TC/1987

Retrial of Omagh bomb suspect begins

THE retrial of a County Louth man in connection with the 1998 Omagh bomb atrocity began in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin on Tuesday.
Colm Murphy (57) was the only man convicted in connection with the Real IRA atrocity, but his conviction was ruled unsafe in 2005 due to alleged irregularities in relation to the evidence of detectives at his trial.
He denies the charge in the retrial of conspiring in Dundalk between August 13, 1998, and August 16, 1998, with another person to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the State or elsewhere.
The court was told that the prosecution alleges Mr Murphy lent his mobile phone and another mobile phone to a man who used them while transporting the bomb in a stolen Vauxhall Cavalier car from Dundalk to Omagh.
The prosecution claims that calls made from Mr Murphy's phone from Omagh were consistent with the timing of the bombing.
The accused was one of four men who were found liable for the Omagh bombing in a civil action in June last year, brought forward by some of the bereaved families. The alleged Real IRA members were ordered to pay £1.6m damages to 12 relatives who took the case against them.