Omagh retrial a possibility, say police

Evidence is being re-examined to establish whether there are grounds to re-try the man acquitted of the 29 murders of the Omagh bombing, the PSNI said.

The move has come after two officers accused of lying in the Crown Court trial of Co Armagh electrician Sean Hoey (38), two years ago were cleared by the Police Ombudsman.

In December 2007, Hoey was found not guilty of the bombing and a series of Real IRA attacks around that time.

In his judgment, trial judge Mr Justice Reg Weir criticised the evidence presented by the prosecution and in particular accused two scene-of-crime officers of misleading the court on material recovered from the scene of a bomb find in a forest in Co Tyrone.

But earlier this year ombudsman Al Hutchinson cleared the officers of a deliberate deception and questioned the defence team's claim that evidence from Altmore Forest was wrongly handled.

On the back of these findings, the police have now undertaken a comprehensive review of all the evidence from Altmore and the other Real IRA attacks, including Omagh, to see if a new case can be brought against Hoey.

Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris gave details of the re-examination during a meeting of the Policing Board in Belfast yesterday.

“After the ombudsman reports of February this year we have revisited all of the evidence again, not only in respect of the Omagh bombing but other bombing attacks around that time involving the Real IRA,” he said.

He added: “Working through that what we are looking for is new evidential opportunities, realistically we have to find substantial new evidence if there is any possibility of a criminal prosecution.”

On Monday convicted Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt and three other men - Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly - were found liable for the Omagh bombing and ordered to pay £1.6m damages to 12 relatives who took the case against them.

Mr Harris said the review would involve looking at issues in the civil case and would not only focus on Hoey.

He was acquitted of a total of 56 criminal charges, including the 29 murders, in Belfast Crown Court after a marathon trial.

Mr Harris said the police would contact the Public Prosecution Service if officers believed there were grounds to bring fresh charges. He said the PPS would make the ultimate decision on whether a retrial could be called.

Hoey's lawyer said last night that his client was an innocent man who was in danger of being re-tried by the media.

Kevin Winters said: “Sean Hoey was acquitted of involvement in Omagh after an intensive examination of the evidence in the case. He is an innocent man. There are no grounds for a retrial. Any suggestion to the contrary amounts to an abuse of process.

“The remarks following the Policing Board meeting today and subsequent reporting amounts to retrial by media.

“Both the judgment and transcript of the Crown Court trial record in the clearest possible terms the state of the evidence in this case.

“We would remind all media sources to be mindful of that when reporting the latest development."

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden, 21, was killed at Omagh, welcomed the police initiative.

Meanwhile, the Public Prosecution Service announced that it was examining the findings of the Omagh civil case to see if it provided a basis on which to bring fresh criminal proceedings.

* This article is from The Belfast Telegraph.