RIRA accused said British were behind Omagh, court hears

A man accused of membership of the Real IRA told detectives the British were behind the Omagh bombing, not the IRA, a court heard today.

The Special Criminal Court heard Dominic Dynes (aged 32) said "That was the Brits wasn't it? It was a set up," when asked by Detective Sergeant Donal Prenty if he was aware the IRA was responsible for the 1998 blast, which killed 29 people.

Mr Dynes - with an address at St Matthew's estate, Keady Co Armagh - is currently on trial with two other men for membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on November 8, 2002.

The other two men are Aidan Grew (aged 47) with an address at Benburb St, Blackwatertown, Co Armagh and Cathal Loughran (aged 27) with an address at Friary Rd, Clady, Co Armagh. All three have pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The court has heard that Mr Dynes was arrested on November 8 while driving a red Peugeot 306, which had left a farmyard in the townland of Dunaldrin in Co Monaghan earlier in the day.

The court heard in the interview with Detective Sergeant Prenty, Mr Dynes denied being a member of the IRA and said he was only in Co Monaghan to "pass the time" and had visited the farmyard to check on horses he owned that were kept there.

He said he did not know who owned the land his four horses and one pony were housed on, accept that he was a "factory man". The court heard he told Detective Sergeant Prenty that he put his arrest down to simply being in the "wrong place at the wrong time".

The trial continues at the Special Criminal court tomorrow.