UH/1801

McKevitt to challenge legal payment to families for civil suit

THE decision by the British government to fund the civil case being taken by the Omagh families support group against five Real IRA men alleged to have bombed the town with the loss of 31 lives, is to be challenged in the High Court by one of them.
Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt is seeking a judicial review into the decision to give the relatives almost £750,000.
McKevitt and four others are being sued for £14 million by some of the families who lost loved ones in the 1998 Real IRA bomb.
Papers lodged in the High Court in Belfast claim legislation allowing the payment was created for an improper purpose and was therefore void.
Michael Gallagher, is one of the families taking the case and, despite the fact that the case was scheduled to go ahead this month, he is matter of fact about it as being another legal hurdle to overcome.
"It's entirely up to him how he defends his name," he said.
Mr Gallagher, who is due to address delegates in Bogota next week at an international conference on terrorism, added, "We've had setbacks before. This is the nature of Omagh but we will continue until we get the truth."
Last week the civil action group suffered a setback when an application for documents to aid its civil case was rejected at Dublin's Special Criminal Court.
Colm Murphy, the only man to have been convicted in connection with the Omagh atrocity, was released on bail in January pending a retrial after his original conviction was quashed.
Legal help
The Lord Chancellor authorised the payment last year when he directed the newly-formed Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission to assist the Omagh claimants with £742,702.
However it is submitted by McKevitt that 'the proceedings, far from being compensatory, are intended to be accusatory'.
McKevitt who is serving 20 years in Portlaoise Prison for directing terrorism - is seeking a judicial review of the legislation under which the payment was made.
McKevitt, 54, from Blackrock in Co. Louth, along with Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy, have been refused legal laid to defend the case which led to their lawyers deciding to pull out.
The papers lodged in the High Court state, "It is submitted that the proceedings, far from being compensatory, are intended to be accusatory.
"Though civil in character, the essence is an attempt to establish liability before a court of law for the most serious criminal offences.
"The proceedings are, effectively, a prosecution of the defendants using a civil standard of proof. As a consequence of not having legal aid, the applicant (McKevitt) now has no legal representation and cannot attend the hearing to defend himself.
"The proceedings will proceed without any input from him in circumstances where it is clearly the intention of the plaintiffs to hold the applicant criminally liable in the eyes of the public for the Omagh bombing."
Before a judicial review can be held, a judge has to grant leave and this preliminary hearing is expected to take place shortly.