Omagh bombing victim found by husband face down in the rubble, inquiry hears

Kevin Skelton, whose wife Philomena was one of the 29 people and unborn twins killed in the Omagh bomb (Liam McBurney/PA)

A man has told the Omagh Bombing Inquiry how he found his wife lying face down in rubble in the aftermath of the massacre.

Kevin Skelton told the hearing that he could never forget the smell of burning flesh and the cries of victims after a Real IRA bomb devastated the centre of the Co Tyrone town in 1998.

Mother-of-four Philomena Skelton was 39 when she died in the attack while on a shopping trip with her husband and three daughters.

I was there in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was just horrendous

Mr Skelton told the inquiry that he and his wife were like “chalk and cheese”.

He refereed GAA games while his wife liked to stay at home knitting and reading.

Mr Skelton said he could not even boil an egg and his wife, who he described as a “homebird”, did everything for him.

He said his wife had welcomed a Romanian orphan into their home in 1997, an act he described as “pure kindness”.

Following his wife’s death, Mr Skelton maintained the family’s link to the charity and he eventually married the mother of a Romanian girl who had stayed at his home.

He told the inquiry that he had brought his wife Philomena and their three daughters into Omagh to shop for items for school on the Saturday the bomb exploded.

Mr Skelton said they were inside a shop when they were alerted to a bomb scare by a traffic warden.

One of my daughters said as we crossed into SD Kells, 'I wonder is the bomb in that car?'

He said: “One of my daughters said as we crossed into SD Kells, ‘I wonder is the bomb in that car?’

“But nobody thought, I never thought there was a bomb.

“We walked past the car into SD Kells.”

Asked if he thought often about the fact that his family had walked past the car moments before it exploded, Mr Skelton said “yes”.

He told the inquiry he had become “fed up” with shopping for shoes so left his wife and daughter Shauna in SD Kells while he went into a separate shop.

He said as he was about to leave this shop, the bomb exploded.

Mr Skelton said: “The front of the shop was sucked out and I walked out after it.”

He added: “I walked out and went in through where the window was in SD Kells and I found her (Philomena) lying face down in the rubble.”

My whole family, including myself, could have been wiped out

Mr Skelton said he felt for his wife’s pulse but could not find it.

He told the inquiry he began to dig as he believed his daughter Shauna was buried in the rubble.

Mr Skelton said: “My whole focus turned to looking for my daughter cause I thought my daughter was buried underneath her mammy.

“When you start digging, some of the things I witnessed, that no human being should have to live with.

“I was there in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was just horrendous.

“There are things that stays with me, the smell of burning flesh, I can’t get that out of my head, the cries of people.”

Mr Skelton added: “I thought Shauna was gone too. I didn’t know about my other two daughters.

“My whole family, including myself, could have been wiped out.”

How so many people survived, it is a mystery to me

He said the scenes of devastation in the middle of the town were “unbelievable”.

Mr Skelton said: “How so many people survived, it is a mystery to me.”

He told the inquiry that he was ushered out of SD Kells but kept going back to search for his daughter, stating “nobody could calm me down”.

Mr Skelton told the inquiry that a stranger then shouted over to him “you have a wee ginger-haired girl?”

He said: “I said I had. He said she was in the hospital.

“That was the first time I knew Shauna was alive.”

Ninety minutes later Mr Skelton found out that his other two daughters were alive, the inquiry heard.

He told the inquiry he identified his wife at an Army camp the next day.