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Omagh bomb suspects served writs
'One step closer to justice' for 29 Real IRA victims
By IAN GRAHAM and CHRIS PARKIN

THE families of the Omagh bomb victims were last night one step closer to meeting those they believe responsible for the atrocity in court.
Writs were yesterday served on five men in the Republic by the families of the 29 dead, one a woman pregnant with twins, who are convinced the men were responsible for the Real IRA bombing in August 1998 which also left more than 300 injured.
Three of the suspects were given their writs in Portlaoise Prison, two more were delivered to homes in the border town of Dundalk.
The families took their civil action for compensation because no one has yet been charged with the murders by police on either side of the border -though one of those who received a writ in prison, Colm Murphy, is serving 14 years for conspiracy in connection with the bombing.
Michael Gallagher, whose teenage son Aiden died in the bombing, said the move gave him no joy.
"There is no pleasure in this process whatsoever. The families have done this for justice and some measure of learning more about what happened at Omagh.
"We have always wanted people to be held accountable. This is something we can do as families, but we will continue to press both the British and Irish governments to bring people before the courts and put them behind bars."
He said he believed there had been a "flawed investigation" by police in Northern Ireland, but said the families had given the new police team now carrying out the investigation every support.
"No matter how long it takes, we will continue to make sure that those who perpetrated the bombing are put behind bars. "That is the least we can do for the people we lost."
The writ serving began early yesterday morning with a cloak-and-dagger operation in the republican town of Dundalk.
Solicitor Jason McHugh, armed with the writs and accompanied by Irish police, visited what he said were the last known addresses of Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly just before 7am.
At the McKenna home no one answered his knocking on the door and he pushed the writ through the letter box.
But at the Daly household the suspect's father accepted the writ through a narrowly opened window.
Mr McHugh said: "I am satisfied that they have been served." A few hours later and 100 miles away, his legal colleague David-Aire Horsford visited Portlaoise jail.
He personally handed writs to two inmates - Liam Campbell who is serving a sentence for membership of an illegal organisation, and Michael McKevitt who is awaiting trial after becoming the first man to be charged with directing terrorism under legislation enacted by the Irish Parliament in response to the Omagh bombing.
The third - Colm Murphy - refused to meet the lawyer.
The five do not have to answer the writs as they were issued in Belfast High Court. If they fail to do so the families' lawyers will still proceed with their action and have to prove their case.
If they do so successfully it is understood they can be awarded compensation or have an order made to seize the assets of the suspects.
A huge public appeal to raise £2 million to fight the case has been mounted on behalf of the families by the Omagh Victims Legal Trust.
Some £1.5 million has been banked so far but they are still seeking the remaining money to fully fund the legal action.
A spokesman said: "We are one step closer to justice today, a step nearer seeing in court those who are suspected of murdering 31 innocent people in Omagh.
"We could not have reached this point without the generosity of the public throughout the world.
"No thank you is enough to repay their kindness. They are helping us send a signal to the terrorists - justice will have its day," he said.
Stanley McCombe, who lost his wife in the bombing, expressed relief that the legal moves, which had been planned for over a year, were finally under way.
"I think everyone is relieved that we have got to this stage -at least the families are doing something - the Government doesn't seem to be doing something."
Victor Barker, a lawyer who was living in Co Donegal at the time of the bombing and whose young son James was one of three people from there killed in the bombing, spelt out what the case meant.
"This is a civil case. This is not a criminal case. It is not a private prosecution even.
"This is a civil action brought by the families both against the individuals and of course against the organisation known as the Real IRA.
"It is entirely for them to defend or not."
He also said: "If, however, they do not defend, we still have to prove our case and that is the point of this action.
"We are quite happy to go into court armed with the evidence we have.
"If on the balance of probability, a judge says he accepts the civil wrongs we complain of in those writs were done to the families by the individuals named that as far as I'm concerned is the only achievable step of justice which the relatives have under their direct control."