Omagh relatives concerned about inquiry

Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims are to meet next week to study new plans for the next stage of the police investigation into…

Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims are to meet next week to study new plans for the next stage of the police investigation into the atrocity.

But with another outside officer due to be called in to oversee the inquiry some of the families today said they had reservations about its future direction.

An assistant or deputy chief constable is to be appointed to work with the operational commander, Supt Brian McArthur and Det Chief Supt Philip Jones from Merseyside who has already been to Northern Ireland to act as an adviser but who will now scrutinise the inquiry.

The two officers from Britain will report directly to the Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan and the new Northern Ireland policing board.

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Mr Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was among the 29 people killed in the August l998 bombing, said today: "They talk about too many cooks spoiling the broth. Nobody is going to know who is doing what. The authority of everybody involved is going to be undermined, because nobody knows who is in charge".

"The board failed to address the core issues raised by the families, such as the poor quality of the original inquiry, which included the full exploration of intelligence before the bomb, and the actual mechanism of dealing with the investigation," he said.

One man has been sentenced in the Republic on conspiracy charges connected to the Omagh bombing, but even though detectives on both sides of the border claim they know the identities of the bomb team, no one has been charged with murder.

PA