Court told of Omagh bomb warnings

THREE WARNINGS were given to the RUC about the Real IRA bomb which killed 29 people and injured more than 300 in Omagh in August…

THREE WARNINGS were given to the RUC about the Real IRA bomb which killed 29 people and injured more than 300 in Omagh in August, 1998, the Special Criminal Court heard yesterday.

The court was also told that the car bomb used in the attack contained up to 200kg (440lb) of homemade explosives and was similar to other bombs used in paramilitary attacks in the North.

It was the second day of the retrial of Colm Murphy who has pleaded not guilty to conspiring in Dundalk, Co Louth, between August 13th and 16th, 1998 with another person to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the State or elsewhere.

The court heard that the prosecution is alleging that Mr Murphy lent his mobile phone and another mobile phone to a man who used them while transporting the bomb in a stolen Vauxhall Cavalier car from Dundalk to Omagh. The prosecution is claiming that calls made from Mr Murphy’s phone from Omagh were consistent with the timing of the bombing.

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Mr Murphy (57), a building contractor and publican who is a native of Co Armagh but with an address at Jordan’s Corner, Ravensdale, Co Louth, was freed on bail in 2005 after the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his conviction. He was jailed for 14 years by the Special Criminal Court in January 2002 for his alleged role in the Omagh bomb. But in January 2005 the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the conviction and ordered a retrial.

Former RUC sergeant Martin Miller told the court yesterday that he received the first warning on his computer system at 2.34pm on August 15th, 1998. The warning was received by the RUC from “Maggie’’ in UTV who had received a call from a male caller.

It said that a bomb would go off in 30 minutes near Omagh courthouse and gave a code word “Malta Pope”. Mr Miller said he tasked mobile patrols to clear the area. He said that one or two minutes later he received a telephone call from Coleraine that the Samaritans there had been given a warning that the bomb was 200 yards from the courthouse and the warning had used the code word “Martha Pope”.

The third message he received from Belfast said that UTV had been given another warning that the bomb would go off in 15 minutes.

He said he heard a “massive explosion” at 3.05pm and all his computer and phone systems were knocked out. Cross-examined by defence counsel Michael O’Higgins SC, Mr Miller said he was unaware whether people involved in clearing the Omagh scene had been given details of the second warning.

Forensic scientist Dennis McAuley told the court he concluded that the car bomb consisted of 150 to 200kg of improvised explosive packed in the boot of a Vauxhall Cavalier car.

He said the main charge was boosted by a booster charge made up of explosives packed into a steel tube.

Mr McAuley said he also found traces of the high explosives PETN and RDX which are found in semtex used by paramilitary groups in the debris recovered after the explosion.

The trial continues today.