JUSTICE MAY BECOME THE 32ND VICTIM OF THE BOMB
Justice may become the 32nd victim of the bomb
BY JACQUELINE COURTNEY
'Unforgivable' the way investigation was carried out
THE Press Conference heard sorrowing relatives of the Omagh bomb bitterly hit out at the way the investigation was conducted by senior police officers and immediately called for a Public Inquiry.
They admitted an incredible feeling of being let down at this vital stage of the proceedings.
One angry relative, Michael Gallagher who lost his son in the bomb feared that the 32nd victim of the bomb would now be 'justice'.
He said it was very painful for him and for other relatives to have to sit and listen to the details of the report.
He admitted the families had often pondered the possibility the Omagh bomb could have been prevented. And he found 'unforgivable' the way the investigation was conducted, the way the management system in the RUC worked and the admissions identified in the investigation.
The report he added had uncovered some very 'glaring things' which should have been handled better by a professional police force.
One point in particular caused him great concern to learn that one part of the police force had not co-operated with the other and also that information passed on was not acted upon.
"No one will really know the outcome of that. I personally think there were opportunities that were missed and if they had been taken advantage of who knows what the outcome would have been?" he said. But what he found obvious in the report was that management within the RUC was inefficient and in his opinion that was unforgivable.
"This report highly criticises the top management level within the RUC and it brings into question effective policing here in Northern Ireland."
He supported an earlier call by Marion Radford for a full public inquiry with no amnesty on behalf of the Omagh Victims' Group. She had lost her 16 year old son Alan in the atrocity.
She said the group was also calling for an early meeting with the Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Another outspoken relative Lawrence Rush said the investigation had shown that the police were not doing their job on that day and he called for the immediate resignation of Ronnie Flanagan.
"What we are talking about is the police not defending the public. Their job is to defend and serve but they have abysmally gone down on that. The police at the moment is a total shambles - that's all that can be said," he declared.
He then called for the immediate resignation of Ronnie Flanagan and accused him and other investigating officers in the case of telling lies.
Another relative Gerard McFarland who lost his 17-year-old daughter Samantha in the bomb also agreed that a vital opportunity had been missed.
He was distressed by the revelation that information received had not been acted upon. "I find it very disturbing to realise that that was not passed on to the local commander so he could have taken the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the public," said the distressed father.
Mr Gallagher also hit out at the fact the investigation was allowed to sit in mid air and important forensic evidence fingerprints, clothes etc was lost.
"The car which blew up in Omagh actually ended up in Belfast. It was virtually lost for two years and when it was rediscovered it was so riddled with rust that it had no evidential value" he said.
He added that there was an awful lot in the investigation side apart from the warnings which had not been properly dealt with.
Another relative Stanley McCombe was also critical of the way police had handled the matter. He said at one stage it seemed like policing band parades was considered more important that investigating 31 murders. He too called on Tony Blair to come to Omagh "and talk to us".
"He came here after the bomb when we were still in a state of shock and promised us the resources necessary to carry out a proper investigation.
"We have been told this all along and now we hear that for six or seven months nothing at all was done," he said
"Let him come now and we will give him the truth. We don't need politicians to fight our battles. We are fighting this battle on our own," he said.
Mr Gallagher agreed saying "This time now surely he can't ignore us, we are in a better position now to talk to him. This is only a summary of the report and the full report will probably contain a lot more damage to the RUC."
Asked about the group's civil action, Mr Gallagher said they were still pursuing that through their lawyers.
Turning to the public inquiry he said they certainly would not want amnesty for anyone. "We want an inquiry that can actually do something," he said.
Earlier a friend of the Rushe family alleged that the families had been seriously let down by Ronnie Flanagan when he falsely promised to do everything in his power to bring those responsible to justice.
"That was not done and relatives are extremely distressed by some of the revelations in the report. Mr Flanagan said he would do everything in his power to get every piece of evidence but now it seems that from March to November 2000 nothing was done. Forty two per cent of the team had been wound done and the most senior officer working on the case was a detective constable," she said.
"Mrs O'Loan had been told there was one database but she had an expert witness with her who confirmed there was a second database," said the distressed lady.
"The policeman who received the anonymous call on August 4th took that piece of paper to Enniskillen to the Special Branch where it was not acted upon and is now missing.
"Mrs O'Loan put that down to poor management. She said it was a civil situation not a criminal situation so in fact she could not bring criminal proceedings against them. But she has made a number of recommendations which hopefully will be acted upon.
A distressed Mr Skelton said he felt "very betrayed" by the findings of the report and was feeling "very shocked".
He also called for a public inquiry into the whole way the matter was dealt with.
He said that after the bomb in Omagh they had been promises at the highest levels that no resources would be spared and no stone left
unturned.
"In this report it has been clearly stated that a lot of stones have been left unturned and resources were not used in pursuit of these killers.
"I feel absolutely betrayed. We had built up our hopes and almost three years down the line we are learning what has happened," said Mr Skelton.
He said everyone at the briefing was in a very sombre mood. "People in there have lost someone, or had someone who is critically injured or knew someone who was killed.
"We thought we were getting our lives sorted back together again and now this comes up.
"Hopefully there will be no other atrocity like Omagh and things can be put in place where people in charge of investigations will do their job.
He emphasised that it was not the police on the ground that day that they were condemning, rather the police above that who were at fault.
Concluding Mr Skelton said "It was not the authorities who planted the bomb it was the Real IRA. It was caused by human error and nobody in a responsible position to follow through the proper procedures."
