PIPE BOMB INJURES OMAGH INFORMER
Pipe bomb injures Omagh informer
Valerie Robinson
Southern Correspondent
newsdesk@irishnews.com
AN INFORMER who is said to have warned gardai that the Real IRA was planning a major attack a month before the Omagh atrocity has been injured in a pipe-bomb blast.
Paddy Dixon (48), who supplied stolen cars to dissident republicans, was at the centre of claims that detectives failed to warn the RUC that a northern town was being targeted.
The Dubliner was last night being treated for facial and upper-body injuries after a booby-trap device exploded as he opened the front door of his home in Beechgrove, Navan, Co Meath, at around 8am.
A Garda spokesman said Dixon's injuries were "minor" and that there had been "slight" damage to the house.
It is understood the victim escaped serious injury after spotting a wire and stepping backwards into the house.
The former car thief remained under armed guard at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda last night.
Investigators believe that Dixon was the victim of a revenge attack by the Real IRA.
It had been thought that he and his family had been given new identities and moved to a new home on mainland Europe.
However, five years ago it was reported that Dixon had been living in England and had been removed from a witness-protection scheme.
At the time, Omagh relatives expressed concern that he could become a target of the Real IRA.
After yesterday's potentially fatal attack it emerged that he had been living openly in Navan with his wife.
A decade ago the public learned that Dixon had played a crucial role as an informer in the months before the Omagh bombing on August 15 2008.
It was said that Dixon told his Garda handler - former Special Branch detective sergeant John White - about at least nine IRA bomb plots over a seven-month period.
In 2006 Mr White would allege that in July 1998 Dixon told him that the Real IRA was planning a "spectacular" attack in the north and that he had been asked to provide a Vauxhall car.
Mr White claimed he passed the information to his superiors but a decision was taken not to act on it or to track the movements of the car.
Mr White was sacked from the Garda in 2006 after the Morris Tribunal on Garda corruption in Donegal found he had planted a shotgun at a Traveller halting site to justify a number of arrests.
A jury later threw out a case against him.
Valerie Robinson
Southern Correspondent
newsdesk@irishnews.com
AN INFORMER who is said to have warned gardai that the Real IRA was planning a major attack a month before the Omagh atrocity has been injured in a pipe-bomb blast.
Paddy Dixon (48), who supplied stolen cars to dissident republicans, was at the centre of claims that detectives failed to warn the RUC that a northern town was being targeted.
The Dubliner was last night being treated for facial and upper-body injuries after a booby-trap device exploded as he opened the front door of his home in Beechgrove, Navan, Co Meath, at around 8am.
A Garda spokesman said Dixon's injuries were "minor" and that there had been "slight" damage to the house.
It is understood the victim escaped serious injury after spotting a wire and stepping backwards into the house.
The former car thief remained under armed guard at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda last night.
Investigators believe that Dixon was the victim of a revenge attack by the Real IRA.
It had been thought that he and his family had been given new identities and moved to a new home on mainland Europe.
However, five years ago it was reported that Dixon had been living in England and had been removed from a witness-protection scheme.
At the time, Omagh relatives expressed concern that he could become a target of the Real IRA.
After yesterday's potentially fatal attack it emerged that he had been living openly in Navan with his wife.
A decade ago the public learned that Dixon had played a crucial role as an informer in the months before the Omagh bombing on August 15 2008.
It was said that Dixon told his Garda handler - former Special Branch detective sergeant John White - about at least nine IRA bomb plots over a seven-month period.
In 2006 Mr White would allege that in July 1998 Dixon told him that the Real IRA was planning a "spectacular" attack in the north and that he had been asked to provide a Vauxhall car.
Mr White claimed he passed the information to his superiors but a decision was taken not to act on it or to track the movements of the car.
Mr White was sacked from the Garda in 2006 after the Morris Tribunal on Garda corruption in Donegal found he had planted a shotgun at a Traveller halting site to justify a number of arrests.
A jury later threw out a case against him.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/1054
Published Date: 25-Aug-11
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