BOMBER GRINNED AS HE LEFT CAR
BOMBER GRINNED AS HE LEFT CAR
BY RONAN McSHERRY r.mcsherry@ulsterherald.com
Witness tells packed courtroom of chilling encounter before Omagh blast
THREE years and three weeks after his arrest, Sean Gerard Hoey, 37, of Molly Road, Jonesborough finally went on trial for the murder of the 29 people killed in the Omagh bomb.
In addition to the murders, Hoey denies a multitude of other terrorist charges. The 58 charges in total include six other murder conspiracies, five bombings, four bomb conspiracies, and possession of explosives including timer power units, mortar bombs and bombs.
Belfast Crown Court number 12, was packed with extra seating brought in to accommodate the throngs of journalists. Hoey sat behind the glass in the dock between two security officers dressed in a beige jacket, an open-neck striped shirt and jeans. The relatives of the Omagh bomb victims sat behind the accused man in the public gallery.
The trial was restarted following a postponement earlier this month, with Gordon Kerr QC for the prosecution claiming the bombing had been planned deliberately to cause maximum death and injury. He also told the hushed court that evidence will be given from a woman who parked her car outside SD Kells shop in Market Street in Omagh and recalled two men get out of a Cavalier car in front of her. According to the prosecution, the men were in a hurry and one of them caught her eye and grinned at her. It was this car that contained the explosives that devastated the area soon after.
Mr Kerr opened the Crown case by saying, "The case arises from a series of bomb attacks and attempted bombings in 1998 which the prosecution say were part of a violent campaign conducted by republicans who had not accepted the cessation of the terrorist campaign leading up to and following the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998."
He added that DNA and fibre evidence linked Hoey to most of the dissident bombs and showed his involvement in them. All but two of the devices linked to the charges used "Mark 19" timer power units (TPU) forming a series from which it could be concluded that they were all built by the same person. Fibre evidence would also show a connection between the TPUs at the time of their construction. Mr Kerr added, "The prosecution will say that both DNA evidence and fibre evidence connecting the defendant to this series of attacks will show his involvement in them and that the totality of the evidence will persuade the court of his criminal involvement in the connected series of explosions."
The prosecution also claimed a voice analyst had identified Hoey as the man who telephoned a bomb warning about one of the devices at Banbridge a fortnight before the Omagh blast. The prosecution's case will include warnings and claims of responsibility involving a recognised republican dissident terrorist codeword for the series of mortar attacks, bombs attacks and attempted bombings across the North in 1998. These occurred in Banbridge, Crossmaglen, Newry, Belleek, Belfast, Lisburn and Armagh in the months before the Omagh atrocity.
The Court was told the codeword 'Martha Popo' was used in the phoned message to UTV warning of the Omagh bomb. The same recognised codeword had been used by a dissident republican group on April 30 when a warning of a car bomb left in Lisburn and on May 16 warning of a bomb at Armagh police station. On August 1, a similar codeword, 'Marjorie Pope' was used when a warning was phoned regarding a car bomb left in Banbridge. The prosecution said the court will be later asked to contrast those warnings with the warnings received in the case of Omagh.
Mr Kerr also told the court that when police went to a mobile home on Molly Road, Jonesborough to arrest the defendant on September 2, 2003, he ran from the premises. In a subsequent search Hoey came out from an area of bushes with a mobile in his hand and was arrested.
At the end of almost two hours of his opening statement, the prosecution barrister said, "Hoey was a participant in the series of explosions which are the subject of these charges. The evidence connects him to devices used against both security forces and civilians. The evidence will suggest that he contemplated the use of the devices in such a way that injury up to and including death would occur and agreed to that."
The trial is expected to last for up to 14 weeks.
BY RONAN McSHERRY r.mcsherry@ulsterherald.com
Witness tells packed courtroom of chilling encounter before Omagh blast
THREE years and three weeks after his arrest, Sean Gerard Hoey, 37, of Molly Road, Jonesborough finally went on trial for the murder of the 29 people killed in the Omagh bomb.
In addition to the murders, Hoey denies a multitude of other terrorist charges. The 58 charges in total include six other murder conspiracies, five bombings, four bomb conspiracies, and possession of explosives including timer power units, mortar bombs and bombs.
Belfast Crown Court number 12, was packed with extra seating brought in to accommodate the throngs of journalists. Hoey sat behind the glass in the dock between two security officers dressed in a beige jacket, an open-neck striped shirt and jeans. The relatives of the Omagh bomb victims sat behind the accused man in the public gallery.
The trial was restarted following a postponement earlier this month, with Gordon Kerr QC for the prosecution claiming the bombing had been planned deliberately to cause maximum death and injury. He also told the hushed court that evidence will be given from a woman who parked her car outside SD Kells shop in Market Street in Omagh and recalled two men get out of a Cavalier car in front of her. According to the prosecution, the men were in a hurry and one of them caught her eye and grinned at her. It was this car that contained the explosives that devastated the area soon after.
Mr Kerr opened the Crown case by saying, "The case arises from a series of bomb attacks and attempted bombings in 1998 which the prosecution say were part of a violent campaign conducted by republicans who had not accepted the cessation of the terrorist campaign leading up to and following the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998."
He added that DNA and fibre evidence linked Hoey to most of the dissident bombs and showed his involvement in them. All but two of the devices linked to the charges used "Mark 19" timer power units (TPU) forming a series from which it could be concluded that they were all built by the same person. Fibre evidence would also show a connection between the TPUs at the time of their construction. Mr Kerr added, "The prosecution will say that both DNA evidence and fibre evidence connecting the defendant to this series of attacks will show his involvement in them and that the totality of the evidence will persuade the court of his criminal involvement in the connected series of explosions."
The prosecution also claimed a voice analyst had identified Hoey as the man who telephoned a bomb warning about one of the devices at Banbridge a fortnight before the Omagh blast. The prosecution's case will include warnings and claims of responsibility involving a recognised republican dissident terrorist codeword for the series of mortar attacks, bombs attacks and attempted bombings across the North in 1998. These occurred in Banbridge, Crossmaglen, Newry, Belleek, Belfast, Lisburn and Armagh in the months before the Omagh atrocity.
The Court was told the codeword 'Martha Popo' was used in the phoned message to UTV warning of the Omagh bomb. The same recognised codeword had been used by a dissident republican group on April 30 when a warning of a car bomb left in Lisburn and on May 16 warning of a bomb at Armagh police station. On August 1, a similar codeword, 'Marjorie Pope' was used when a warning was phoned regarding a car bomb left in Banbridge. The prosecution said the court will be later asked to contrast those warnings with the warnings received in the case of Omagh.
Mr Kerr also told the court that when police went to a mobile home on Molly Road, Jonesborough to arrest the defendant on September 2, 2003, he ran from the premises. In a subsequent search Hoey came out from an area of bushes with a mobile in his hand and was arrested.
At the end of almost two hours of his opening statement, the prosecution barrister said, "Hoey was a participant in the series of explosions which are the subject of these charges. The evidence connects him to devices used against both security forces and civilians. The evidence will suggest that he contemplated the use of the devices in such a way that injury up to and including death would occur and agreed to that."
The trial is expected to last for up to 14 weeks.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1866
Published Date: 28-Sep-06
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