Two found liable for Omagh bomb

Relatives of Omagh bomb victims last night vowed to pursue the £1.6m (€1.8m) in damages that the men found liable for the attack have been ordered to pay.

Their pledge came after two republicans were ruled responsible for the 1998 atrocity at the close of a landmark civil case in Belfast High Court.

The families said they had also not given up on securing a criminal conviction for the bombing that killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly, both from the Republic, had faced a retrial after they successfully appealed a finding of liability against them and two others at the end of the original civil case four years ago.

However, in their second trial, Mr Justice John Gillen yesterday ruled the men were responsible for the Real IRA attack.

Between them, Murphy, Daly, Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt and Liam Campbell owe the 12 bereaved relatives who took the case £1.6m.

However, the decade-long civil action, which could be subject to another appeal, is said to have cost the taxpayer many millions more in legal aid and court bills.

Stanley McCombe, whose wife Anne was killed, said the families wanted to make the four men pay up.

“When you go before a court and you are fined for whatever you do, you pay your fine, you pay your debt to society, whatever you do, so why should these people get away, why should these people live in the lap of luxury?” he said.

Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden died in the blast, said retrieving the damages would send a signal to terrorists contemplating similar acts of violence.

“We feel that the judgement that we were granted here in 2009 would be a very hollow judgment if the law wasn’t seen to be carried through and that the people that we were given a judgement against weren’t pursued, that will be pursued of course” he said.

Mr Gallagher said the families’ campaign for a full cross-border public inquiry into the bombing would go on and he urged the police on both sides of the border to examine the judgement for evidential opportunities. No one has been criminally convicted of the attack.

“We have not given up on criminal conviction,” Mr Gallagher said. “That’s really what we wanted in the first place and sadly it was left up to the families to get a result and to hold people to account for this crime.”

Not all the Omagh families supported the High Court action. Some said it was a waste of time that would not deliver a prison sentence.

Murphy, a builder and publican from Dundalk, Co Louth, and Daly, a bricklayer from Cullaville, Co Monaghan, were found liable along with McKevitt and Campbell in the initial civil judgement in 2009.

McKevitt, who is serving a 20-year sentence in the Republic for directing terrorism, and Campbell, who recently successfully fought extradition to Lithuania on arms smuggling charges, failed to overturn the Omagh civil judgement.

They are now seeking to have their case heard in the European Court of Human Rights.