TYH/095

Appeal date set for four men held liable for Omagh bomb
BY RONAN McSHERRY

FOUR dissident Republicans, who have been legally held liable for the Omagh bomb, are to appeal against the judgement handed down by the High Court in June last year.
The explosion killed 31 people, including unborn twins, and injured hundreds of others on the Saturday afternoon of August 15,1998. It was the biggest single loss of life in a single atrocity during the Troubles.
Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Seamus Daly and Colm Murphy were successfully sued by 12 victims' relatives, who were awarded £1.6m compensation. Their appeal will be held in the first two weeks in January.
In the landmark ruling Mr Justice Morgan, now the Lord Chief Justice, also found the group styling itself as the Real IRA, liable for the bomb. 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 said that they brought the civil action as no-one had been held accountable in a criminal court of law and they wished to putting as much information as possible into the public domain about the bombing and the people whom they claim were involved.
None of the men sued has the capacity to pay out any kind of large-scale payment. 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.
Mary Higgins QC, for Seamus Daly, told judges she wanted CD recordings from 12 days of evidence. Dermot Fee QC for Colm Murphy, said he was seeking transcripts from eight days of the trial.
Michael McKevitt and Liam Campbell, who were undefended at the original civil action, are currently in custody. McKevitt was sentenced to 20 years in jail in the Republic of Ireland in 2003 on charges of 'membership of an illegal organisation' (the Real IRA) and 'directing terrorism.' Campbell is being held in custody as an attempt is being made to have him extradited to Lithuania on arms-smuggling charges.
A separate appeal by the Omagh families to get a bigger payout will also be heard in January.