Man accused of supplying car for Omagh bomb

A LABOURER appeared in court yesterday accused of supplying the car used in the Omagh bomb massacre.

Anthony Joseph Donegan, aged 34, was escorted into the dock amid heavy security in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

Donegan, from Co Louth, denies getting the maroon Vauxhall Cavalier that Real IRA terrorists packed with 500lb of explosives in the August 1998 atrocity which killed 29 people, including the mother of unborn twins.

He hid under a sweater and crouched on the floor of a police car as he was driven into the courthouse.

During the brief hearing, Donegan, of Afton Drive, Dundalk, spoke only to confirm he understood the charge against him.

Laurence Rush, whose wife Libby died in the Omagh blast, was among those packed into the public gallery as the court heard Donegan was charged by detectives at Omagh police station on Tuesday night.

He is accused of making available the Cavalier car with its original registration plates some time between August 11 and 16, 1998.

Police have already established that the vehicle was stolen across the border in Co Monaghan two days before the dissident republican terrorists devastated Omagh.

When charged, Donegan replied “Not guilty”, but a detective sergeant told the court he could connect him with the offence.

Magistrate Liam McNally remanded him in custody until March 8 to appear via video link at Omagh courthouse.

Norman Baxter, the detective in charge of the marathon Omagh inquiry, was in court for the hearing.

Even though no one has ever been convicted for the worst single act of terrorism in 30 years of bloodshed in the North, his investigation team has pledged there will be no let-up in the hunt for the bombers.

Relatives of some of those murdered in the attack have launched a separate €20 million civil action against five men they suspect of plotting the outrage, which they hope will be heard in the North’s High Court later this year.

But the only man ever sentenced in relation to the bombing, Colm Murphy from Dundalk, had his conspiracy to cause an explosion conviction overturned on appeal in Dublin last month. A retrial has been ordered.

The charge against Donegan is only the second to be brought by the investigators.

Sean Hoey is on remand awaiting trial on terrorist charges related to the Real IRA bombing, including possession of a timer power unit between March 1997 and the day after the Omagh attack.