Omagh case retrial ordered after 'unsafe' conviction

The Court of Criminal Appeal has ordered a retrial in the case of the only person convicted in connection with the 1998 Omagh bombing.

Murphy: the trial judges had erred in the approach they took

The appeal court found that Mr Colm Murphy's conviction on a charge of conspiracy to cause an explosion was "unsafe".

The building contractor and publican (51), of Jordan's Corner, Ravensdale, Dundalk, was convicted by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in January 2002 and given 14 years for assisting those who perpetrated the Omagh bombing which led to the death of 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

But the Court of Criminal Appeal today upheld Mr Murphy's appeal on two of the 45 grounds on which the appeal was based.

The Court found the trial judges had erred in the approach they took to the alteration by gardaí of interview notes and the subsequent evidence given.

The trial judges said that two gardaí had been "guilty of patent falsification" in evidence by denying that notes of an interview with Mr Murphy were altered.

"We do not consider that the Court of trial brought to the issue of the possible contamination of . . . the surviving Garda evidence that degree of extra critical analysis which was surely warranted," the appeal court found.

It also found that an "invasion of the presumption of innocence" regarding Mr Murphy's previous convictions had tainted the judgment.

The ruling said: "It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the previous convictions and bad character of the accused (as so found by the Court) formed a significant element in the Court's decision to convict."

The Court granted Mr Murphy bail on condition he provide two sureties of €25,000 each, surrender his passport, report to Dundalk Garda Station every day and establish a permanent address.

Counsel for Mr Murphy, Mr Michael O'Higgins SC, asked the court to note that his client's business had been destroyed by his conviction and that he may seek a smaller figure as bail.

This and other matters will come up for mention again next Friday.