Man denies putting assets beyond reach of Omagh bomb relatives

A man against whom relatives of victims of the Omagh bombing have secured a £1.6 million judgment has denied putting several of his assets beyond the reach of the families.

Colm Murphy (65), a former building contractor, with an address at Mount Pleasant, Dundalk, Co Louth, was being cross examined in High Court proceedings by the relatives aimed at identifying his assets so the judgment obtained against him and three others can be satisfied.

In their efforts to identify his assets, the lawyers for the relatives previously examined Mr Murphy and his former wife Anne Murphy. Mr Murphy was then ordered to return to court to answer further questions.

During cross examination by John O’Donnell SC, for the relatives, Mr Murphy denied he deliberately put a number of assets beyond the reach of creditors shortly after his arrest in 1999 over the bombing.

He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment but was later released on appeal, after serving three years, when it was found two gardaí had altered evidence.

‘Dark place’

Mr Murphy said he could not remember a lot of the detail about his assets because he was in a “dark place” and a “black hole” as a result of his arrest and trial. “I was charged with something I had nothing to do with,” he said.

He said he transferred some of his assets after his arrest to his wife to provide for his children because he believed he was facing life in prison. He denied knowing a civil action by the families of the 29 victims of Omagh was coming down the tracks.

Asked would he not have known about that from media coverage of a campaign to raise funds for the families’ civil action, or through his “IRA contacts”, he said: “Who said I had any contact with the IRA ... I had no contact.”

The court heard the assets included the former family home at Doolargy Lower, Dundalk, and a number of housing sites at Mount Pleasant.

Mr Murphy lives in one of the sites but it belongs to his New York-based sister, Angela Reilly, who sometimes uses it as a holiday home.

Mr Murphy also said the family home had been transferred to his wife from whom he separated shortly after his arrest and that they later divorced.

The Emerald Bar in Dundalk was transferred to his wife in 1999 and valued at €170,000 in 2015 but is no longer operating, he said.

Another bar in Church Street was later partly turned into a beauty salon run by his eldest daughter. That had been acquired by his ex-wife and a sister-in-law and he did not know what happened to the liquor licence attached to that pub.

Trust fund

After he was arrested, he set up a £340,000 trust fund, controlled by his wife, for the education of three of his children from the proceeds of his contracting business, he said. He did not know whether that money was paid out to the children when they reached 21. “Ask my ex-wife,” he said.

His company at one time had a €1 million a year turnover and employed up to 60 people but once he was arrested no one wanted to employ him again.

“People were treating me like a leper, they would walk across the street”.

He said another of his companies, Mount Kean, was a non-trading holding company for 30 acres of land on the Dublin Road in Dundalk. That land was paid for out of an account in relation to which his sister, Angela, had given him power of attorney, he said.

At the time of his arrest, he had a bank account in Ashbourne, Co Meath, with substantial funds but that was used to pay his tax bill, he said.

He said he spent some €200,000 on lawyers to defend him in the criminal case and got legal aid to defend the civil case brought by the families.

Following the cross examination, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan awarded costs of the hearing against Mr Murphy.