Omagh ruling 'tribute to courage'

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The law has "finally held somebody responsible" for the 1998 Omagh atrocity, former Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan has said.

A High Court judge found four men were to blame, following a landmark civil case brought by some victims' families.

In December 2001, Mrs O'Loan published a damning critique of the police investigation, accusing them of letting down the victims and their families.

She said she had "huge respect for the courage and tenacity" of the families.

"There's no question that what is known now is because of their actions and there would never have been such a judgement otherwise," she said.

"It was always my view, once I identified the extent of the failure of the investigation and particularly the failure of RUC Special Branch over the information which would have enabled detectives to do the job I honestly believe they wanted to do, it was most unlikely there would be a successful criminal trial.

"A criminal trial demands you prove something without a single break in the chain of evidence.

"There was so much missing - there were documents lost, investigative actions not taken, evidence was allowed to be contaminated - all those things meant it would be enormously difficult to achieve a criminal conviction."

Liable

The 12 relatives were awarded more than £1.6m in damages.

Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were found liable for the attack.

No-one has ever been convicted in a criminal court of causing the deaths.

Mrs O'Loan said she was "in two minds" about whether a public inquiry would be worthwhile, as "a huge amount is known about Omagh now".

"I think it would be advantageous in terms of the future conduct in the war against terrorism - if you identify what happened in such an atrocity you arm yourself with the knowledge that will enable you to prevent future atrocities," she said.

PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde has previously admitted there is little chance of securing any convictions over the bombing.

The only man to face criminal charges over the Omagh killings, 38-year-old Sean Hoey from Jonesborough in South Armagh, was acquitted in 2007.