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Hearing told of men's catalogue of convictions

THE civil action by the bereaved relatives has been launched against five men, whose catalogue of convictions were relayed before the hearing.
Listing the men's criminal histories, Lord Brennan told the court McKevitt had received 20 years in the Irish courts for directing terrorism, Campbell had received five years and Murphy had been convicted back in 1972 for arms offences.
Murphy had also been convicted in New York in 1983 of firearms charges.
Daly, who he described as a Real IRA foot soldier, had been convicted in 2004 in the Republic to a sentence of three-and-a-half years.
McKenna had received six years' imprisonment in the same year. He too was described as a foot soldier.
He told the court that in November 2002 the Criminal Assets Bureau in the Republic had seized £1 million from Campbell and that he was alleged to have an income of £800,000 from smuggling diesel, tobacco, alcohol and counterfeit goods across the border.
Turning to the day of the bombing, he said the terrorists planted a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier which had been stolen in Carrickmacross and fitted with Northern Ireland number plates in Market Street in Omagh.
He said the rear suspension had been modified so that the weight of the 200kg bomb in the boot did not make the vehicle sag and draw attention to itself.
The court was shown a picture of the car moments before it exploded.
The town was busy with shoppers and tourists, he said, and the photograph showed a Spanish man with a child on his shoulders. They were part of a group of Spaniards on holiday across the border in Co Donegal who had decided to visit Omagh for the day.
When the bomb went off there was a blast, fireball and shrapnel.
He said in a narrow street anyone within several hundred yards risked death or severe injury.
He said the efforts of the emergency services at the scene were hampered by a burst water main which sent water flooding down the street, broken electricity cables which presented danger, and the complete collapse of the telephone system in the centre of the town.
He quoted the senior surgeon who arrived at the Tyrone County Hospital to tend the injured and describes being confronted by "a disaster of battlefield proportions".