COURT APPEAL BY DISSIDENTS MAY BE DELAYED
Court appeal by dissidents may be delayed
APPEALS by four alleged dissident republicans held liable for the Omagh bomb atrocity could be delayed, it emerged yesterday.
Lawyers for one of the men successfully sued by relatives of some of those murdered in the Real IRA blast indicated a hearing planned for January may have to be put back.
The potential hold-up to the challenge is due to material being sought in a bid to help overturn the original findings.
After being updated yesterday, Lord Justice Higgins told the legal teams involved: "If there is to be an application to vacate the date for which this appeal is presently fixed, that application will require to be made in the first half of November."
A separate bid by victims' families to obtain a more punitive award of exemplary damages against those deemed responsible is also due to be mounted during a scheduled two-week hearing.
In a landmark ruling last year Mr Justice Morgan, now the Lord Chief Justice, ordered that more than �1.6 million in total should be paid out to 12 relatives who sought compensation for the August 1998 bombing which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured hundreds more.
Jailed dissident leader Michael McKevitt and Liam Campbell, who was undefended at the original civil action, were held to be liable for the bombing.
Campbell, currently in custody facing a bid to have him extradited to Lithuania on arms smuggling charges, was described as a member of the Real IRA's army council at the time of the attack.
Similar findings were made against two other men, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly, following a year-long trial.
Their planned challenges to the verdict were originally in doubt until they were all granted legal aid earlier this year.
APPEALS by four alleged dissident republicans held liable for the Omagh bomb atrocity could be delayed, it emerged yesterday.
Lawyers for one of the men successfully sued by relatives of some of those murdered in the Real IRA blast indicated a hearing planned for January may have to be put back.
The potential hold-up to the challenge is due to material being sought in a bid to help overturn the original findings.
After being updated yesterday, Lord Justice Higgins told the legal teams involved: "If there is to be an application to vacate the date for which this appeal is presently fixed, that application will require to be made in the first half of November."
A separate bid by victims' families to obtain a more punitive award of exemplary damages against those deemed responsible is also due to be mounted during a scheduled two-week hearing.
In a landmark ruling last year Mr Justice Morgan, now the Lord Chief Justice, ordered that more than �1.6 million in total should be paid out to 12 relatives who sought compensation for the August 1998 bombing which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured hundreds more.
Jailed dissident leader Michael McKevitt and Liam Campbell, who was undefended at the original civil action, were held to be liable for the bombing.
Campbell, currently in custody facing a bid to have him extradited to Lithuania on arms smuggling charges, was described as a member of the Real IRA's army council at the time of the attack.
Similar findings were made against two other men, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly, following a year-long trial.
Their planned challenges to the verdict were originally in doubt until they were all granted legal aid earlier this year.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/814
Published Date: 19-Oct-10
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