CHARGE AGAINST OMAGH ACCUSED DROPPED
Charge against Omagh accused dropped
Concern from relatives over lack of bombing convictions
A MAN charged in connection with the Omagh bombing has been freed after the charge against him was dropped, it was learned yesterday.
Anthony Joseph Donegan, 34, from Dundalk, Co Louth, in the Irish Republic, walked free from prison yesterday.
The Northern Ireland Prison Service said he had been released on the instruction of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).
Raymond Kitson, of the PPS, confirmed the charge had been dropped.
"I can tell you the file was received, considered and the test for prosecution was not met," he said.
He added that the PPS had studied the file sent to them by the Police Service "very, very carefully" before making the decision.
Donegan was charged in February in connection with the car used to carry the Real IRA bomb, which exploded in the Co Tyrone town in August 1998 killing 29 people, including the mother of unborn twins.
The charge put to him when he appeared before Enniskillen Magistrates Court in Co Fermanagh was that, on a date unknown between August 11 and 16 1998, he made available to another person a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier car knowing it might be used for terrorism.
Michael Gallagher, whose son died in what was Northern Ireland's worst terrorist atrocity, said: "This is very disappointing.
"It is totally unbelievable that we are coming up to the seventh anniversary of the worst atrocity and there is only one person facing charges and no-one has been convicted."
He said he had been thinking just the other day that he had heard nothing about Donegan for months.
"I said to myself that the next thing I would hear about him was that he had been released.
"That's another one gone, it's totally unbelievable - that is what we are up against. I think a full cross-border public inquiry is the only way we are going to get to the truth of what happened."
Sean Gerard Hoey, 35, of Molly Road, Jonesborough, South Armagh, is the only man still in custody charged with the bombing.
He was charged in May with the murders of the 29 people killed in the horrific bombing.
Concern from relatives over lack of bombing convictions
A MAN charged in connection with the Omagh bombing has been freed after the charge against him was dropped, it was learned yesterday.
Anthony Joseph Donegan, 34, from Dundalk, Co Louth, in the Irish Republic, walked free from prison yesterday.
The Northern Ireland Prison Service said he had been released on the instruction of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).
Raymond Kitson, of the PPS, confirmed the charge had been dropped.
"I can tell you the file was received, considered and the test for prosecution was not met," he said.
He added that the PPS had studied the file sent to them by the Police Service "very, very carefully" before making the decision.
Donegan was charged in February in connection with the car used to carry the Real IRA bomb, which exploded in the Co Tyrone town in August 1998 killing 29 people, including the mother of unborn twins.
The charge put to him when he appeared before Enniskillen Magistrates Court in Co Fermanagh was that, on a date unknown between August 11 and 16 1998, he made available to another person a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier car knowing it might be used for terrorism.
Michael Gallagher, whose son died in what was Northern Ireland's worst terrorist atrocity, said: "This is very disappointing.
"It is totally unbelievable that we are coming up to the seventh anniversary of the worst atrocity and there is only one person facing charges and no-one has been convicted."
He said he had been thinking just the other day that he had heard nothing about Donegan for months.
"I said to myself that the next thing I would hear about him was that he had been released.
"That's another one gone, it's totally unbelievable - that is what we are up against. I think a full cross-border public inquiry is the only way we are going to get to the truth of what happened."
Sean Gerard Hoey, 35, of Molly Road, Jonesborough, South Armagh, is the only man still in custody charged with the bombing.
He was charged in May with the murders of the 29 people killed in the horrific bombing.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/613
Published Date: 30-Jun-05
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