Omagh evidence book 'disappeared'

A book detailing tip-offs given by informers to the RUC in Omagh vanished when the police force launched an internal investigation into the 1998 Real IRA atrocity, it emerged today.

The book, which recorded details gathered by informers, disappeared after RUC officers were questioned about why they failed to act on advance warnings of an attack on Omagh in August 1998.

The RUC received information of an imminent attack 11 days before the bombing, but the warning was never passed on to senior commanders.

The book’s disappearance has never been explained and it meant that Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan was unable to examine important evidence when conducting her own inquiry into how the RUC investigated the Omagh bombing.