BY JACQUELINE COURTNEY
'Unforgivable' the way investigation was carried out
THE Press Conference heard sorrowing relatives of the Omagh bomb bitterly hit out at the way the investigation was conducted by senior police officers and immediately called for a Public Inquiry.
They admitted an incredible feeling of being let down at this vital stage of the proceedings.
One angry relative, Michael Gallagher who lost his son in the bomb feared that the 32nd victim of the bomb would now be 'justice'.
He said it was very painful for him and for other relatives to have to sit and listen to the details of the report.
He admitted the families had often pondered the possibility the Omagh bomb could have been prevented. And he found 'unforgivable' the way the investigation was conducted, the way the management system in the RUC worked and the admissions identified in the investigation.
The report he added had uncovered some very 'glaring things' which should have been handled better by a professional police force.
One point in particular caused him great concern to learn that one part of the police force had not co-operated with the other and also that information passed on was not acted upon.
"No one will really know the outcome of that. I personally think there were opportunities that were missed and if they had been taken advantage of who knows what the outcome would have been?" he said. But what he found obvious in the report was that management within the RUC was inefficient and in his opinion that was unforgivable.
"This report highly criticises the top management level within the RUC and it brings into question effective policing here in Northern Ireland."
He supported an earlier call by Marion Radford for a full public inquiry with no amnesty on behalf of the Omagh Victims' Group. She had lost her 16 year old son Alan in the atrocity.
She said the group was also calling for an early meeting with the Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Another outspoken relative Lawrence Rush said the investigation had shown that the police were not doing their job on that day and he called for the immediate resignation of Ronnie Flanagan.
"What we are talking about is the police not defending the public. Their job is to defend and serve but they have abysmally gone down on that. The police at the moment is a total shambles - that's all that can be said," he declared.
He then called for the immediate resignation of Ronnie Flanagan and accused him and other investigating officers in the case of telling lies.
Another relative Gerard McFarland who lost his 17-year-old daughter Samantha in the bomb also agreed that a vital opportunity had been missed.
He was distressed by the revelation that information received had not been acted upon. "I find it very disturbing to realise that that was not passed on to the local commander so he could have taken the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the public," said the distressed father.
Mr Gallagher also hit out at the fact the investigation was allowed to sit in mid air and important forensic evidence fingerprints, clothes etc was lost.
"The car which blew up in Omagh actually ended up in Belfast. It was virtually lost for two years and when it was rediscovered it was so riddled with rust that it had no evidential value" he said.
He added that there was an awful lot in the investigation side apart from the warnings which had not been properly dealt with.
Another relative Stanley McCombe was also critical of the way police had handled the matter. He said at one stage it seemed like policing band parades was considered more important that investigating 31 murders. He too called on Tony Blair to come to Omagh "and talk to us".
"He came here after the bomb when we were still in a state of shock and promised us the resources necessary to carry out a proper investigation.
"We have been told this all along and now we hear that for six or seven months nothing at all was done," he said
"Let him come now and we will give him the truth. We don't need politicians to fight our battles. We are fighting this battle on our own," he said.
Mr Gallagher agreed saying "This time now surely he can't ignore us, we are in a better position now to talk to him. This is only a summary of the report and the full report will probably contain a lot more damage to the RUC."
Asked about the group's civil action, Mr Gallagher said they were still pursuing that through their lawyers.
Turning to the public inquiry he said they certainly would not want amnesty for anyone. "We want an inquiry that can actually do something," he said.
Earlier a friend of the Rushe family alleged that the families had been seriously let down by Ronnie Flanagan when he falsely promised to do everything in his power to bring those responsible to justice.
"That was not done and relatives are extremely distressed by some of the revelations in the report. Mr Flanagan said he would do everything in his power to get every piece of evidence but now it seems that from March to November 2000 nothing was done. Forty two per cent of the team had been wound done and the most senior officer working on the case was a detective constable," she said.
"Mrs O'Loan had been told there was one database but she had an expert witness with her who confirmed there was a second database," said the distressed lady.
"The policeman who received the anonymous call on August 4th took that piece of paper to Enniskillen to the Special Branch where it was not acted upon and is now missing.
"Mrs O'Loan put that down to poor management. She said it was a civil situation not a criminal situation so in fact she could not bring criminal proceedings against them. But she has made a number of recommendations which hopefully will be acted upon.
A distressed Mr Skelton said he felt "very betrayed" by the findings of the report and was feeling "very shocked".
He also called for a public inquiry into the whole way the matter was dealt with.
He said that after the bomb in Omagh they had been promises at the highest levels that no resources would be spared and no stone left
unturned.
"In this report it has been clearly stated that a lot of stones have been left unturned and resources were not used in pursuit of these killers.
"I feel absolutely betrayed. We had built up our hopes and almost three years down the line we are learning what has happened," said Mr Skelton.
He said everyone at the briefing was in a very sombre mood. "People in there have lost someone, or had someone who is critically injured or knew someone who was killed.
"We thought we were getting our lives sorted back together again and now this comes up.
"Hopefully there will be no other atrocity like Omagh and things can be put in place where people in charge of investigations will do their job.
He emphasised that it was not the police on the ground that day that they were condemning, rather the police above that who were at fault.
Concluding Mr Skelton said "It was not the authorities who planted the bomb it was the Real IRA. It was caused by human error and nobody in a responsible position to follow through the proper procedures."
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0883
Published Date: 13-Dec-01
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