JUDGE TO RULE ON CALL FOR HALT TO OMAGH BOMB TRIAL
Judge to rule on call for halt to Omagh bomb trial
TODAY the judge in the Omagh bomb trial will rule on a request from Sean Hoey's defence team for the case to be thrown out.
Hoey (37) from Molly Road, Jonesborough, Co Armagh had originally denied 58 charges, including the murder of the 29 people killed in the Omagh atrocity carried out on August 15, 1998.
However, in a further development from the Laganside Crown Court this week, two of the charges were effectively dropped after prosecution lawyers accepted there was no case to answer.
The defendant had been charged with causing an explosion in the middle of Banbridge on August 1, 1998, exactly two weeks before the Omagh bombing.
The prosecution had been expected to present voice analysis evidence to try to link the south Armagh electrician to the Banbridge attack. None had been introduced in the trial and on Tuesday, Crown lawyers invited the court to find there was no case to answer as related to that specific charge.
They also accepted that there was no evidence to support a separate charge of conspiracy to murder, that was connected to an explosives find at Blackwatertown Road outside Armagh a month earlier.
While officially these are decisions for Mr Justice Weir, it effectively means two charges have been withdrawn.
On Monday, the trial had been told that telephoned warnings ahead of the explosion which killed 29 people were deliberately vague and misleading.
Prosecution lawyers were responding to the attempt by defence lawyers to have the case against Sean Hoey thrown out. The prosecution claimed that he had made the bomb timers, and that the bombers were meant to kill.
Prosecution QC Gordon Ken told trial judge Mr Justice Weir that the warnings given about the Omagh bombing were vague, misleading, inaccurate and wrong, unlike the warnings given for other bombings in Lisburn, Armagh, Newry and Banbridge in 1998.
Mr Kerr said there was a "callous and blatant disregard for the consequences of the explosion".
The prosecution claim there is also fibre evidence and alleged patterns between the bombings.
The sensitive form of DNA being used in this trial has been called the foundation stone of their case, but its reliability has been consistently under scrutiny.
The prosecution completed their submission on Tuesday on the 50th day of evidence at the trial.
TODAY the judge in the Omagh bomb trial will rule on a request from Sean Hoey's defence team for the case to be thrown out.
Hoey (37) from Molly Road, Jonesborough, Co Armagh had originally denied 58 charges, including the murder of the 29 people killed in the Omagh atrocity carried out on August 15, 1998.
However, in a further development from the Laganside Crown Court this week, two of the charges were effectively dropped after prosecution lawyers accepted there was no case to answer.
The defendant had been charged with causing an explosion in the middle of Banbridge on August 1, 1998, exactly two weeks before the Omagh bombing.
The prosecution had been expected to present voice analysis evidence to try to link the south Armagh electrician to the Banbridge attack. None had been introduced in the trial and on Tuesday, Crown lawyers invited the court to find there was no case to answer as related to that specific charge.
They also accepted that there was no evidence to support a separate charge of conspiracy to murder, that was connected to an explosives find at Blackwatertown Road outside Armagh a month earlier.
While officially these are decisions for Mr Justice Weir, it effectively means two charges have been withdrawn.
On Monday, the trial had been told that telephoned warnings ahead of the explosion which killed 29 people were deliberately vague and misleading.
Prosecution lawyers were responding to the attempt by defence lawyers to have the case against Sean Hoey thrown out. The prosecution claimed that he had made the bomb timers, and that the bombers were meant to kill.
Prosecution QC Gordon Ken told trial judge Mr Justice Weir that the warnings given about the Omagh bombing were vague, misleading, inaccurate and wrong, unlike the warnings given for other bombings in Lisburn, Armagh, Newry and Banbridge in 1998.
Mr Kerr said there was a "callous and blatant disregard for the consequences of the explosion".
The prosecution claim there is also fibre evidence and alleged patterns between the bombings.
The sensitive form of DNA being used in this trial has been called the foundation stone of their case, but its reliability has been consistently under scrutiny.
The prosecution completed their submission on Tuesday on the 50th day of evidence at the trial.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1884
Published Date: 21-Dec-06
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