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Legal aid granted in bomb case
BY ALAN ERWIN

CONVICTED terrorist leader Michael McKevitt has won his fight for full legal aid to defend the multi-million pound Omagh bomb compensation case.
McKevitt, 58, who is serving a 20-year jail sentence for directing the Real IRA, had been operating on a limited certificate.
But his solicitor Kevin Winters confirmed yesterday that the Legal Services Commission has granted full status for the High Court civil action, which is due to begin next month.
Mr Winters said: "We had made various representations over the past two years to the authorities and to the courts.
"We now welcome the decision of the commission to grant Mr McKevitt full legal aid status.
"He will now be able to properly defend this action and to contest the proposed evidence that the plaintiffs intend to bring."
McKevitt is currently awaiting judgment in his appeal against conviction in 2003 for directing terrorism.
He has been named along with Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy in the civil action being brought by relatives of some of the 29 people killed when the Real IRA bombed Omagh in August 1998.
Although no-one has been convicted of the atrocity, the families are seeking up to £14 million in damages from the men they suspect of running the terrorist organisation.