IN/1051

Two out of four lose appeals as Omagh families call for inquiry

OMAGH bombing victims' relatives have said only a cross-border public Inquiry will bring them closure following the latest ruling in a landmark compensation case against four men.
Two of the dissident republicans sued by families of some of the victims lost an appeal yesterday after being held liable for the 1998 atrocity.
However, the Court of Appeal directed that another man should face a civil retrial and said it would listen to arguments for the retrial of the fourth.
The 12 relatives who brought the landmark case failed in an attempt to have the £I.6 million compensation awarded to them in the original hearing two years ago increased.
The families took their civil action because they said authorities had failed to secure a successful criminal conviction over the bombing, which killed 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins.
In June 2009 Mr Justice Morgan, who is now Northern Ireland's lord chief justice, found that the four men - Michael McKevitt, Seamus Daly, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy -were liable for the Real IRA bombing.
Evidence from an American FBI undercover operative, David Rupert, who claimed to have infiltrated the paramilitary group, was key in the successful action against Real IRA leader McKevitt.
But in January this year the four dissidents launched an appeal before Lord Justice Higgins, Lord Justice Girvan and Lord Justice Coghlin.
Yesterday Lord Justice Higgins said the judges were dismissing the appeals by McKevitt and Campbell.
But he said they were directing a retrial of the claims against Murphy because of a number of legal issues during the original case.
Murphy was the first man to be charged in connection with Omagh but he was later cleared by a court in Dublin.
The judges in Belfast also said they would listen to legal arguments regarding a retrial of the claims against Daly.
None of the four men were in court to hear the judges' ruling yesterday.
Several relatives of the Omagh victims were present.
They heard the judges dismiss their separate appeals in relation to the amount of aggravated damages awarded to them and against the failure of the trial judge to award them exemplary damages.
Afterwards Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aidan was among the victims, said he was disappointed with the outcome.
"It's fair to say we have mixed feelings. Two of the men we believed were key players are still in the frame but we will be studying the judges' ruling with regard to the other two individuals," Mr Gallagher said.
"I think it is inevitable there will be a retrial for Murphy and there is a possibility of a retrial against Daly."
Mr Gallagher said the families' fight for justice would go on.
"To that end we hope to have a meeting soon with the attorney general to discuss some aspects of that," he said.
He said the outcome of the civil action had reinforced the families' calls for a full cross-border, independent public inquiry into the bombing.
Stanley McCombe, whose wife Ann was killed, also called on Northern Ireland's politicians to back the families' calls for a public inquiry.
"The politicians have let us down from 1998 to today. They promise you this and promise you that but they never carry it through," he said.
"All we are asking for is the truth. As far as we are concerned the people who carried out the murders in Omagh will never be brought to justice so let's have some closure on this by a public inquiry."
Mr Gallagher said it was up to each of the 12 families to decide whether or not to continue with the legal action.
"It's been a long, hard struggle and it looks like we will have to continue," he said.
Lawyers will be back in court on September 9 when the case has been listed for mention.