Police Ombudsman to release report on Omagh bombing

A Police Ombudsman investigation into a bombing in Northern Ireland which killed 29 people is expected to be published in the very near future.

The Real IRA attack in Omagh 16 years ago was the worst single atrocity of the Troubles. The victims included a woman who was pregnant with twins.

Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire’s probe into how security force intelligence was disseminated is complete and a report is being compiled.

Relatives of those killed when the massive car bomb exploded on a shopping street on August 15th, 1998, gathered in the Co Tyrone town on Sunday for an interdenominational service of remembrance .

The Ombudsman’s office, which independently investigates police work, launched an inquiry after a report by a group of MPs outlined remaining questions about the bombing.

In March 2010, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee called for a new investigation into whether intelligence on those suspected of the bombing was passed to detectives investigating it and if not, why not.

The committee also said questions remained on whether the bombing could have been pre-empted by action against terrorists who had carried out earlier bombings in 1998.

It sought a definitive statement on whether the names of those thought to have been involved in the bombing were known to the intelligence services, police special branch or the wider Royal Ulster Constabulary in the days immediately after the bombing and, if so, why no arrests resulted.

Warnings

In 2001 former ombudsman Dame Nuala O’Loan carried out a report into the police’s handling of warnings received from an informer.

She concluded they would not have been enough to stop the bombing but checkpoints could have been erected around the town if police had reacted to a separate anonymous caller about a planned gun attack.

Last April, a 43-year-old man from the Republic of Ireland was charged with the murders. Seamus Daly, from Culloville, Co Monaghan, was arrested by serious crime branch detectives.

Nobody has been convicted of murder at Omagh.

However, relatives of some of the victims brought a landmark civil action against five men they claimed were responsible.

Four of the five were ordered to pay more than £1.5 million in damages to the victims’ families in a civil case.

Families are engaged in a fresh bid for a civil case challenging Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers’ decision to rule out holding a public inquiry into the case. The matter is due before the High Court in Belfast next month. – (PA)