OMAGH BOMB APPEAL DATE SET
Omagh bombing appeal date set
Appeals by four alleged dissident republicans held liable for the Omagh bomb will be heard in January, it has emerged.
The four men are due to appeal against the judgement handed down by the High Court in June last year. The Omagh bomb killed 31 people and injured hundreds of others on August 15, 1998. It was the biggest single loss of life in a single atrocity during the Troubles.
Senior judges have set aside two weeks for challenges by the men who were successfully sued by relatives of some of those murdered in the Real IRA blast.
A separate bid by victims' families to obtain a more punitive award of exemplary damages against those deemed responsible will also be heard then.
Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly and Colm Murphy were successfully sued by 12 victims' relatives, who were awarded �1.6m compensation last June.
The judge also found the dissident republican organisation, the Real IRA, liable for the bomb in which 29 people and two unborn babies were killed.
The men were granted legal aid to pursue their appeals earlier this year. Lawyers for some of the men have set out requests for transcripts from the original legal action as part of their case.
No-one has ever been convicted in a criminal court of causing the deaths of the Omagh victims. The only man to face criminal charges over the Omagh killings, 38-year-old Sean Hoey from Jonesborough in south Armagh, was acquitted in 2007.
The families brought the multi-million pound civil action in an attempt to bring fresh information about the atrocity to light.
It was not a criminal case and no-one was jailed as a result. None of the men sued has the capacity to pay out any kind of large-scale payment.
From the start, the families made clear the civil action was a vehicle for putting as much information as possible into the public domain about the bombing and the men whom they claim were involved.
Appeals by four alleged dissident republicans held liable for the Omagh bomb will be heard in January, it has emerged.
The four men are due to appeal against the judgement handed down by the High Court in June last year. The Omagh bomb killed 31 people and injured hundreds of others on August 15, 1998. It was the biggest single loss of life in a single atrocity during the Troubles.
Senior judges have set aside two weeks for challenges by the men who were successfully sued by relatives of some of those murdered in the Real IRA blast.
A separate bid by victims' families to obtain a more punitive award of exemplary damages against those deemed responsible will also be heard then.
Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly and Colm Murphy were successfully sued by 12 victims' relatives, who were awarded �1.6m compensation last June.
The judge also found the dissident republican organisation, the Real IRA, liable for the bomb in which 29 people and two unborn babies were killed.
The men were granted legal aid to pursue their appeals earlier this year. Lawyers for some of the men have set out requests for transcripts from the original legal action as part of their case.
No-one has ever been convicted in a criminal court of causing the deaths of the Omagh victims. The only man to face criminal charges over the Omagh killings, 38-year-old Sean Hoey from Jonesborough in south Armagh, was acquitted in 2007.
The families brought the multi-million pound civil action in an attempt to bring fresh information about the atrocity to light.
It was not a criminal case and no-one was jailed as a result. None of the men sued has the capacity to pay out any kind of large-scale payment.
From the start, the families made clear the civil action was a vehicle for putting as much information as possible into the public domain about the bombing and the men whom they claim were involved.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1994
Published Date: 01-Jul-10
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