UH/1338

Date for Omagh bomb hearing fixed

A date has been fixed for the trial of Colm Murphy, the only person charged in connection with the Omagh bomb.
At a special criminal court in Dublin on Tuesday, the date for the trial of the father of four was set for January 16, 2001.
Murphy, a building contractor and publican from Co Armagh, with an address at Jordan's corner, Ravensdale, Co Louth, was charged with conspiring in Dundalk with another person, not before the court, to cause an explosion in the state or elsewhere between August 13 and 16 1998.
Murphy has also been charged with membership of an illegal organisation, styling itself Ogliagh na hEireann, on August 14th 1998.
The trial is expected to last for three weeks according to assistant state solicitor Gearoid Ryall.
Murphy is currently on bail of IR€50,000, and was refused Legal Aid earlier this month on the grounds that he was a wealthy man.
The court heard that Murphy owned land outside Drogheda and Dundalk, and jointly owned a pub in Dundalk and a building contracting firm.
Murphy told the court he had got no new contracts since he had been charged and believed that he would never work again.