FAR TOO MANY QUESTIONS REMAIN UNANSWERED OVER BOMB REPORT
Far too many questions remain unanswered over bomb' - Report
Criminal justice system has 'badly failed' Omagh victims
by Julie Moore
A NORTHERN Ireland Affairs Committee (NIAC) report into the Omagh bomb has this week criticised the criminal justice system here, stating that it had 'failed' to bring to justice those responsible for the Omagh bombing.
The report states the committee's belief that 'far too many questions remain unanswered' about the August 15, 1998, atrocity, which claimed the lives of 29 people and unborn twins and injured more than 250 others.
The committee, comprising of MPs from across the province and mainland Britain, described the 5001b car bomb attack on Omagh as the 'most appalling crime committed in the history of Northern Ireland', adding that this week's report was 'in many ways the single most important report that the committee has produced during this Parliament'.
The report stated that it was 'a matter of deep regret' for committee members that no one has been convicted of the attack on August 15, 1998, adding that 'whatever the reasons may be, the criminal justice system has in this case, badly failed the victims of the bombing'.
Committee members have urged the Government to 'respond fully and unequivocally' to the 25 conclusions and recommendations outlined in the report, which was launched at Stormont yesterday (Tuesday) by chairman for the group, Sir Patrick Cormack MP. The committee held five evidence sessions for their enquiry and witnesses included members of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group (OSSHG), BBC Panorama journalist, John Ware, Rt Hon Sir Peter Gibson, Intelligence Services Commissioner (who produced a review of intelligence intercepts around the time of the Omagh bomb), Baroness Nuala O'Loan, former Police Ombudsman, and Norman Baxter, former Head of the PSNI Serious Crime Branch.
In their conclusions committee members said the fact that dissident republicans 'continue actively to seek to undermine Northern Ireland's progress towards peace and normalisation' meant it was of great importance to 'learn lessons from he experience of Omagh'.
The NIAC had criticised the Government last summer for refusing full access to Sir Peter Gibson's review over the duration of their inquiry and to date.
The Gibson Review had been prompted by a BBC Panorama programme in September 2008 which suggested that Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had been monitoring mobile phones used by the bombers and that key phone number and phone movement information did not find its way to detectives investigating the crime until months later.
Yesterday's report stated that while committee members understood security considerations required Sir Peter Gibson's report to be restricted, they were still of the view that their chairman, Sir Patrick Gorman, should be enabled to view the full contents of the review himself. The report added that 'even at this late stage', committee members were calling upon the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to allow Sir Patrick to read the review in its entirety.
Sir Peter's conclusion in his review of intelligence intercepts was that the Omagh bomb could not have been prevented and that evidence was not withheld.
Focusing on the summarised version of his review which the NIAC were allowed to read, their report stated: "Nothing we have seen leads us to challenge Sir Peter Gibson's conclusion that any available intelligence could have been used immediately prior to the Omagh bombing to prevent it."
The report voiced, however, their 'bitter disappointment' that, in spite of repeated requests, the Prime Minister had refused access to the full review.
"It is thoroughly reprehensible that the Government should seek to prevent the parliamentary committee charged with oversight of the affairs of Northern Ireland such access, and we believe that the Government's attitude in that respect has done more harm than good," said the report.
The report acknowledged that while there might be good reasons for not disclosing the content of transcripts, the NIAC was 'not persuaded that confirming or denying their existence should present problems'.
"We invite the Government to justify the argument that the public interest is better served by withholding such evidence, rather than by using it to bring murderers to justice," said the report.
In the BBC Panorama programme, Mr Ware asserted that intelligence or unprocessed information did not reach the detectives in the Omagh bomb investigation team in time.
The BBC journalist also argued that Special Branch did not brief detectives on the ground fully until some three weeks after the incident, which, the NIAC submitted, raised the question whether intelligence existed which might have led to arrests of suspects on the evening of the bombing or during the next day - the so-called 'golden hours' in which recovery of forensic evidence is most likely.
Yesterday's report stated that the NIAC were 'disturbed by the suggestion' that arrests could have been made quickly.
Said the report: "Indeed, it took those detectives several months of painstaking work, trawling through 6.4 million phone records, to identify likely numbers, which it now appears might have been made available to them within 24 hours of the bombing. By then, their chances of obtaining high-quality forensic evidence from those phones may well have been non-existent."
