Murphy trial hears detail of Omagh bomb

The Special Criminal Court in Dublin today heard details of the the Real IRA bomb in Omagh which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins,and injured 300 people in 1998.

The Special Criminal Court in Dublin today heard details of the Real IRA bomb in Omagh which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 300 people in 1998.

Forensic scientist Dennis Mc Auley told the court that he concluded that the car bomb consisted of 150 to 200 kilos of improvised explosive packed in the boot of a Vauxhall cavalier car.

He said the main charge was boosted by a booster charge made up of explosives packed into a steel tube. The booster charge was connected to a timer power unit (TPU) which was in the front passenger side of the car and the TPU would have detonated the booster charge.

He was giving evidence on the second day of the retrial of Colm Murphy.

Murphy has pleaded not guilty to conspiring in Dundalk between August 13 and 16, 1998 with another person to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the State or elsewhere.

The court heard that the prosecution is alleging that Murphy lent his mobile phone and another mobile phone to a man who used them while transporting the bomb in a stolen Vauxhall Cavalier car from Dundalk to Omagh.

The prosecution is claiming that calls made from Murphy's phone from Omagh were consistent with the timing of the bombing.

Murphy (aged 57), a building contractor and publican who is a native of Co Armagh, but with an address at Jordan's Corner, Ravensdale, Co Louth, was freed on bail in 2005 after the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his conviction.

Murphy was jailed for 14 years by the Special Criminal Court in January 2002 for his alleged role in the Omagh bomb.

He was the first person to be convicted in either the Republic or Northern Ireland in connection with the Real IRA bombing, the worst terrorist atrocity in the history of the 30 years of the northern troubles.

However, in January 2005 the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the conviction and ordered a retrial.

Mr Mc Auley who worked for the Forensic Science Laboratory in the North said that the device that exploded in Omagh in August 1998 was of a type used by terrorists in the North.

The trial is continuing.