DOUBT CAST ON EXPERTISE OF OMAGH BOMB WITNESS
Doubt cast on expertise Omagh bomb witness
BY ROWAN McSHERRY
THE husband of an Omagh bomb victim has said he feels "let down" following new revelations concerning a key witness in the Sean Hoey trial.
Kevin Skelton who lost his wife Philomena (39) in the Omagh atrocity says that the announcement that judges in England now that believe Prof Jamieson does not have the expertise to give evidence regarding low copy number DNA, is unsurprising.
He told the Tyrone Herald, "Nothing regarding the Omagh bomb surprises me any more. As far as I'm concerned the whole case was a show-piece for the authorities to give the impression that they did their best. The prosecution and the people called for the DNA, didn't do their job and the PSNI told lies and nothing happened to them. Mr Hoey walked free and quite rightly so. He hired himself a good solicitor who did a good job while the prosecution representing the Omagh families let them down."
Sean Hoey from Jonesborough, Co Armagh was acquitted by Mr Justice Weir of murdering 29 people, including a woman with unborn twins, in the bomb attack in August 1998. A large part of the case against him centred on low copy number (LCN) DNA evidence.
However, delivering his judgement on Mr Hoey in 2007, Mr Justice Weir accepted the argument Prof Jamieson had put forward with another scientist, that the science of low copy number DNA had not been 'validated' by the international scientific community. He said it was 'unreliable' and test results were open to interpretation.
However, appeal court judges in two other cases in England have largely agreed that Prof Jamieson is not qualified to give expert evidence. Their verdict stated that his expertise on the interpretation of DNA profiles "is limited, without any relevant first hand laboratory or research experience." The judgement added that it is "impossible to understand" how he had sufficient expertise to be able to give evidence in the Omagh case, "let alone to assist in the attack made in that case on the LCN process."
Mr Skelton continued, "This low copy DNA was good enough to be used in England up until the Hoey trial and good enough to be used after the trial. There has to be very serious questions asked why it wasn't good enough for the Hoey trial. If the judges think he was not an expert, they should have got somebody who was an expert in that field. They can blame that professor all they want, but the people I blame are the investigating team and the Public Prosecution Service. They let us down deliberately as the two governments don't want convictions for the Omagh bomb."
Mr Skelton also slammed the timing of the news regarding Prof Jamieson.
"Every time they bring out something about Omagh, it is a day or two before Christmas. Is that to torture the families?"
BY ROWAN McSHERRY
THE husband of an Omagh bomb victim has said he feels "let down" following new revelations concerning a key witness in the Sean Hoey trial.
Kevin Skelton who lost his wife Philomena (39) in the Omagh atrocity says that the announcement that judges in England now that believe Prof Jamieson does not have the expertise to give evidence regarding low copy number DNA, is unsurprising.
He told the Tyrone Herald, "Nothing regarding the Omagh bomb surprises me any more. As far as I'm concerned the whole case was a show-piece for the authorities to give the impression that they did their best. The prosecution and the people called for the DNA, didn't do their job and the PSNI told lies and nothing happened to them. Mr Hoey walked free and quite rightly so. He hired himself a good solicitor who did a good job while the prosecution representing the Omagh families let them down."
Sean Hoey from Jonesborough, Co Armagh was acquitted by Mr Justice Weir of murdering 29 people, including a woman with unborn twins, in the bomb attack in August 1998. A large part of the case against him centred on low copy number (LCN) DNA evidence.
However, delivering his judgement on Mr Hoey in 2007, Mr Justice Weir accepted the argument Prof Jamieson had put forward with another scientist, that the science of low copy number DNA had not been 'validated' by the international scientific community. He said it was 'unreliable' and test results were open to interpretation.
However, appeal court judges in two other cases in England have largely agreed that Prof Jamieson is not qualified to give expert evidence. Their verdict stated that his expertise on the interpretation of DNA profiles "is limited, without any relevant first hand laboratory or research experience." The judgement added that it is "impossible to understand" how he had sufficient expertise to be able to give evidence in the Omagh case, "let alone to assist in the attack made in that case on the LCN process."
Mr Skelton continued, "This low copy DNA was good enough to be used in England up until the Hoey trial and good enough to be used after the trial. There has to be very serious questions asked why it wasn't good enough for the Hoey trial. If the judges think he was not an expert, they should have got somebody who was an expert in that field. They can blame that professor all they want, but the people I blame are the investigating team and the Public Prosecution Service. They let us down deliberately as the two governments don't want convictions for the Omagh bomb."
Mr Skelton also slammed the timing of the news regarding Prof Jamieson.
"Every time they bring out something about Omagh, it is a day or two before Christmas. Is that to torture the families?"
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE HERALD
Ref: TYH/103
Published Date: 28-Dec-09
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