TYH/028

Green lights for Omagh families' bomb lawsuits
BY ROSETTA DOWNELLY

THE Omagh group pursuing compensation of £14 million against those believed to be responsible for the 1998 bombing which claimed 32 lives - including unborn twins - believe their case is strengthened by major developments last week.
In separate rulings, Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt lost his appeal in Dublin on Friday against his conviction for directing terrorism, just two days after the Court of Appeal in Belfast dismissed an application by two others named in the lawsuit - Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly - to take a legal challenge to the House of Lords.
Commenting on the developments, Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh Self-Help Support Group, said the ruling in the McKevitt appeal reinforces the earlier conviction.
"We hope that next year things can move on with the civil and criminal trial.
"It has been too long drawn out. We are delighted that appeal has been heard and the ruling given. In a way, the Court upholding the original ruling reinforces it and makes it safer," said Mr Gallagher.
McKevitt, 54, from Beech Park, Blackrock, Co. Louth, was jailed for 20 years by the Special Criminal Court in 2003.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday, Justice Nicholas Kearns said the court was satisfied that the Special Criminal Court was entitled to conclude that the main prosecution witness, David Rupert, was a credible witness and to accept his evidence.
Earlier, the £14 million compensation case mounted by the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb was given the green light when the Court of Appeal dismissed the application by Conn Murphy and Seamus Daly to take a legal challenge to the House of Lords.
Their lawyers applied to challenge a November ruling that the London solicitors acting for the victims' families had not significantly breached court rules.
It had been argued that the firm, H2O, did not have a business address in Northern Ireland and was merely represented by a Belfast firm of solicitors, which agreed to accept service of court papers, but declined to act as agents for security reasons. Lord Chief Justice Brian Kerr deemed the point as technical and ruled that the proceedings could go ahead.
On leave to appeal to the House of Lords, Lord Justice Kerr, sitting with Lord Justice Shell, told the lawyer, "You may be aggrieved at the decision we took but it does not constitute a point of law of general public importance and the application is refused."
Despite the ruling, two outstanding matters have to be resolved before a date can be fixed for the compensation hearing.
The British Parliament has yet to approve an amendment to legislation to permit fresh Legal Aid funding to be made available to the Omagh families to fund their court claim.