UH/1767

Campbell's sentence was much too lenient - Omagh group

A MAN being sued by the Omagh Families Support Group, was jailed this week for eight years for being a member of the Real IRA.
Liam Campbell of UpperFaughart, Dundalk, Co Louth was convicted on two separate counts of being a member of an illegal organisation styling itself the IRA.
Campbell, who is a former director of operations for the Real IRA, denied the charges relating to two dates, October 2000 and July 2001.
He was arrested in Co Meath in July 2001 and jailed for five years in October 2001. However the conviction was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal earlier this year but Campbell was re-tried on both the original and subsequent charge last week.
He was jailed for four years on both charges to run consecutively with the final 18 months to be suspended. The sentence was backdated to May 1, 2001.
Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh group slammed the sentence as being too lenient. He said it did not reflect the seriousness of the Real IRA's activities.
"The Irish Government's sentencing policy is too weak, he said. "Campbell will be out in a couple of years - such soft sentences will not act as a deterrent to terrorists".
Sentencing Campbell, Justice Richard Johnson, presiding over the non-jury court, said "This is an extremely serious offence". The fact that Campbell had not contested the evidence meant the court would treat the offences as equivalent to guilty pleas.
Campbell is one of five men being sued in a landmark £10m civil action by relatives of the Omagh bomb victims. It is due to take place in the High Court in Belfast in January.