UH/1655

Convicted bomb 'provider' gets Legal Aid for appeal
BY NIGEL MCDONAGH

A MAN who was given a 14-year prison sentence two years ago for his role in the Omagh bombing was granted legal aid this week so that he can bring an appeal against his conviction.
Colm Murphy, a building contractor and publican from Co Armagh, was the first person to be convicted in connection with the Real IRA attack which killed 29 people and two unborn twins in August 1998.
On Monday, the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) was told that the Director of Public Prosecutions was not opposing the application for aid and had no function in the matter.
During a 25-day trial in 2002, Murphy had pleaded not guilty to conspiring in Dundalk with another person (who was not before the court) to cause an explosion in the State or elsewhere on dates between August 13 and 16, 1998.
But Mr Justice Robert Barr, passing sentence in the Special Criminal Court, said Murphy had been a service provider for those who had planned and carried out the Omagh bombing. The court found that Murphy had lent his mobile phone and a mobile phone he got from another person, to the people who planted the Omagh bomb.
In the Special Criminal Court, legal aid was refused, after the court took the view that he had put monies into a trust fund. Since then, Murphy had been in jail and was separated from his wife. Approximately €340,000 had been put in a trust fund for his children and the family home went to his wife. In reply to Mr Justice Iarlaith O'Neill, Michael O'Higgins SC, for Murphy, said the aims of the trust were that there would be a division of capital and interest to each child should it reach 21 years.
Mr Justice O'Neill commented that that did not appear to be a fund set aside for the provision and maintenance of children.
Mr Justice Niall Fennelly asked if Mr O'Higgins was saying that Murphy was devoid of funds. Mr O'Higgins replied that, on the material that was available to him, that appeared to be the position.
The fees paid to Murphy's lawyers in the Special Criminal Court did not cover the duration of the trial. However, in the tradition of the bar, lawyers continued to act when monies were not available.
Mr Justice Fennelly said the court had been put in a dilemma, but it had to accept that at this time, Murphy did not have assets. As a result of this, the court had reluctantly decided he should be granted legal aid.