Family fury as Omagh accused goes on trial over atrocity

A MAN who lost his wife in the Omagh bombing shouted angrily at the alleged leader of the group that carried out the attack as he walked into the dock in court yesterday.

Laurence Rushe, whose wife Libby died in the August 1998 bombing, rushed forward from his seat in the public gallery and shouted at Michael McKevitt as the alleged Real IRA chief blew a kiss to his wife, the sister of hunger striker Bobby Sands.

Bernadette Sands-McKevitt, sitting beside Mr Rushe in the gallery during yesterday morning’s hearing, waved as her husband, remanded in custody since his arrest, took his seat in the dock for the discovery hearing in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.