Omagh bombing victim’s husband: I’m finished with inquiry after Garda evidence

Kevin Skelton accused the Irish Government of 'not co-operating' with the proceedings and described watching the evidence on Thursday as 'torture'.

A man who lost his wife in the Omagh bombing has said he is “finished” with a public inquiry into the atrocity following the delivery of video evidence from a senior Garda.

Kevin Skelton accused the Irish Government of “not co-operating” with the proceedings and described watching the evidence on Thursday as “torture”.

It came as a barrister said the inquiry intends to “seek answers from the Republic of Ireland” about “outstanding questions” relating to the theft of the car used in the 1998 bombing.

The hearing on Thursday was played a “sequence of events” statement from detective superintendent Emmet Casserly, attached to the garda Special Detective Unit with responsibility for dealing with terrorism.

Lead counsel to the inquiry, Paul Greaney KC, said the process of evidence being delivered in this way had “limitations” and was not the “fully dynamic process” of questioning witnesses who attend the hearing.

The dissident republican car bombing in Omagh on August 15, 1998, killed 29 people, including a woman who was pregnant with twins, in the worst single atrocity in the Troubles.

Mother-of-four Philomena Skelton was 39 when she died in the attack while on a shopping trip with her husband and three daughters. Her husband, Kevin Skelton, said he was “disappointed, but not surprised” at the contribution from gardaí.

“We know how many questions, there were 53 questions sent in and there was about two answered," he said. “They are not co-operating with the inquiry. I don’t care what they say.

The Irish Government is not co-operating, they never have.

In the recording, Mr Greaney asks Det. Supt Casserly: “Do you agree that there is no doubt that the car which contained the Omagh bomb was a Vauxhall Cavalier with the registration mark 91DL 2554?

The detective said: “That’s correct.” The inquiry heard the car had been stolen from outside a house in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, between 11pm on August 12 and 3.30am on August 13.

Mr Greaney said: “It’s clear that the vehicle used in the Omagh bombing was stolen from within the Republic of Ireland?” Mr Casserly said: “That is correct.” 

The detective explained that after the car was stolen, the owner reported the theft to local gardaí and information was passed on to other stations. 

Mr Casserly said the details about the stolen car were also included in a list sent to the RUC in Northern Ireland on August 13. He said this was a “standardised report” of stolen vehicles that was distributed daily.

Mr Casserly said: “The investigation was unable to conclusively state what happened to the vehicle subsequent to its theft.” He said this was due to a lack of accurate detailed descriptions and CCTV.

After the statement was played, Mr Greaney told the inquiry he wanted to “provide some context”.

He said: “The position of the government of Ireland was that the questioning of detective superintendent Casserly should be restricted to matters contained within the sequence of events statement that had been prepared. Notwithstanding that position, the inquiry legal team indicated a wish to ask additional questions, and indeed we provided a list of those questions.

“With a small number of exceptions, the government of Ireland declined to permit that additional questioning to happen. It’s important to say, however, that it wasn’t simply a no, because what was indicated was that supplementary questions should be posed through the statutory procedure.”