FBI agent waited months to report McVeigh documents

The FBI agent at the centre of a blunder over Oklahoma City bombing documents said he waited months to alert his superiors because he wanted to verify the magnitude of the problem.

Danny Defenbaugh, the lead investigator who was in charge of collecting investigative documents, said the FBI had an inkling that something was amiss as early as January.

Timothy McVeigh's attorneys are examining the documents to determine whether they provide an opportunity to challenge the bomber's conviction and death sentence. The 1995 blast killed 168 people and injured hundreds of others.

McVeigh's execution, originally set for May 16, was delayed by the Justice Department until June 11 after the FBI revealed that investigative records had not been turned over to McVeigh's lawyers.

The FBI disclosed just a week before McVeigh's scheduled execution that it had failed to turn over more than 3,000 investigative records.

Mr Defenbaugh briefed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday..

He said FBI field offices were asked in late December to send all investigative materials to Oklahoma City to be archived. Mr Defenbaugh said archivists discovered a single document that had not been turned over to McVeigh's lawyers as required, according to the summary.

By early February, more items began to arrive that had not been turned over. Over the next several weeks, many other items were discovered. Asked why he waited until May to notify FBI bosses, Mr Defenbaugh said he wanted to be completely sure what the problem was and how bad it was.