WIFE LIED ABOUT PHONECALL OMAGH TRIAL TOLD
Wife lied about phone call, Omagh trial told
BY ALAN ERWIN
THE wife of a man being sued over the Omagh bombing lied to police about a phone contact the pair had less than an hour after the explosion, the High Court has heard.
Catherine McKenna, whose estranged husband Seamus is among five men named in the multi-million pound civil action, at first claimed to have been in Galway on the day of the August 1998 Real IRA atrocity which killed 29 people.
She gave the false whereabouts to detectives who told her they suspected the mobile phone used to call her south Armagh home was in the car that took the explosives to Omagh, a police witness confirmed.
Mrs McKenna was arrested in March 1999 on suspicion of withholding information.
Transcripts from her interviews with police were read out at the case brought by the families of some of the victims against Seamus McKenna, Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly.
In one section she recalled McKenna making the call at 3.41pm. She could give no explanation for the contact but told police it was not to speak about the strike on Omagh.
Answering questions at the time, the court heard how she described him as "sober".
At another point she claimed to be in the Republic on that day, with a police sergeant telling the hearing: "It transpired she had been telling lies. She hadn't been in Galway on August 15."
Telephone evidence dominated the second week of the trial. A detective revealed five million calls were sifted through in the aftermath of the bombing.
BY ALAN ERWIN
THE wife of a man being sued over the Omagh bombing lied to police about a phone contact the pair had less than an hour after the explosion, the High Court has heard.
Catherine McKenna, whose estranged husband Seamus is among five men named in the multi-million pound civil action, at first claimed to have been in Galway on the day of the August 1998 Real IRA atrocity which killed 29 people.
She gave the false whereabouts to detectives who told her they suspected the mobile phone used to call her south Armagh home was in the car that took the explosives to Omagh, a police witness confirmed.
Mrs McKenna was arrested in March 1999 on suspicion of withholding information.
Transcripts from her interviews with police were read out at the case brought by the families of some of the victims against Seamus McKenna, Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly.
In one section she recalled McKenna making the call at 3.41pm. She could give no explanation for the contact but told police it was not to speak about the strike on Omagh.
Answering questions at the time, the court heard how she described him as "sober".
At another point she claimed to be in the Republic on that day, with a police sergeant telling the hearing: "It transpired she had been telling lies. She hadn't been in Galway on August 15."
Telephone evidence dominated the second week of the trial. A detective revealed five million calls were sifted through in the aftermath of the bombing.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/751
Published Date: 17-Apr-08
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