NL10An/15

Long journey in fight for justice
On the 10th anniversary of the Omagh bomb, which is today, David Young charts the victims' fruitless attempts to see those responsible for the atrocity brought to justice

TEN years on from the Omagh bombing and the killers have still not been brought to justice.
Two men have gone on trial in connection with the attack, but one, south Armagh electrician Sean Hoey, was acquitted and the other, Co Louth publican Colm Murphy, had his guilty verdict quashed.
Today it seems less likely than ever that anyone will ever will be convicted, with PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde admitting any further prosecutions are unlikely without new evidence coming to light.
The police have been severely criticised for their handling of the case by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman and a Crown Court judge.
A £14 million civil action taken by some of the Omagh families against five men they believe to be responsible got under way earlier this year at Belfast's High Court, with a judgment expected in the autumn.
The following are the main events in the quest to catch the Omagh bombers:
1998
August 15 - 5001b Real IRA bomb explodes in Market Street, Omagh. Twenty-nine die with more than 300 injured.
September 22 - the RUC and Garda arrest 12 men in connection with the bombing. All are subsequently released without charge.
1999
February 25 - seven suspects are arrested and questioned.
February 28 - Colm Murphy, from Ravensdale, Co Louth, is charged with conspiring to cause an explosion.
2000
October 9 - controversial BBC Panorama programme claims police on both sides of border
know who bombed Omagh and names four people it alleges are suspects.
October 28 - families of four bomb victims launch a £14 million civil action against Murphy and four others - Seamus McKenna, Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell and Seamus Daly.
All five lived in and around Dundalk in Co Louth at the time of the bombing.
2001
December - Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan publishes a report on the RUC investigation of the Omagh bomb. She accuses officers of ignoring previous warnings from informants that dissident republicans were planning an attack in Omagh. She recommends a fresh investigation into the case by the PSNI (the service had replaced the RUC in November 2001).
Senior RUC officers at the time of the bomb strongly refute her findings and former Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan issues 190 page counter-report in response.
2002
January 23 - Murphy is convicted by the Republic's Special Criminal Court and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
2003
August 6 - Michael McKevitt is convicted in the Republic's Special Criminal Court of membership of the Real IRA and "directing terrorism" between August 29, 1999 and October 23, 2000. The prosecution case was based on the testimony of FBI informant David Rupert. McKevitt is sentenced to 20 years in prison.
2005
January - Murphy's conviction is quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal and a retrial ordered. A new trial date has yet to be set.
May 26 - Murphy's nephew, Sean Hoey, from Jonesborough, south Armagh, is charged with murdering 29 people at Omagh and involvement in a series of other Real IRA attacks.
2006
September 6 - Hoey's trial begins at Belfast Crown Court.
2007
December 20 - Hoey is found not guilty of all 56 charges against him. Trial judge Mr Justice Weir heavily criticises RUC and PSNI handling of the case.
He says much of the forensic evidence gathered at the bomb site had been so contaminated during collection, transfer and storage as to render it useless.
2008
January 24 - Sir Ronnie Flanagan apologises to the victims' families for the lack of convictions in relation to the Omagh bombing.
February 7 - The Northern Ireland Policing Board appoints a panel of independent experts to re-review the police's investigation of the bombing.
April 7 - Omagh families' civil action against the Real IRA and the five named defendants commences at Belfast High Court.