INFORMER SOUGHT BY OMAGH INVESTIGATORS HIDES OUT IN BRITAIN
Informer sought by Omagh investigators hides out in Britain
A GARDA tipster, whom the PSNI are currently anxious to question about the Omagh bombing is living across the water under the Irish government witness protection scheme, according to a Dublin-based newspaper.
And the revelation was met with disdain by Michael Gallagher, spokesperson for the Omagh Support and Self Help group who demanded that Paddy Dixon be made available to the PSNI who have made numerous requests to interview him in connection with the Omagh atrocity.
Using a false name, Mr Dixon who gave police information about stolen cars used the Real IRA in the months before the Omagh bombing, is understood to have blown his cover when he was detained at Cardiff airport along with a youth.
He was returning to his hiding place in Britian from Dublin carrying cigarettes and a briefcase packed with money, according to the newspaper's report.
Dixon, who initially give his cover name, later alerted the British authorities to his identity and said that the gardai had given him the money to help with his resettlement. Customs later contacted Dublin to verify his story but did not contact the PSNI.
Spokesman for someof the Omagh relatives, Mr Gallagher criticised HM Customs officers for not contacting the police here in the North.
PSNI detectives investigating the Omagh bombing are anxious to interview Dixon about a claim that he gave gardai information that was not shared with police in Northern Ireland about a car used in the blast. The PSNI has already made at least six requests to the Irish authorities to question Dixon.
A former car thief Dixon became a key garda informant, passing on information about cars that were stolen for the Real IRA to use in bombings. He is also understood to have passed information to the Provisional IRA about Real IRA activity.
Dixon was held for about three hours on July 21 but was released without charge.
A garda source said that his Irish handlers did not seek Dixon's release or interfere in any way with his detention.
Dixon is living in Britain under a false identity funded by an Irish government witness protection scheme.
According to the newspaper he is not living in Cardiff and when the informer first moved to Britain for his own protection he stayed in accommodation provided by the London Metropolitan police until the autumn of 2002 and then moved into garda protection.
According to one of Dixon's former handlers, Detective John White, Dixon passed on information that a car was being sought for a bombing in Northern Ireland 24 hours before the Omagh bomb killed 29 people. White claimed that gardai failed to pass the warning to the then RUC to protect Dixon's cover.
White give the information to Nuala O'Loan, the police ombudsman in Northern Ireland, after he was charged with a firearms offence in the republic.
After checking it against the RUC/PSNI Omagh investigation, O'Loan accepted White's account as accurate and forwarded a report in the Department of Justice in Dublin.
An inquiry ordered by Michael McDowell, the justice minister, last year rejected O'Loan's finding and held that the claims were without foundation.
Dixon was put into protective custody after he was inadvertently named as an informant on the Real IRA in High Court documents prepared at garda headquarters. Dixon, who was no longer an informant and had become established in the motor trade in Dublin, had to flee the country.
A GARDA tipster, whom the PSNI are currently anxious to question about the Omagh bombing is living across the water under the Irish government witness protection scheme, according to a Dublin-based newspaper.
And the revelation was met with disdain by Michael Gallagher, spokesperson for the Omagh Support and Self Help group who demanded that Paddy Dixon be made available to the PSNI who have made numerous requests to interview him in connection with the Omagh atrocity.
Using a false name, Mr Dixon who gave police information about stolen cars used the Real IRA in the months before the Omagh bombing, is understood to have blown his cover when he was detained at Cardiff airport along with a youth.
He was returning to his hiding place in Britian from Dublin carrying cigarettes and a briefcase packed with money, according to the newspaper's report.
Dixon, who initially give his cover name, later alerted the British authorities to his identity and said that the gardai had given him the money to help with his resettlement. Customs later contacted Dublin to verify his story but did not contact the PSNI.
Spokesman for someof the Omagh relatives, Mr Gallagher criticised HM Customs officers for not contacting the police here in the North.
PSNI detectives investigating the Omagh bombing are anxious to interview Dixon about a claim that he gave gardai information that was not shared with police in Northern Ireland about a car used in the blast. The PSNI has already made at least six requests to the Irish authorities to question Dixon.
A former car thief Dixon became a key garda informant, passing on information about cars that were stolen for the Real IRA to use in bombings. He is also understood to have passed information to the Provisional IRA about Real IRA activity.
Dixon was held for about three hours on July 21 but was released without charge.
A garda source said that his Irish handlers did not seek Dixon's release or interfere in any way with his detention.
Dixon is living in Britain under a false identity funded by an Irish government witness protection scheme.
According to the newspaper he is not living in Cardiff and when the informer first moved to Britain for his own protection he stayed in accommodation provided by the London Metropolitan police until the autumn of 2002 and then moved into garda protection.
According to one of Dixon's former handlers, Detective John White, Dixon passed on information that a car was being sought for a bombing in Northern Ireland 24 hours before the Omagh bomb killed 29 people. White claimed that gardai failed to pass the warning to the then RUC to protect Dixon's cover.
White give the information to Nuala O'Loan, the police ombudsman in Northern Ireland, after he was charged with a firearms offence in the republic.
After checking it against the RUC/PSNI Omagh investigation, O'Loan accepted White's account as accurate and forwarded a report in the Department of Justice in Dublin.
An inquiry ordered by Michael McDowell, the justice minister, last year rejected O'Loan's finding and held that the claims were without foundation.
Dixon was put into protective custody after he was inadvertently named as an informant on the Real IRA in High Court documents prepared at garda headquarters. Dixon, who was no longer an informant and had become established in the motor trade in Dublin, had to flee the country.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1774
Published Date: 05-Aug-04
Related Images
