O'LOAN BACK ON OMAGH BOMB CASE
O'Loan back on Omagh bomb case
Ombudsman probes trail of anonymous phone calls
BY ROSETTA DONNELLY
OMBUDSMAN Nuala O'Loan is back on the Omagh case to the delight of the Omagh families. Her office is looking into the circumstances surrounding the anonymous telephone call which warned of an attack to take place on the day of the atrocity.
MrsO'Loan's team is to look at part of the inquiry and they are expected to get to work this week.
The Ombudsman will be seeking details after it emerged that a former special Branch officer is to be interviewed by detectives attempting to establish the source of the call.
It was made to police on August 4, 1998, 11 days before the bombing but the information was never passed on to officers on the ground.
Relatives of some of the 31 people killed, which included a mother pregnant with twins, had urged the Ombudsman to carry out her own investigation in to the phone call.
Four years ago, she issued a damning report of the investigation by the RUC and claimed the leadership and judgement of the then Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan was seriously flawed, an allegation he rejected but which led to a huge row which rumbled on for months.
Mrs O'Loan s spokesman confirmed that her officers, headed up by executive director Dave Wood were back on the case.
Speaking to the Tyrone Herald on Friday, the spokesman said that it was not unusual for the Ombudsman to revisit a case. If evidence comes to light such as this, then there is no reason why we cannot go re-open it.
He rejected any notion that the Ombudsman might be constrained given the furore caused by her last report. He said that Mrs O'Loan would look at any new evidence and do whatever has to do.
The Special Branch officer has already been questioned as part of an investigation unrelated to the Omagh inquiry but it is not known if he has yet been interviewed in an attempt to trace the source of the telephone call.
He has been transferred from Special Branch to other policing duties.
A spokesman for the PSNI said as there is an Ombudsman investigation into this area, we will be making no further comment
A male officer had contacted the CID office in Omagh at 10am on August 4, 1998 when he spoke to a detective constable.
He named two men whom he claimed would be bringing across the border four dismantled AK47 rifles and two rocket launchers belonging to the Continuity IRA which he said would be used in an attack on police in Omagh on August 15.
At the time the CID officer believed the caller to be genuine briefed the senior detective on duty and then travelled to Enniskillen, where he informed Special Branch officers. They allegedly told him there was nothing in the information and that the two men named were ordinary criminals.
Reacting to the news, Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh Families group welcomed the fact that Nuala O'Loan is to look at the case.
He said that while the families had faith in Norman Baxter and his team investigating the Omagh bomb, they did not have any faith in any police rank senior to that. He had written a letter to Nuala O'Loan on Christmas Day and he was pleased to receive her call notifying him that she was looking at an aspect of the case.
He felt Mrs O'Loan had played a crucial role in highlighting the failings in the Omagh investigation and the families had great faith in her. But he said the Irish government needs to do something similar and they are not.
The families want more than anything a cross-border public inquiry into the Omagh bomb and we won't settle for anything less.
Ombudsman probes trail of anonymous phone calls
BY ROSETTA DONNELLY
OMBUDSMAN Nuala O'Loan is back on the Omagh case to the delight of the Omagh families. Her office is looking into the circumstances surrounding the anonymous telephone call which warned of an attack to take place on the day of the atrocity.
MrsO'Loan's team is to look at part of the inquiry and they are expected to get to work this week.
The Ombudsman will be seeking details after it emerged that a former special Branch officer is to be interviewed by detectives attempting to establish the source of the call.
It was made to police on August 4, 1998, 11 days before the bombing but the information was never passed on to officers on the ground.
Relatives of some of the 31 people killed, which included a mother pregnant with twins, had urged the Ombudsman to carry out her own investigation in to the phone call.
Four years ago, she issued a damning report of the investigation by the RUC and claimed the leadership and judgement of the then Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan was seriously flawed, an allegation he rejected but which led to a huge row which rumbled on for months.
Mrs O'Loan s spokesman confirmed that her officers, headed up by executive director Dave Wood were back on the case.
Speaking to the Tyrone Herald on Friday, the spokesman said that it was not unusual for the Ombudsman to revisit a case. If evidence comes to light such as this, then there is no reason why we cannot go re-open it.
He rejected any notion that the Ombudsman might be constrained given the furore caused by her last report. He said that Mrs O'Loan would look at any new evidence and do whatever has to do.
The Special Branch officer has already been questioned as part of an investigation unrelated to the Omagh inquiry but it is not known if he has yet been interviewed in an attempt to trace the source of the telephone call.
He has been transferred from Special Branch to other policing duties.
A spokesman for the PSNI said as there is an Ombudsman investigation into this area, we will be making no further comment
A male officer had contacted the CID office in Omagh at 10am on August 4, 1998 when he spoke to a detective constable.
He named two men whom he claimed would be bringing across the border four dismantled AK47 rifles and two rocket launchers belonging to the Continuity IRA which he said would be used in an attack on police in Omagh on August 15.
At the time the CID officer believed the caller to be genuine briefed the senior detective on duty and then travelled to Enniskillen, where he informed Special Branch officers. They allegedly told him there was nothing in the information and that the two men named were ordinary criminals.
Reacting to the news, Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh Families group welcomed the fact that Nuala O'Loan is to look at the case.
He said that while the families had faith in Norman Baxter and his team investigating the Omagh bomb, they did not have any faith in any police rank senior to that. He had written a letter to Nuala O'Loan on Christmas Day and he was pleased to receive her call notifying him that she was looking at an aspect of the case.
He felt Mrs O'Loan had played a crucial role in highlighting the failings in the Omagh investigation and the families had great faith in her. But he said the Irish government needs to do something similar and they are not.
The families want more than anything a cross-border public inquiry into the Omagh bomb and we won't settle for anything less.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE HERALD
Ref: TYH/007
Published Date: 17-Jan-05
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