McKevitts to sue US informer Rupert

THE family of republican Michael McKevitt are preparing to sue US informer David Rupert, who is scheduled to give evidence against the Real IRA leader later this year.

McKevitt’s son Stephen has consulted his father’s legal team about suing Rupert in American and Irish courts.

The family allege the US informer defamed the entire family in written interviews he gave to the FBI and gardaí. The McKevitts claim none of them ever met Rupert when he lived in Ireland.

But relatives of those killed in the 1998 Omagh bombing, carried out by the Real IRA, accused McKevitt and his supporters of legal intimidation.

The Omagh Victims Group is bringing a 2.5m civil action against McKevitt and another Real IRA leader, Liam Campbell.

Michael Gallagher, the father of one of the 29 victims killed by the Real IRA bomb, condemned the move to sue Rupert as insensitive.

“What they are doing is copying our tactics, but for more malign ends. They are trying to do everything they can to intimidate David Rupert not to take the witness stand.”

Mr Gallagher said the Omagh families would be pressing the Government not to grant legal aid to McKevitt’s legal team for any future civil action against Rupert.

Both McKevitt and Campbell have received legal aid from the Government to defend themselves in the civil action which has been taken by the Omagh relatives.

Rupert’s credibility was cast into doubt at the weekend over further revelations about his business dealings in the US. Documents disclosed in the McKevitt case show Rupert was under investigation in New York State over claims he was involved in drugs, arms and human trafficking along the Canadian border. The 51-year-old agent is on an FBI witness protection programme in preparation for the court case against McKevitt, who will be charged with directing terrorism.

In the late-1990s, Rupert moved to Ireland and, with FBI aid, leased a pub at a caravan park near a beauty spot in Tullyallen, in north Co Leitrim. He later abandoned the pub, which burnt down in mysterious circumstances.