THE Omagh bombing was described as "a massacre of the innocents" yesterday, as a civil action was launched against five men the victims' families believe to be responsible.
Twenty-nine people, including a mother pregnant with twins, were killed, and hundreds more hurt when the Real IRA bombed the County Tyrone town in August 1998.
Some of those who lost loved ones and others who were injured have launched the civil
action after the failure of the authorities to bring anyone to justice for the bombing. Last December, Sean Hoey, a South Armagh electrician, was cleared of all charges related to the bombing and other Real IRA attacks.
Those named in the civil action are alleged terrorists Michael McKevitt, Colm Murphy and Liam Campbell, as well as Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly. All five are from the Irish Republic and at the time of the bombing lived in or around Dundalk, County Louth. All five deny involvement and all but Campbell are represented at the hearing.
Opening the case, Lord Daniel Brennan, QC, for the victims, said: "It is a civil claim unprecedented certainly in the UK and probably around the world. For the first time, the victims of terrorism are suing the alleged perpetrators."
He said the case would expose the workings of the Real IRA. It would include evidence from an FBI agent who infiltrated the terrorist group, testimony about a British sting operation and information from the police on both sides of the border. The case is expected to run for up to eight weeks.
Lord Brennan said the case had been brought by a number of Omagh residents – two had lost wives, two had lost a child, two were physically injured in the attack and 12 suffered psychological damage. He said they were seeking aggravated, punitive and exemplary damages against the five men.
He said it was the plaintiffs' case that those behind the bombing had set out to cause carnage, and he rejected statements made by the Real IRA that they had not intended injury or death, purely commercial damage.
Lord Brennan said a mainstay of the case against the five would be detailed records of phone calls before and after the attack. Going through call records and information from mobile-phone masts on both sides of the border, he tracked Daly and McKenna's journey from Dundalk to Omagh on the day of the attack.
He claimed the former was in a scouting car and the latter in a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier containing the bomb. Murphy had supplied both of them with phones, he claimed.
Lord Brennan said the evidence also identified Campbell as the "operational director" of the bombing mission. He said he would also seek to prove a link between the Omagh attack and other Real IRA bombings – 11 in Northern Ireland, three in the Irish Republic and one in England.
All, he said, used the same type of timing device bought from a supplier by a fictitious account holder in Dundalk. He said he could link all to the Real IRA under the leadership of McKevitt.
Lord Brennan said evidence would be presented from FBI agent David Rupert who had mounted an intelligence operation that he described as "quite extraordinary in its length, its depth and its success". He said Mr Rupert had "infiltrated the Real IRA to its very centre and actually finished up as an attendee at the (ruling] army council of the Real IRA. He was acting as a double agent and ended up as an insider".
However, he said Mr Rupert would not be giving evidence, either in person or by video, because there was a severe risk of him being killed.
Lord Brennan said that, throughout his operations, Mr Rupert had sent e-mails to his handlers after meetings with McKevitt, Campbell and McKevitt's wife, Bernadette Sands McKevitt. He said he secretly sent follow-on e-mails, had phone conversations with his handlers and attended regular debriefings.
Over a three-year period, his e-mails amounted to more than 2,000 pages of communication, more than 1,000 of them between August 1999 and 2000.
He said he had met McKevitt on some 18 separate occasions, often for lengthy meetings stretching over several hours.
He insisted Rupert's evidence would be reliable, saying he had previously given evidence at the trial of McKevitt in Dublin, which led to the Real IRA leader's conviction for directing terrorism. He was jailed for 20 years.
Lord Brennan then summarised evidence he would be producing about the sting operation that infiltrated the Real IRA in 2000-1. He said it involved intelligence agents posing as representatives of the Iraqi government offering to provide the Republicans with weapons.
He later told the court the brutal bombing necessitated an award of exemplary damages above normal limits. He said this could only be measured in millions of pounds. The case continues.
Judge 'astonished' at failure to appear
MICHAEL McKevitt, 58, allegedly the leader of the Real IRA, is awaiting a judgment in an appeal against conviction in the Irish Republic for directing terrorism.
Liam Campbell, 43, has been held in Portlaoise Prison in Ireland on terrorism charges unconnected with the Omagh bombing.
Colm Murphy, 56, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the republic in January 2002 for conspiracy to cause the Omagh explosion, but the conviction was overturned and he is awaiting a retrial.
Listing the men's terrorist convictions, Lord Brennan said McKevitt had received 20 years in the Irish courts for directing terrorism, Campbell had received five years and Murphy had been convicted back in 1972 for arms offences.
Murphy had also been convicted in New York in 1983 of firearms charges.
Seamus Daly, whom Lord Brennan described as a Real IRA foot soldier, was convicted in 2004 in Ireland to a sentence of three and a half years.
Seamus McKenna received six years' imprisonment in the same year. He, too, was described as a foot soldier.
In November 2002, Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau seized 1 million from Campbell and he was alleged to have an income of 800,000 from smuggling diesel, tobacco, alcohol and counterfeit goods.
Lord Brennan heavily criticised the four defendants that were not incarcerated for not appearing on the first day of the trial. "The failure to turn up in court and the reluctance to indicate whether they are prepared to be cross-examined is frankly astonishing," he said.
The full article contains 1079 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
