Murphy free
Colm Murphy whose conviction for an offence connected with the Omagh bombing in 1998 was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal last week walked free on bail from the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today.
Murphy was freed after he signed a bail bond, lodging €50,000 in cash with the court, agreeing to sign on daily at Dundalk garda station, to reside at Plaster, Mountpleasant , Dundalk and not to apply for a passport.
His daughter Ms Leonora Murphy signed a surety for €25,000 and his sister Ms Kathleen Tully lodged €25,000 in cash with the court before Murphy was allowed to leave the court.
The garda officer who led the investigation into the Omagh bomb, Detective Chief Superintendent Tadhg Foley, was present in court when Murphy complied with his bail conditions and walked free from the court.
Shortly after 1pm Murphy, wearing a blue suit, shirt and tie, accompanied by one of his sons and Ms Leonora Murphy left the courthouse at Green St and walked towards Capel St pursued by a large posse of media cameramen and reporters.
Murphy would only say: "I'm not running away" as he was pursued down Capel St at a brisk pace watched by bemused members of the public.
After some jostling with the media, Murphy suddenly entered The Boar's Head pub in Capel St. His daughter Leonora gave a brief statement to the media in which she said: "We are delighted to have my father home today. It has been a terrible miscarriage of justice. It has destroyed my father's life. We will not stop until his name is completely cleared.
"Our hearts go out to the people of Omagh. It was a terrible tragedy that should never have happened."
Murphy was remanded earlier this week by the Special Criminal Court until April 5 next when his case will be mentioned again.
Murphy was jailed for 14 years by the Special Criminal Court in January 2002 for his role in the Omagh bomb which killed 29 people, including a mother pregnant with twins, and injured over 300 in 1998.
He was the first person to be convicted in either the Republic or Northern Ireland in connection with the Real IRA bombing, the worst terrorist atrocity in the history of the 30 years of the troubles.
But last week the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the conviction and ordered a retrial after finding that the court of trial had failed to give proper regard to altered garda interview notes and that there had been "an invasion of the presumption of innocence" in the judgement on Murphy.
During a 25-day trial in 2001 and 2002, Murphy,( aged52), a father of four, building contractor and publican who is a native of Co Armagh with an address at Jordan's Corner, Ravensdale, Co Louth, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring in Dundalk with another person not before the court to cause an explosion in the State or elsewhere between August 13 and 16, 1998.
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