Leader of Real IRA 'gave details for Blair assassination'

THE leader of the Real IRA admitted to an undercover agent that the Omagh bomb was a joint enterprise between two republican terrorist groups, a court in Dublin heard yesterday.

During a series of clandestine meetings, Michael McKevitt also gave the US agent details of a hitman who could assassinate Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, it was claimed.

McKevitt, 51, is accused of directing terrorism in the first case of its kind to be taken by the Irish authorities under legislation introduced in response to the Omagh outrage.

Details of the case against him were revealed at a preliminary hearing held at Dublin’s anti-terrorist Special Criminal Court in advance of a full trial, which is due to be heard early next year.

The key witness in the case is an American citizen, David Rupert, who claims to have infiltrated the Real IRA after he was recruited by both the FBI and British intelligence.

The counsel for the prosecution, George Birmingham, told the court that McKevitt held a series of meetings with Mr Rupert over a two-year period during which he discussed terrorist activities.

In one of the meetings, he allegedly claimed that the Omagh bomb, which killed 29 people and injured more than 200 others in August 1998, was a joint operation between two republican terror groups.

McKevitt told Mr Rupert that the Real IRA, which he founded five years ago after a split with the Provisionals over the Northern Ireland ceasefire, had set the fuse for the 500lb car bomb, but its target was selected by another breakaway terrorist group, the Continuity IRA.

At another meeting, he is said to have referred to a man in Massachusetts, named as James Smith, who was a former member of the Foreign Legion. McKevitt is alleged to have said: "If you wanted to have Tony Blair assassinated, he is your man."

Prosecution lawyers also gave details of a meeting with Mr Rupert at which McKevitt is alleged to have spoken of an unspecified incident which would "overshadow" Omagh.

McKevitt’s lawyers are seeking full disclosure of documents relating to Mr Rupert in advance of the trial, which will be held without a jury in February next year.

McKevitt, of Dundalk, Co Louth, appeared in the court wearing glasses and carrying a notebook and pen. He turned to the public gallery and blew a kiss towards his wife, Bernadette Sands-McKevitt, the sister of an IRA protester, Bobby Sands, who died after a hunger strike in 1981.

As McKevitt walked into the court, the proceedings were interrupted by Laurence Rush, whose wife, Elizabeth, died at Omagh. He shouted: "My name is Laurence Rush. I will see you get justice for murdering my wife."

The main plank of the defence case for McKevitt will be questioning the reliability of Mr Rupert’s evidence.

In opening submissions, the defence counsel, Hugh Hartnett, referred to allegations that Mr Rupert had been investigated in the US over the smuggling of drugs and immigrants.

The hearing was attended by Britain’s ambassador to the Irish Republic, Sir Ivor Roberts, who is also the assistant director of the counter terrorism section of the FBI. The British government and the FBI are understood to be concerned about the disclosure of documents to McKevitt’s lawyers which may compromise anti-terrorist activities in Ireland.

The case will resume today.