OMAGH NOTES NOT ALTERED SAYS DETECTIVE
Omagh notes not altered, says detective
BY ALAN ERWIN
ONE of the detectives in the Omagh bomb investigation yesterday rejected any suggestion that police interview notes were altered during the inquiry.
Gerry McLoughlin also told the High Court in Belfast that a man who claimed he lent his mobile phone to a suspect the day before the attack had lied throughout questioning.
Dermot Fee QC, for Colm Murphy - one of five men being sued by relatives of some of the 29 people killed in the terrorist atrocity - focused on the apparent conflicting accounts given by his client and Patrick Morgan.
Morgan, who worked as a building site foreman for Murphy, told RUC detectives he gave his boss the phone which police believe was used in the car which took the bomb into Omagh on August 15, 1998.
But his version of events during questioning months after the explosion contrasted with what Murphy, who was being held simultaneously in the Republic, appeared to be telling gardai, the court heard.
Mr Fee said to the officer: "If I was to suggest you had altered this information for your own purpose, to try and put pressure on Mr Morgan, that's not something you would do."
Mr McLoughlin replied: "Not at all."
The trial continues.
BY ALAN ERWIN
ONE of the detectives in the Omagh bomb investigation yesterday rejected any suggestion that police interview notes were altered during the inquiry.
Gerry McLoughlin also told the High Court in Belfast that a man who claimed he lent his mobile phone to a suspect the day before the attack had lied throughout questioning.
Dermot Fee QC, for Colm Murphy - one of five men being sued by relatives of some of the 29 people killed in the terrorist atrocity - focused on the apparent conflicting accounts given by his client and Patrick Morgan.
Morgan, who worked as a building site foreman for Murphy, told RUC detectives he gave his boss the phone which police believe was used in the car which took the bomb into Omagh on August 15, 1998.
But his version of events during questioning months after the explosion contrasted with what Murphy, who was being held simultaneously in the Republic, appeared to be telling gardai, the court heard.
Mr Fee said to the officer: "If I was to suggest you had altered this information for your own purpose, to try and put pressure on Mr Morgan, that's not something you would do."
Mr McLoughlin replied: "Not at all."
The trial continues.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/761
Published Date: 19-Jun-08
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