The NIAC called for a 'definitive statement' from the police on whether names of suspects had been known and, if so, why no action had been taken to arrest or question anyone at the time.
The report stated that further investigation was required into what information Special Branch gave to the investigation team, when it was given and what information was withheld and why.
"We believe that the public interest would be served by revealing to the greatest possible extent why information that might have led to arrests in a mass murder case was not used," said the report. Questioning the nature of Sir Peter Gibson's review, the report said the 'desire for a speedy report' on intelligence had left 'crucial questions that remain to be answered about the investigation'.
The committee described the Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward's comments that the Omagh bomb has 'had its inquiry' as 'a remarkable statement'.
Calling on Mr Woodward to revise his view on this issue, the committee's report asked him to institute an immediate investigation.
"Further inquiry on the Omagh bombing is required not because inquiries naturally lead to further inquiries, as the Secretary of State puts it, but because one substantial question outlined in this report remains unanswered: what public interest justification there can be, if any, for the withholding of intelligence, information or evidence from the team of detectives who investigated the Omagh bombing," the report questioned.
The NIAC stated that there was a 'compelling case' for some further inquiry into 'what did or did not occur in relation to Omagh', but reserved judgment as to whether a full-scale public inquiry was the proper route for this.
"The criminal justice system has failed to bring to justice those responsible for the Omagh bombing," said Sir Patrick Cormack.
"The least that those who were bereaved or injured have the right to expect are answers to those questions."
Omagh man, Godfrey Wilson, whose 15-year-old daughter, Lorraine, was killed in the car bomb attack, was one of six representatives of the Omagh families who attended the report launch in Stormont yesterday.
He told the Tyrone Constitution: "We are pleased to see that the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is asking the same questions that we have been asking ourselves for the past 11 years, but we still think we need a cross-border inquiry into what happened in Omagh.
"We have to get answers to these questions. I am disappointed that Sir Patrick Cormac in the position that he holds in political life, did not have the opportunity to read the Gibson Review in full. Without that, he cannot answer the questions, in fact I believe it has created more questions than answers."
Criminal justice system has 'badly failed' Omagh victims
by Julie Moore
A NORTHERN Ireland Affairs Committee (NIAC) report into the Omagh bomb has this week criticised the criminal justice system here, stating that it had 'failed' to bring to justice those responsible for the Omagh bombing.
The report states the committee's belief that 'far too many questions remain unanswered' about the August 15, 1998, atrocity, which claimed the lives of 29 people and unborn twins and injured more than 250 others.
The committee, comprising of MPs from across the province and mainland Britain, described the 5001b car bomb attack on Omagh as the 'most appalling crime committed in the history of Northern Ireland', adding that this week's report was 'in many ways the single most important report that the committee has produced during this Parliament'.
The report stated that it was 'a matter of deep regret' for committee members that no one has been convicted of the attack on August 15, 1998, adding that 'whatever the reasons may be, the criminal justice system has in this case, badly failed the victims of the bombing'.
Committee members have urged the Government to 'respond fully and unequivocally' to the 25 conclusions and recommendations outlined in the report, which was launched at Stormont yesterday (Tuesday) by chairman for the group, Sir Patrick Cormack MP. The committee held five evidence sessions for their enquiry and witnesses included members of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group (OSSHG), BBC Panorama journalist, John Ware, Rt Hon Sir Peter Gibson, Intelligence Services Commissioner (who produced a review of intelligence intercepts around the time of the Omagh bomb), Baroness Nuala O'Loan, former Police Ombudsman, and Norman Baxter, former Head of the PSNI Serious Crime Branch.
In their conclusions committee members said the fact that dissident republicans 'continue actively to seek to undermine Northern Ireland's progress towards peace and normalisation' meant it was of great importance to 'learn lessons from he experience of Omagh'.
The NIAC had criticised the Government last summer for refusing full access to Sir Peter Gibson's review over the duration of their inquiry and to date.
The Gibson Review had been prompted by a BBC Panorama programme in September 2008 which suggested that Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had been monitoring mobile phones used by the bombers and that key phone number and phone movement information did not find its way to detectives investigating the crime until months later.
