Gardaí and North police deny rift over informant

A POTENTIAL key witness in the Omagh bombing investigation cannot be forced to agree to be questioned by police in the North, the Gardaí said yesterday in response to claims of a rift between the two forces over the man’s availability for questioning.

Paddy Dixon, a car thief and informant on the Real IRA who is currently in the witness protection programme, may have crucial information about those involved in the planning and execution of the 1998 atrocity.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said yesterday that it had made a number of requests to Mr Dixon’s legal representative for him to be made available for interview. This had not yet happened but the PSNI would continue to make the requests, a spokesperson said last night.