Gardaí ‘delayed handing over Omagh evidence’
Senior officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are to meet counterparts south of the border to discuss the matter next month.
Phones used by the alleged bombers were being monitored by the security services on the day of the attack, a lawyer for the accused, Seamus Daly, had told a previous hearing.
The bricklayer, aged 44, is being tried for 29 murders after a 1998 Real IRA blast devastated the busy Co Tyrone town.
Gardaí had committed to providing the communications material by yesterday, Public Prosecution Service (PPS) barrister Michael Chambers told Omagh Magistrates’ Court.
He said: “Everyone is under no illusions about the urgency in this case.”
Daly appeared by video link from prison as the court was updated on legal issues.
The accused faces the multiple murder charges after the device exploded in the town centre on a busy Saturday and killed shoppers from Ireland, Britain, and Spain. A woman pregnant with twins and nine children were among the dead.
The suspect, from Kilnasaggart Road, Jonesborough, Co Armagh, also faces counts of causing the August 1998 explosion in Omagh and possession of a bomb with intent to endanger life or property.
He is further charged with conspiring to cause an explosion and having explosives with intent in connection with a separate dissident republican bomb plot in Lisburn, Co Antrim, in April that year.
Mobile phones were being monitored by the security services on the day of the Omagh blast, lawyer Peter Corrigan told a previous hearing.
The car that transported the bomb had been stolen in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, two days before the blast.
Mr Chambers said prosecutors were already preparing papers for a trial and knew what the information from the Garda would say.
“A decision has been given that senior police in Northern Ireland and senior gardaí will meet on April 13 to discuss the issues related to this outstanding mobile phone evidence and find out why it has not been provided to date and hopefully obtain it as soon as possible.”
He added: “The directing officer does not anticipate that there will be any great difficulty about that.”
The case was adjourned to April 21 to fix a date for a preliminary inquiry, when the prosecution produces its evidence and the case is moved to a higher court.
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