Omagh bomb case to hear from 40 Garda witnesses
Already, 23 gardaí are to be witnesses at the request of the legal team acting for six Omagh families in their case against the five men they believe responsible for the 1998 atrocity. The blast killed 29 people and hundreds more were injured.
The case is due to move from the High Court in Belfast to the Supreme Court in Dublin on May 12 for a week, to enable the gardaí to give evidence.
The families’ lawyers, led by Lord Daniel Brennan QC, are now asking Mr Justice Morgan to arrange with the Garda authorities for up to 40 gardaí to be called.
The families are seeking £14 million (€18m) in compensation from the Real IRA, who claimed responsibility for the bombing, and the five men they say were the prime movers.
The civil action has been taken following the failure of the authorities in Northern Ireland to bring anyone to justice for the atrocity.
The five men, alleged Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt and No 2 Liam Campbell, together with Colm Murphy, Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly, all deny responsibility.
None have attended court, two are in prison in the south for terrorist offences unrelated to Omagh, and Mr Campbell alone has ignored the case and not instructed lawyers.
On day three of the unprecedented action — the first time alleged terrorists have been sued by their victims — a bomb expert tied the Omagh bomb with a series of other bombs in Northern Ireland, England and the Republic.
In total, 28 devices had identical timers with the same lengthy numeric code, tying them to a batch manufactured in the same French factory at the same time.
Using a detailed wall chart Denis McAuley — lead scientist at Forensic Science Northern Ireland — explained how the timers were identical.
He estimated the Omagh bomb contained between 150kg and 200kg of improvised explosives, attached to a timer power unit and a booster charge of semtex high explosive.
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