Yesterday's report stated that while committee members understood security considerations required Sir Peter Gibson's report to be restricted, they were still of the view that their chairman, Sir Patrick Gorman, should be enabled to view the full contents of the review himself. The report added that 'even at this late stage', committee members were calling upon the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to allow Sir Patrick to read the review in its entirety.
Sir Peter's conclusion in his review of intelligence intercepts was that the Omagh bomb could not have been prevented and that evidence was not withheld.
Focusing on the summarised version of his review which the NIAC were allowed to read, their report stated: "Nothing we have seen leads us to challenge Sir Peter Gibson's conclusion that any available intelligence could have been used immediately prior to the Omagh bombing to prevent it."
The report voiced, however, their 'bitter disappointment' that, in spite of repeated requests, the Prime Minister had refused access to the full review.
"It is thoroughly reprehensible that the Government should seek to prevent the parliamentary committee charged with oversight of the affairs of Northern Ireland such access, and we believe that the Government's attitude in that respect has done more harm than good," said the report.
The report acknowledged that while there might be good reasons for not disclosing the content of transcripts, the NIAC was 'not persuaded that confirming or denying their existence should present problems'.
"We invite the Government to justify the argument that the public interest is better served by withholding such evidence, rather than by using it to bring murderers to justice," said the report.
In the BBC Panorama programme, Mr Ware asserted that intelligence or unprocessed information did not reach the detectives in the Omagh bomb investigation team in time.
The BBC journalist also argued that Special Branch did not brief detectives on the ground fully until some three weeks after the incident, which, the NIAC submitted, raised the question whether intelligence existed which might have led to arrests of suspects on the evening of the bombing or during the next day - the so-called 'golden hours' in which recovery of forensic evidence is most likely.
Yesterday's report stated that the NIAC were 'disturbed by the suggestion' that arrests could have been made quickly.
Said the report: "Indeed, it took those detectives several months of painstaking work, trawling through 6.4 million phone records, to identify likely numbers, which it now appears might have been made available to them within 24 hours of the bombing. By then, their chances of obtaining high-quality forensic evidence from those phones may well have been non-existent."
The NIAC called for a 'definitive statement' from the police on whether names of suspects had been known and, if so, why no action had been taken to arrest or question anyone at the time.
The report stated that further investigation was required into what information Special Branch gave to the investigation team, when it was given and what information was withheld and why.
"We believe that the public interest would be served by revealing to the greatest possible extent why information that might have led to arrests in a mass murder case was not used," said the report. Questioning the nature of Sir Peter Gibson's review, the report said the 'desire for a speedy report' on intelligence had left 'crucial questions that remain to be answered about the investigation'.
The committee described the Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward's comments that the Omagh bomb has 'had its inquiry' as 'a remarkable statement'.
Calling on Mr Woodward to revise his view on this issue, the committee's report asked him to institute an immediate investigation.
"Further inquiry on the Omagh bombing is required not because inquiries naturally lead to further inquiries, as the Secretary of State puts it, but because one substantial question outlined in this report remains unanswered: what public interest justification there can be, if any, for the withholding of intelligence, information or evidence from the team of detectives who investigated the Omagh bombing," the report questioned.
The NIAC stated that there was a 'compelling case' for some further inquiry into 'what did or did not occur in relation to Omagh', but reserved judgment as to whether a full-scale public inquiry was the proper route for this.
"The criminal justice system has failed to bring to justice those responsible for the Omagh bombing," said Sir Patrick Cormack.
"The least that those who were bereaved or injured have the right to expect are answers to those questions."
Omagh man, Godfrey Wilson, whose 15-year-old daughter, Lorraine, was killed in the car bomb attack, was one of six representatives of the Omagh families who attended the report launch in Stormont yesterday.
He told the Tyrone Constitution: "We are pleased to see that the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is asking the same questions that we have been asking ourselves for the past 11 years, but we still think we need a cross-border inquiry into what happened in Omagh.
"We have to get answers to these questions. I am disappointed that Sir Patrick Cormac in the position that he holds in political life, did not have the opportunity to read the Gibson Review in full. Without that, he cannot answer the questions, in fact I believe it has created more questions than answers."
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1990
Published Date: 18-Mar-10
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