MURPHY BACK ON TRIAL ON BOMB CHARGES
Murphy back on trial on bomb charges
COLM Murphy, who was previously jailed on charges related to the Omagh bombing and subsequently freed on appeal, is back in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin facing a re-trial.
The 57-year-old building contractor and publican, who is a native of Co Armagh but with an address at Ravensdale, Co Louth has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with another person to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury between August 13 and August 16,1998.
Twenty-nine men, women and children, and unborn twins, were killed in the explosion when the car bomb devastated Omagh on August 15,1998.
Murphy had his previous conviction quashed in January 2005 after serving three years of a 14-year sentence. The conviction was found unsafe because the Court did not give proper regard to Garda interview notes which had been altered.
Opening the prosecution case this week, Tom O'Connell told the court that Murphy's mobile phone was active in Omagh at a time consistent with the atrocity in the town.
Defence counsel Michael O'Hig-gins said his client was not charged with the Omagh bombing adding that the opening of the trial should not be 'front-loaded' with prejudicial horrific evidence.
Mr O'Connell said the prosecution would be relying on evidence of mobile phone traffic on the day of the Omagh bomb and the day of a bomb in Banbridge on 1 August 1998. The same code word was used in the warning calls about both bombs. He said the prosecution would also be relying on certain admissions made by the defendant during Garda interviews.
Murphy was the only person to be convicted in either the Republic of Ireland or the North in connection with the Real IRA bombing. The only other man to face criminal charges over the Omagh killings, Sean Hoey, an electrician from Jonesborough in South Armagh, was acquitted by a Belfast court in December 2007.
The trial continues.
COLM Murphy, who was previously jailed on charges related to the Omagh bombing and subsequently freed on appeal, is back in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin facing a re-trial.
The 57-year-old building contractor and publican, who is a native of Co Armagh but with an address at Ravensdale, Co Louth has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with another person to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury between August 13 and August 16,1998.
Twenty-nine men, women and children, and unborn twins, were killed in the explosion when the car bomb devastated Omagh on August 15,1998.
Murphy had his previous conviction quashed in January 2005 after serving three years of a 14-year sentence. The conviction was found unsafe because the Court did not give proper regard to Garda interview notes which had been altered.
Opening the prosecution case this week, Tom O'Connell told the court that Murphy's mobile phone was active in Omagh at a time consistent with the atrocity in the town.
Defence counsel Michael O'Hig-gins said his client was not charged with the Omagh bombing adding that the opening of the trial should not be 'front-loaded' with prejudicial horrific evidence.
Mr O'Connell said the prosecution would be relying on evidence of mobile phone traffic on the day of the Omagh bomb and the day of a bomb in Banbridge on 1 August 1998. The same code word was used in the warning calls about both bombs. He said the prosecution would also be relying on certain admissions made by the defendant during Garda interviews.
Murphy was the only person to be convicted in either the Republic of Ireland or the North in connection with the Real IRA bombing. The only other man to face criminal charges over the Omagh killings, Sean Hoey, an electrician from Jonesborough in South Armagh, was acquitted by a Belfast court in December 2007.
The trial continues.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1986
Published Date: 14-Jan-10
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