BOMB REPORTS CONTEMPT CASE ADJOURNED
Bomb reports 'contempt' case adjourned
PROCEEDINGS being brought against the BBC and the Daily Mail newspaper by the man accused of plotting the Omagh bomb were adjourned,at the special criminal court in Dublin earlier this week.
The accused, Colm Murphy (48), gave notice for attachment, committal and sequestration against the BBC and Associated Newspapers for alleged contempt of court by the BBC's Panorama programme and a report carried in the Daily Mail.
Kevin Feeney for the BBC and Associated Newspapers asserted that the motion should be heard in the High Court before a jury, as the Special Criminal Court was inappropriate to deal with the case.
Counsel said that the BBC had been the subject of two unsuccessful applications in another jurisdiction to stop them broadcasting the matter which is the subject of the alleged contempt.
Michael O'Higgins, counsel for Murphy, said that if his client won the case then he had no doubt that the newspapers, who have" buckets of money" would go all the way to the Supreme Court. He said if there were facts in dispute which entitled the BBC and Associated Newspapers to a jury trial, then his client was entitled to know what they were.
The case was adjourned until February 12 to allow counsel to take further instructions and prepare further submissions.
The trial of Colm Murphy a native of Armagh, with an address in Co. Louth who is charged with conspiring in Dundalk with another person not before the court, to cause an explosion in the state or elsewhere between August 13 and 16, 1998, is due to begin on October 9 this year
PROCEEDINGS being brought against the BBC and the Daily Mail newspaper by the man accused of plotting the Omagh bomb were adjourned,at the special criminal court in Dublin earlier this week.
The accused, Colm Murphy (48), gave notice for attachment, committal and sequestration against the BBC and Associated Newspapers for alleged contempt of court by the BBC's Panorama programme and a report carried in the Daily Mail.
Kevin Feeney for the BBC and Associated Newspapers asserted that the motion should be heard in the High Court before a jury, as the Special Criminal Court was inappropriate to deal with the case.
Counsel said that the BBC had been the subject of two unsuccessful applications in another jurisdiction to stop them broadcasting the matter which is the subject of the alleged contempt.
Michael O'Higgins, counsel for Murphy, said that if his client won the case then he had no doubt that the newspapers, who have" buckets of money" would go all the way to the Supreme Court. He said if there were facts in dispute which entitled the BBC and Associated Newspapers to a jury trial, then his client was entitled to know what they were.
The case was adjourned until February 12 to allow counsel to take further instructions and prepare further submissions.
The trial of Colm Murphy a native of Armagh, with an address in Co. Louth who is charged with conspiring in Dundalk with another person not before the court, to cause an explosion in the state or elsewhere between August 13 and 16, 1998, is due to begin on October 9 this year
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0846
Published Date: 01-Feb-01
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