BOMB CASE TRIAL HEARS MAN WAS DRUNKARD
Bomb case trial hears man was 'drunkard'
ONE of the men being sued for the Omagh bomb outrage was a drunkard who rarely contacted his family when sober, his ex-wife has told detectives.
Catherine Ann McKenna's assessment of her former husband Seamus was disclosed during the multi-million pound civil action at the High Court in Belfast.
She had been brought in by police who suspected he called her home less than an hour after the August 1998 Real IRA explosion which killed 29 people.
That call, it was alleged, came from a mobile phone used in the bomb car, the court heard.
Interview transcripts were read out, where she claimed McKenna hadn't been to see her and their two sons since the previous Christmas Eve - when he bought a gift for one of the children.
At one point, she told a detective who asked whether her ex-husband had any past connections: "When we were married, he wasn't involved in anything. All he ever really was a drunkard".
He would be drunk nine out of 10 times when he made contact, and 'talking a lot of bull', she claimed.
McKenna is being sued, along with convicted Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly and Colm Murphy, by the families of some Omagh victims. All five men deny responsibility.
His senior counsel, Brian Fee, QC, spent the eighty day of the trial cross-examining John Gilmore - a detective who questioned Mrs. McKenna on suspicious of withholding information connected to the bombing.
Trawling through the interview records, the lawyer pointed out that she had declared whoever was to blame for the attack should be jailed.
"The phrase she uses a number of times is about them rotting in hell," Mr. Fee said.
He told the detective that the interviews were carried out amid the belief that the call to Mrs. McKenna's home at 3.41pm on August 15, 1998 came from a mobile which had travelled in the bomb car to Omagh. Mr. Gilmore agreed with him that the phone used to make contact had not been registered to McKenna.
Dealing with the eyewitness descriptions of the two men seen leaving the Vauxhall Cavalier, packed with explosives in Omagh town centre, Mr. Fee said police made no reference to them throughout the time they held Mrs. McKenna.
"There's a good reason for that. The reason is that Mr. McKenna did not match those descriptions," he added.
With the suspect's ex-wife having stressed that he never gave any indication of terrorist involvement during their marriage, the court was told of claims that Omagh was a joint operation with the Continuity IRA, who allegedly drove the bomb in.
Mr. Fee told the detective: "There's nothing in the interviews you have done with Mrs. McKenna, that suggests Mr. McKenna was a member of the Continuity IRA."
ONE of the men being sued for the Omagh bomb outrage was a drunkard who rarely contacted his family when sober, his ex-wife has told detectives.
Catherine Ann McKenna's assessment of her former husband Seamus was disclosed during the multi-million pound civil action at the High Court in Belfast.
She had been brought in by police who suspected he called her home less than an hour after the August 1998 Real IRA explosion which killed 29 people.
That call, it was alleged, came from a mobile phone used in the bomb car, the court heard.
Interview transcripts were read out, where she claimed McKenna hadn't been to see her and their two sons since the previous Christmas Eve - when he bought a gift for one of the children.
At one point, she told a detective who asked whether her ex-husband had any past connections: "When we were married, he wasn't involved in anything. All he ever really was a drunkard".
He would be drunk nine out of 10 times when he made contact, and 'talking a lot of bull', she claimed.
McKenna is being sued, along with convicted Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly and Colm Murphy, by the families of some Omagh victims. All five men deny responsibility.
His senior counsel, Brian Fee, QC, spent the eighty day of the trial cross-examining John Gilmore - a detective who questioned Mrs. McKenna on suspicious of withholding information connected to the bombing.
Trawling through the interview records, the lawyer pointed out that she had declared whoever was to blame for the attack should be jailed.
"The phrase she uses a number of times is about them rotting in hell," Mr. Fee said.
He told the detective that the interviews were carried out amid the belief that the call to Mrs. McKenna's home at 3.41pm on August 15, 1998 came from a mobile which had travelled in the bomb car to Omagh. Mr. Gilmore agreed with him that the phone used to make contact had not been registered to McKenna.
Dealing with the eyewitness descriptions of the two men seen leaving the Vauxhall Cavalier, packed with explosives in Omagh town centre, Mr. Fee said police made no reference to them throughout the time they held Mrs. McKenna.
"There's a good reason for that. The reason is that Mr. McKenna did not match those descriptions," he added.
With the suspect's ex-wife having stressed that he never gave any indication of terrorist involvement during their marriage, the court was told of claims that Omagh was a joint operation with the Continuity IRA, who allegedly drove the bomb in.
Mr. Fee told the detective: "There's nothing in the interviews you have done with Mrs. McKenna, that suggests Mr. McKenna was a member of the Continuity IRA."
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1944
Published Date: 24-Apr-08
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