Policing Board to appoint Omagh bomb inquiry panel

The North's Policing Board has announced plans to appoint a panel of experts to carry out a review of the investigation into the Omagh bombing.

The board is commissioning the review in the wake of the recent acquittal of Sean Hoey on charges relating to the 1998 Real IRA attack.

The police were severely criticised after the trial for lying in the stand and for using unreliable DNA evidence.

The Policing Board is pressing ahead with the appointment of a review body despite opposition from relatives of some of the victims, who want a cross-border public inquiry.

They fear the Irish and British governments will exploit a lesser inquiry to further delay demands for a full public investigation.