Families in 'total shock' as Omagh conviction is overturned

Published on Saturday 22 January 2005 00:40

THE only man jailed in connection with the Omagh bombing is to face a retrial after his conviction was overturned yesterday.

Colm Murphy, 52, will be freed pending the fresh trial, subject to stringent bail conditions, including lodging sureties totalling €120,000 (83,500), the Court of Criminal Appeal in Dublin ruled.

Murphy showed no emotion as the three judges ordered the retrial.

But Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the explosion, said the families of the Omagh bomb victims were shocked and disappointed at the court’s decision.

"My first reaction was total and absolute shock," he said.

"We were always aware that you’re at the mercy of the courts in situations like this but we never expected this result.

"Here we are six and a half years on and the only person convicted has won his appeal, so not one person has now been held accountable for an atrocity that claimed the lives of 31 people, including unborn twins.

"What sort of message does that send out to society, that we can accept that number of people can be murdered and no-one can be brought to justice?"

Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, presiding, said the court decided that Murphy’s conviction was unsafe on two grounds.

The first was the Special Criminal Court approach to the alteration of Garda interview notes and the evidence given in this respect by two Garda officers, who were subsequently charged with perjury.

He said the second ground was the Special Criminal Court invasion of Murphy’s presumption of innocence by having regard to his previous convictions. He said that all of the other 43 grounds submitted by Murphy’s lawyers had been rejected.

Murphy, from Ravensdale, Co Louth, was jailed at the Special Criminal Court in 2002 for conspiring to cause the Real IRA explosion which killed 29 people, including a mother pregnant with twins, in August 1998. His original trial found he lent his mobile phone and another phone to the gang who planted the Omagh bomb, knowing they would be used to organise the moving of bombs.

But the appeal court judges supported his defence claim that the conviction was unsafe.

Michael O’Higgins, senior counsel representing Murphy, applied for bail on his behalf, a move which was not opposed by the state.

Mr Justice Kearns imposed a requirement of a €50,000 (35,000) cash deposit and two independent sureties of €35,000 (21,000).

He also ordered that Murphy surrender his passport, report daily to Dundalk Garda station and provide the address at which he will be living.

After the hearing Murphy was taken back to Portlaoise prison where he will stay until bail conditions are met.

Murphy’s solicitor, Michael Farrell, said: "The judgment speaks for itself."