BOMB EXPERT'S CONCLUSIONS 'GUESSWORK'
Bomb expert's conclusions 'guesswork'
BY MICHAEL DONNELLY
A TOP forensic explosives expert is to be prevented from telling the biggest murder trial in Northern Ireland's legal history that the timer power units on a series of dissident republican bombs, including the Omagh bomb, were made by the same person.
Belfast Crown Court judge Mr Justice Weir yesterday ruled that expert Dennis McAuley, with over 30 years' experience, had no scientific basis for giving such evidence.
Following legal argument at the trial of 37-year-old Jonesborough electrician Sean Gerard Hoey, who denies the Omagh bombing and a series of other dissident explosions, Mr Justice Weir said he could "guess as well as he can because I know as much as he does".
Refusing the prosecution application to allow Mr McAuley, who has investigated over 1,500 bombings, to give an expert opinion as to the authorship of the Omagh and other dissident bombs, the judge said he accepted Mr McAuley's "physical findings".
Mr Justice Weir said while he accepted and understood them himself: "Mr McAuley in my opinion brings nothing by way of expert opinion to the interpretation of these results.
"And I think I am as able as he to decide whether there is or not anything probative. Therefore I decline to allow Mr McAuley to give an expert opinion as to the conclusions he thinks should be drawn from his findings," said the judge.
Earlier, defence QC Orlando Pownall claimed that while Mr McAuley's physical findings were not in dispute, his expert conclusions as to whether one or more individuals made the timer units "does not amount to a row of beans".
For the prosecution, Gordon Kerr QC had argued that an expert, haying examined each of the timer units in detail, was entitled "to express an opinion based on that examination as to the likelihood or otherwise of the maker".
The trial continues.
BY MICHAEL DONNELLY
A TOP forensic explosives expert is to be prevented from telling the biggest murder trial in Northern Ireland's legal history that the timer power units on a series of dissident republican bombs, including the Omagh bomb, were made by the same person.
Belfast Crown Court judge Mr Justice Weir yesterday ruled that expert Dennis McAuley, with over 30 years' experience, had no scientific basis for giving such evidence.
Following legal argument at the trial of 37-year-old Jonesborough electrician Sean Gerard Hoey, who denies the Omagh bombing and a series of other dissident explosions, Mr Justice Weir said he could "guess as well as he can because I know as much as he does".
Refusing the prosecution application to allow Mr McAuley, who has investigated over 1,500 bombings, to give an expert opinion as to the authorship of the Omagh and other dissident bombs, the judge said he accepted Mr McAuley's "physical findings".
Mr Justice Weir said while he accepted and understood them himself: "Mr McAuley in my opinion brings nothing by way of expert opinion to the interpretation of these results.
"And I think I am as able as he to decide whether there is or not anything probative. Therefore I decline to allow Mr McAuley to give an expert opinion as to the conclusions he thinks should be drawn from his findings," said the judge.
Earlier, defence QC Orlando Pownall claimed that while Mr McAuley's physical findings were not in dispute, his expert conclusions as to whether one or more individuals made the timer units "does not amount to a row of beans".
For the prosecution, Gordon Kerr QC had argued that an expert, haying examined each of the timer units in detail, was entitled "to express an opinion based on that examination as to the likelihood or otherwise of the maker".
The trial continues.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/670
Published Date: 25-Oct-06
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