UH10An/28

OMAGH REMEMBERS

o August 15, 1998 - 29 men, women and children and two unborn twins are killed and over 200 more injured when a 500lb bomb explodes in Market Street in Omagh just after 5pm on a Saturday afternoon during a street carnival.
o September 3, 1998 - U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are joined by British prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie on a visit to Omagh. Secret Service agents launch one of the biggest security operations ever mounted in the North.
o September 22, 1998 - 12 men are arrested by police on both sides of the border in connection with the bombing but are subsequently released after questioning.
o November 21, 1998 - The police officer leading the investigation breaks down as he begs the Republican community for help in convicting the bombers.
o December 21, 1998 - An emotional candlelit procession through the streets of Omagh sees thousands pass the spot where the car bomb exploded just four months earlier. Families of the dead and injured faced their first Christmas after the bomb attack.
o February 25, 1999 - 48-year-old Colm Murphy is charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause injury. Murphy, from Ravensdale, Co. Louth, was also charged with membership of an illegal organisation, the so-called Real IRA.
o April 22, 2000 - A review of the police investigation into the bombing begins. During the original investigation almost 80 suspects were questioned, more than 2,000 interviewed and more than 5,000 statements taken.
o September 7, 2000 - The inquest into the bombing begins at Omagh Leisure Centre and relatives brace themselves as details emerge.
o September 19, 2000 - Superintendent James Baxter tells the inquest that his officers had an impossible task to perform on the day of the bomb.
o September 19, 2000 - Omagh police chief Superintendent James Baxter reveals there have been 68 hoax bomb alerts in the town since August 15, 1998.
o October 3, 2000 - Eric Anderson, the officer in charge of the investigation, tells the inquest the investigation was 'active and ongoing' with much work still to be done.
o October 10, 2000 - The Panorama programme names four men connected with the Omagh bombing, after fighting off legal attempts to gag the documentary.
o October 11, 2000 - Families consider suing the four named.
o October 28, 2000 - Families of four killed in the bombing - James Baxter, Samantha McFarland, Lorraine Wilson and Breda Devine - are to launch a civil action against the suspects named by Panorama.
o Families of the bomb victims launch an appeal for £2m to fund a civil suit against the perpetrators. The defendants are named as Seamus McKenna, Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Com Murphy and Seamus Daly.
o July 29, 2001 - A double agent using the pseudonym Kevin Fulton claims in a Sunday newspaper that three days before the Omagh bombing he had informed his Special Branch handlers that the Real IRA was preparing a bomb.
o December 13 2001 - Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan report blames poor leadership for a catalogue of errors surrounding the bombing. Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan says he will resign and commit suicide if the failures highlighted in the report are true.
o January 25, 2002 - Colm Murphy found guilty in Dublin of conspiracy to cause the Omagh bombing and was jailed for 14 years.
o February 19, 2002 - RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan retires and moves to England as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary.
o July 26, 2002 - The families of the Omagh bomb victims begins a civil action against two men suspected of being responsible - Seamus Daly and Seamus McKenna. Writs are also served on three more men who are being held in Portlaoise Prison on unconnected matters.
o August 25, 2002 - A traffic warden injured in the bombing reveals she was made to strip to her underwear in front of lawyers for a compensation application. The action causes outrage and calls are made for changes to the procedure.
o November 7, 2002 - Authorities freeze up to $1m in assets belonging to Liam Campbell who has been named as one of the those behind the bombing.
o August 8, 2003 - Families given £800,000 to pursue action.
o August 6, 2003 - Michael McKevitt, one of five men named in the families' civil action, becomes the first person to be convicted in the Irish republic of directing terrorism and is sentenced to 20 years. However, the offences dated from after the Omagh attack.
o April 23, 2004 - The civil action case begins with a preliminary hearing at the High court in Belfast.
o Colm Murphy, the only person jailed in connection with the bombing, has his conviction overturned but faces a retrial.
o February 9, 2005 - Anthony Joseph Donegan, from Dundalk, appears in court accused of supplying the bomb car.
o Electrician Sean Gerard Hoey, 35, from Jonesborough, is charged with 29 counts of murder and being a member of the Real IRA.
o September 6, 2006 - The long-awaited trail of Hoey is adjourned before it starts sue to the chief defence lawyer being too ill.
o September 25, 2006 - Hoey goes on trial for murder, pleading not guilty to the 58 charges put before him.
o January 10, 2007 - The police ombudsman launches an inquiry into the conduct of crime officer Fiona Cooper and detective chief inspector Philip Marshall, key crown witnesses. During the trial both admitted to changing their statements.
o December 20, 2007 - Mr Justice Weir delivers a verdict of not guilty in the case of Hoey.
o August 5, 2008 - Mick Grimes who lost three generations of his family in the bombing, launches a book 'Till We Meet Again.'
o August 11, 2008 - Church leaders call for families affected by the Real IRA attack in Omagh to attend the tenth anniversary ceremony in the town this Friday. Omagh Churches Forum said some clergy would also go to a separate memorial service organised for this Sunday.