UH/1530

Another painful year for families as legal action gets under way
BY JOHN McCUSKER

2002 proved a particularly difficult year for many families touched by the Omagh bombing. Not only had they to contend with another painful anniversary of the tragedy, but as the row between the police ombudsman and former Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan rumbled on, relatives took matters into their own hands and launched a civil action against five men they allege were part of the bomb team.
It was also the year in which the first person was jailed in connection with the attack.
The year began with UTV's Insight programme divulging that an internal police report into the handling of the investigation pointed to a number of serious deficiencies. The programme came days before relatives met with Ronnie Flanagan to listen to his views on the damning indictment of the police investigation into the case. Sir Ronnie told families that he wanted nothing more than to bring to justice those who committed the crime.
January also saw Dundalk man, Colm Murphy jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of conspiracy to cause the explosion. The three judges sitting at Dublin Special Criminal Court heard that a call from Murphy's phone was made in Omagh an hour before the bomb exploded, just after the stolen Vauxhall Cavalier used in the bombing was parked in Market Street.
Mixed sentiments were to follow the Policing Board's unveiling of a series of measures designed to quell the waters between Nuala O'Loan and
Ronnie Flanagan. Among a number of measures outlined in the report was the appointment of a senior British police officer to 'quality control' the investigation and a procedure for managing and sharing intelligence information.
It also emerged that double killer, Sean O' Callaghan had been working for the legal team involved in bringing the civil action against five Real IRA members suspected of bombing Omagh.
In April, the NIO's Compensation Agency came under attack from Kevin Skelton who accused the body of treating relatives like 'garbage.' His outburst came as some families still awaited a decision almost four years after the atrocity.
With the pending retirement of the bomb investigation head Brian McArthur, it emerged that Enniskillen based Superintendent Norman Baxter was to lead the hunt for the Omagh bombers. Supt Baxter vowed to do all in his power to nail those responsible for the attack.
As relatives prepared to mark the August 15 anniversary, lawyers acting for a number of the families served writs on five Real IRA suspects believed to have been behind the atrocity. Documents formally accusing the five of involvement in the bombing were served on Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy, Seamus Daly and Seamus McKenna.
The move came following a campaign backed by Peter Mandelson, Bob Geldof, Barry McGuigan and Eddie Irvine to raise the necessary funds to bring the landmark legal case against those suspected of carrying out the bombing.
Meanwhile it emerged that the British Government could jeopardise the trial of the real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, by demanding that its agents and secret intelligence sources be granted anonymity from the Irish courts.
Also in the courts, Laurence Rush, whose wife Libbi died in the explosion, issued legal proceedings against the North's Chief Constable and Secretary of State. Mr Rush's legal team stated that they were seeking exemplary and aggravated damages as his wife was murdered 'by
reason of the negligence, misfeasance in the public office and breach of statutory duty of the defendants, their agents and servants in or about their failures in the apprehension, detection and pre-emptive arrest of members of a criminal terrorist conspiracy, namely the Real IRA.'
Prior to the ceremony marking the anniversary, Fr Kevin Mullan, who tended to the dead and dying, said many were still struggling to come to terms with what happened in Omagh on August 15, 1998. "We can only hope that they can release from the past and move on to face the future with hope and courage," he said. Hundreds attended the short ceremony which was held at the memorial garden a short distance from the scene of the explosion.
Links with another atrocity emerged in August when it was confirmed that US forensic scientists who had worked on the September 11 attacks were carrying out DNA samples on material recovered from Omagh. Samples taken from the explosion were sent for analysis by officers piecing together evidence recovered from the World Trade Centre in New York a year earlier.
In September trustees of the Omagh Fund released their report into the disbursement of the £6.3 million donated towards the victims of the attack. Figures showed that just over £2 million had been given to families of the deceased, while around £3 million was distributed to the injured.
In the courts, a senior traffic warden who was caught up in the explosion, was awarded a record £253,843 in compensation for physical and mental injuries sustained in the attack. The NIO, however, appealed the decision made in favour of Rosemary Ingram who had been working at Market Street junction just 20 metres from the seat of the explosion.
Mrs Ingram had earlier been forced to partly undress in front of lawyers acting for the government body.
Another twist to the Omagh case emerged when Laurence Rush produced evidence that, although police on both sides of the border knew the man who stole the car used in the bombing, he had never been charged with the theft. During the trial of Omagh bombers Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy, Anthony Donegan was named as the only person involved in the car's theft.
As the year ended, relatives involved in the civil action against five Real IRA men they alleged were behind the bombing appealed for further funds to fight the case. The call came as controversy raged that money already in the £1 million legal campaign purse were draining away.