. He rejected claims of an "inequality of arms", saying that during the trial the defendants' legal teams had referred to passages of material disclosed by police which they considered to be in their favour. Murphy, Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and convicted Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt deny liability in the case. Ruling on the admissibility of evidence supplied by the PSNI, the judge dismissed further arguments that no such powers to reveal information existed under the Police (Northern Ireland) Act which sets out the general duty of officers. He formed a similar view on submissions that the move breached the Data Protection Act. "I consider that the defendants have not produced any evidence from which I should conclude that there has been any unlawfulness on the part of the PSNI in disclosing this material and I refuse this application," he said.
TWO of the men being sued over the bombing failed yesterday to have all evidence supplied by police to victims' families banned from the multi-million-pound compensation case. Lawyers for Colm Murphy, pictured right, and Seamus Daly, below right, wanted Interview notes, internal reports and cell-site evidence excluded from the civil action. They had claimed that disclosure by the PSNI to relatives of some of those murdered in the 1998 Real IRA attack was unlawful. It was also argued that providing support to the families seeking exemplary damages strengthened suspicions of bias. However, as the trial resumed at the High Court In Belfast Mr Justice Morgan said there was no evidence that police had withheld any information from the suspects. He rejected claims of an "inequality of arms", saying that during the trial the defendants' legal teams had referred to passages of material disclosed by police which they considered to be in their favour. Murphy, Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and convicted Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt deny liability in the case. Ruling on the admissibility of evidence supplied by the PSNI, the judge dismissed further arguments that no such powers to reveal information existed under the Police (Northern Ireland) Act which sets out the general duty of officers. He formed a similar view on submissions that the move breached the Data Protection Act. "I consider that the defendants have not produced any evidence from which I should conclude that there has been any unlawfulness on the part of the PSNI in disclosing this material and I refuse this application," he said.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0961
Published Date: 17-Sep-08
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