UH/1242

£100,000 bail granted to bomb accused

The only man accused of charges relating to the Omagh Bombing has been freed on £100,000 bail by a High Court Judge in Dublin.
Colm Murphy, a native of Belleeks in South Armagh, was freed on his own bond of £50,000 and two individual sureties of £25,000 by Justice Paul Carney on Friday.
Murphy was also ordered to report daily to Dundalk garda station and to surrender his passport.
Releasing the accused, Mr Justice Carney said Murphy had a 'prima facie entitlement under the law and constitution to bail.'
The Special Criminal Court had refused the accused bail earlier in the week.
The 46 year old father of four, now living in Ravensdale, Co Louth, was charged last month in connection with the August atrocity, which killed 29 people, two unborn babies, and injured more than 270 people.
He stands accused of conspiring in Dundalk with another, not before the court, to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the state, or elsewhere, between August 13th and 16th of last year.
He is further charged of being a member of an illegal organisation on August 14th.
Opposing High Court Bail, Superintendent Thomas Flannery, said the charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years on conviction.
He said it would be alleged that Murphy belonged to the Continuity Army Council, and that the membership charge carries a maximum seven year sentence.
ADMISSIONS
The Superintendent said the accused had made admissions over a three day period while in Garda custody.
The High Court heard that Murphy had been jailed for two years in 1972 for firearms offences by the Special Criminal Court. He escaped from the Curragh military prison in October of 1972 but was recaptured in May of the following year. He was jailed in June 1976 for three year for firearms offences, and one year for IRA membership.
Superintendent Flannery said that Murphy was convicted on July 15th of 1983 in the United States for trying to buy M60 machine-guns for the INLA and was jailed for five years. He was released in December 1985 and returned to Ireland.
Murphy, he said, was a building contractor and owned 30 acres of land at the Dublin Road in Drogheda.
He said he did not believe that Murphy would turn up for his trial if granted bail, because of the seriousness of the charges and the likely sentence on conviction.
Murphy, in evidence, said he would turn up for his trial if granted bail and would abide with any conditions laid down by the court.
The Court also heard that his building contractor business, which employs 28 people, would go under if he was not personally able to apply for a tax form at the beginning of each month.
"Quite clearly, he has a stake in not absconding," said the Judge.
He added that there was either a presumption of innocence or not and Murphy was entitled to a presumption of innocence.
Mr Justice Carney said that the prosecution also had to evidentially support its contention that Murphy was unlikely to attend his trial, and he was not satisfied that it had done so.
The accused is due to appear before the Special Criminal Court on April 27th.