O'LOAN TO PROBE OMAGH ATTACK CALL
O'Loan to probe Omagh attack call
Ombudsman to examine claims on Continuity IRA operation
By DERIC HENDERSON
PART of the Omagh bomb inquiry is to be investigated by Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, it was revealed last night.
Her office is to probe the circumstances surrounding an anonymous telephone call which warned of an attack to take place in the Tyrone town on the day of the atrocity.
The Ombudsman will be seeking details after it emerged that a former Special Branch officer is to be interviewed by detectives attempting to establish the source of the call.
It was made to police on August 4,1998,11 days before the bombing, but the information was never passed on to officers on the ground.
Relatives of some of the 29 people killed, which included a mother pregnant with twins, had urged the Ombudsman to carry out her own investigation into the phone call.
Four years ago, she issued a damning report of the investigation by the Royal Ulster Constabulary and claimed the leadership and judgment of the then Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan was seriously flawed, an allegation he rejected, amid a monumental row.
Her spokesman confirmed last night that her officers, headed up by executive director Dave Wood were back on the case.
The Special Branch officer has already been questioned as part of an investigation unrelated to the Omagh inquiry, but it is not known if he has yet been interviewed in an attempt to trace the source of the telephone call.
He has been transferred from Special Branch to other policing duties.
A spokesperson for the PSNI said: "As there is an Ombudsman investigation in this area, we will be making no further comment."
A male caller had contacted the CID office in Omagh at 10am on August 4,1998, when he spoke to a detective constable.
He named two men whom he claimed would be bringing across the border four dismantled AK47 rifles and two rocket launchers belonging to the Continuity IRA which he said, would be used in an attack on police in Omagh on August 15.
At the time, the CID officer believed the caller to be genuine, briefed the senior detective on duty and then travelled to Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, where he informed Special Branch officers. They allegedly told him there was nothing in the information and that the two men named were ordinary criminals.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was among those killed in the Omagh bomb attack, said the authorities in Dublin should also carry out a similar investigation after claims the Gardai did not act on the warning of a planned Real IRA attack in Northern Ireland at the time of Omagh.
Ombudsman to examine claims on Continuity IRA operation
By DERIC HENDERSON
PART of the Omagh bomb inquiry is to be investigated by Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, it was revealed last night.
Her office is to probe the circumstances surrounding an anonymous telephone call which warned of an attack to take place in the Tyrone town on the day of the atrocity.
The Ombudsman will be seeking details after it emerged that a former Special Branch officer is to be interviewed by detectives attempting to establish the source of the call.
It was made to police on August 4,1998,11 days before the bombing, but the information was never passed on to officers on the ground.
Relatives of some of the 29 people killed, which included a mother pregnant with twins, had urged the Ombudsman to carry out her own investigation into the phone call.
Four years ago, she issued a damning report of the investigation by the Royal Ulster Constabulary and claimed the leadership and judgment of the then Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan was seriously flawed, an allegation he rejected, amid a monumental row.
Her spokesman confirmed last night that her officers, headed up by executive director Dave Wood were back on the case.
The Special Branch officer has already been questioned as part of an investigation unrelated to the Omagh inquiry, but it is not known if he has yet been interviewed in an attempt to trace the source of the telephone call.
He has been transferred from Special Branch to other policing duties.
A spokesperson for the PSNI said: "As there is an Ombudsman investigation in this area, we will be making no further comment."
A male caller had contacted the CID office in Omagh at 10am on August 4,1998, when he spoke to a detective constable.
He named two men whom he claimed would be bringing across the border four dismantled AK47 rifles and two rocket launchers belonging to the Continuity IRA which he said, would be used in an attack on police in Omagh on August 15.
At the time, the CID officer believed the caller to be genuine, briefed the senior detective on duty and then travelled to Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, where he informed Special Branch officers. They allegedly told him there was nothing in the information and that the two men named were ordinary criminals.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was among those killed in the Omagh bomb attack, said the authorities in Dublin should also carry out a similar investigation after claims the Gardai did not act on the warning of a planned Real IRA attack in Northern Ireland at the time of Omagh.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/586
Published Date: 14-Jan-05
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