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By ELAINE EDWARDS and JILLY BEATTIE

AFTER ALMOST FOUR YEARS OMAGH FAMILIES SUE FIVE
LAWYERS served writs on four out of five Omagh bomb suspects yesterday as families of the victims began legal proceedings to sue them.
At dawn, solicitors for the relatives arrived at the last known addresses of two defendants, Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly, in Counties Monaghan and Louth.
And they later travelled to top-security Portlaoise Prison, Co Laois, to serve writs on three men in custody there.
Although only one of the men, Colm Murphy, has ever been convicted on criminal charges in relation to the atrocity, the families believe the move will help them find some measure of justice.
Twenty-nine people including a woman with unborn twins were killed when the bomb exploded in Omagh. Co Tyrone, on August 15, 1998.
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aidan died in the blast, said he was pleased the proceedings had finally started.
Speaking outside Portlaoise Prison as lawyers served the writs on Michael McKevitt and Liam Campbell, he said: "I think it's important now that the process has started to move forward.
"This has been the end of an 18-month campaign."
Shortly before 11am, lawyer Davidaire Hosford, of the UK-based firm H2O, was escorted through the maximum security metal gates of the jail on the outskirts of the bustling midlands town, to serve writs.
She spent 60 minutes in the prison speaking to two of the men - Campbell and McKevitt - but Murphy refused to meet her.
There was a huge media presence outside the jail as reporters from all over Ireland and Britain flocked to record the historic moment.
It is believed that yesterday's events mark the first time that anyone has served civil proceedings on individuals alleging responsibility for acts of terrorism.
Miss Hosford said: "I served the writs on two of the men. Then we had a talk for a little while.
"The third man - Mr Murphy - declined to come and see me but we are thinking of other ways to get the writ to him in detention."
Miss Hosford said she could not disclose any further information about the conversations until she had spoken to the Omagh families.
After the writs were served, Mr Gallagher said he was relieved the process had started.
He said: "It's up to these people now. They have the opportunity to respond and their story will be listened to.
"They will of course be treated with dignity and respect. Sadly, that was not the treatment that our loved ones received on the 15th of August 1998.
"I would have liked the chance to speak to the men in jail myself but I have to respect the authorities could not let me do so. We have gone through the process by lawful means. What we are doing is not for revenge.
"What we are looking for is justice and we will continue to work within the law for that."
Victor Barker, whose 12-year-old son James was killed in the attack, said he was disappointed the families had been forced to take action in their search for justice.
He added: "It's taken a long time and I'm very saddened that the relatives have been left to do this. What we really want is a criminal proceeding."
The court hearing, expected to take place in Belfast, will allow lawyers to produce evidence they claim connects the defendants to the attack.
Legal experts said the case could encourage other victims of terror attacks to take similar action.
William Schabas, professor of human rights at University College Galway, said: "New experiments are going on in holding people accountable for a variety of human rights abuses and the civil route.
"Mechanisms like this are particularly useful. You don't put the people in jail but it can be a very effective way of establishing responsibility and naming perpetrators."
He said stigmatising perpetrators of crimes and demonstrating their guilt in a public forum can be "very effective".
Although a massive cross-border hunt was launched to find the Real IRA terrorists behind the Omagh bombing, police have been unable to gather enough evidence to
convict anyone apart from Murphy. A huge public appeal to raise £2million to fight a civil case has been mounted on behalf of the families by the Omagh Victims' Legal Trust.
Some £1.5million has been banked so far but they are still seeking the remaining money to fully fund the legal action. The trust welcomed the landmark civil action last night, paying tribute to those to had made donations.
A spokesman said: "We are one step closer to justice today to seeing in court those who are suspected of murdering 31 innocent people in Omagh.
"We could not have reached this point without the generosity of the public throughout the world.
"They are helping us send a signal, to the terrorists - justice will have its day."