One of main suspects died of cancer

ONE of the chief suspects in the Omagh bomb massacre is dead, it was revealed yesterday.

The man, from Dundalk, Co Louth, co-ordinated a series of telephone warnings made just before the explosion that killed 29 people, police have established.

He was among 17 terrorists and their associates identified by detectives in the team who were part of the plot to blow up the town.

The dissident republican went on the run after the 1998 atrocity, only to be struck down by cancer from which he never recovered.

At one stage detectives were ready to exhume his body to collect DNA.

The plan was called off when police found his profile from a previous arrest.

Detective Chief Superintendent Norman Baxter, the man in charge of the inquiry, said the dissident republican played a significant part in the attack.

“The bombers in Omagh phoned him when the bomb was planted,” he said.

“He then phoned people at coin-boxes, co-ordinating the bomb warnings.”

Three alerts were sent through before a car packed with explosives was detonated. The first warning, at 2.29pm, went to Ulster Television in Belfast, from a phone box at a crossroads in Forkhill, Co Armagh. The caller, using the dissident republican codewords Martha Pope, said: “Bomb, court house, Omagh Main Street, explosion 30 minutes.”

The station received a second call at 2.31pm, this time from a crossroads in Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh.

This time the message was: “Martha Pope, 15 minutes, bomb Omagh town.”

At the same time, the Forkhill caller contacted the Samaritans in Omagh, only to be diverted to its office in Coleraine, Co Londonderry, as no staff were available.