Nine years on, the only Omagh bombing suspect is free
London Times | December 21, 2007
By David Sharrock
A judge condemned the police investigation into the 1998 Omagh bombing yesterday when he acquitted the only person to have been prosecuted for the murders of 29 people.
Sean Hoey, 38, from South Armagh, waved to applauding family members as relatives of the victims gasped in shock when Mr Justice Weir cleared him of all 58 charges, including 29 of murder. Mr Hoey will be home for Christmas after serving four years as a remand prisoner in Britain’s biggest murder trial.
He was also cleared of charges linked to bomb attacks and murders on police and military installations in Northern Ireland before the Omagh atrocity, which was carried out in August 1998 by the Real IRA. It was Northern Ireland’s worst single act of terrorism.
In a devastating analysis of the prosecution’s case the judge, sitting under Northern Ireland’s Diplock nonjury system for terrorism trials, accused police witnesses of deliberately misleading the court, said that there had been malpractice in gathering evidence, and declared that the prosecution had not come close to proving beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Hoey was guilty on any count. The police bill for the failed attempt to convict Mr Hoey is thought to exceed £16 million.
At the end of a 36-day trial that finished in January, the judge had harsh words for the treatment of vital DNA evidence, saying that the bagging, labelling, recording, packaging, storage and transmission of some of the items was “thoughtless” and “slapdash”.
He also said that two police officers had told untruths in a deliberate attempt to “beef up” statements and that there had been “a deliberate and calculated deception” that made it impossible for him to accept their evidence.
Families of the dead said they were stunned that Mr Hoey had been acquitted of all the charges, but pledged to press ahead with a High Court civil action for £14 million compensation against five men who they claim were responsible for the attack. It is due to start in April.
One of the five is Mr Hoey’s uncle, Colm Murphy, 52, from Dundalk, Co Louth, who is challenging a decision to retry him in Dublin on charges connected to the Omagh bombing. He sat directly behind his nephew in the public gallery as Mr Justice Weir delivered his verdict.
Conscious of the expectation raised by Mr Hoey’s arrest and prosecution, the judge said: “I am acutely aware that the stricken people of Omagh and every other right-thinking member of the Northern Ireland community would very much wish to see whoever was responsible for the outrageous offence of August 1998 and other serious crimes in this series of terrorist incidents convicted and punished for their crimes according to law.”
But the evidence did not meet a standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt. “Accordingly, I find Mr Hoey not guilty on each of the remaining counts of the indictment.”
Senior police officers said they were bitterly disappointed by the ruling. The Public Prosecution Service insisted that the evidence against Mr Hoey was sufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of obtaining a conviction.
But outside the court angry relatives attacked the handling of the affair, especially the initial investigation by the Royal Ulster Constabulary under Sir Ronnie Flanagan, when important forensic science evidence was first contaminated.
Victor Barker, whose 12-year-old son, James, died in the attack, said that, as a lawyer, he accepted the legal system was there to protect the human rights of people such as Mr Hoey and he had to stand by it. “It is only a great shame that my son and the 29 people who died in Omagh had no human rights at all.”
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aidan was killed in the bombing, said the case had been a disaster for the Omagh families. “I think there has to be real questions why this was allowed to go through the system.” He added that the British and Irish governments had to set up a full inquiry into the bombing. “They can no longer refuse to give families such an inquiry. This case has been a disgrace.”
