Omagh families vow to pursue £1.6m damages owed by Murphy and Daly

The families insisted they had also not given up on securing a criminal conviction for the blast that claimed the lives of 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

Murphy and Daly had faced a retrial after they successfully appealed against a finding of liability made against them and two other republicans at the end of the original civil case four years ago.

But their second trial delivered the same outcome in the same court, with judge Mr Justice John Gillen today ruling the men were responsible for the Real IRA attack.

Between them, Murphy, Daly, Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt and republican Liam Campbell owe the 12 bereaved relatives who took the case £1.6m.

However, the decade-long civil action, which could still be subject to another appeal, is estimated to have cost the taxpayer many millions more in legal aid and court bills.

'Why should these people get away?'

Stanley McCombe, whose wife Anne was killed, said the families were determined to make the four men pay up.

“When you go before a court and you are fined for whatever you do, you pay your fine, you pay your debt to society, whatever you do, so why should these people get away, why should these people live in the lap of luxury?” he said outside court.

Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden died in the blast, said retrieving the damages would send a signal to terrorists contemplating similar acts of violence.

“We feel that the judgment that we were granted here in 2009 would be a very hollow judgment if the law wasn’t seen to be carried through and that the people that we were given a judgment against weren’t pursued, that will be pursued of course,” he said.

“That would be the deterrent for others not to pursue terrorism.”

Mr Gallagher said the families’ campaign for a full cross-border public inquiry into the bombing would go on and he urged the police on both sides of the border to examine the High Court judgment for evidential opportunities. No one has been successfully criminally convicted of the attack.

“We have not given up on criminal conviction,” he said. “That’s really what we wanted in the first place and sadly it was left up to the families to get a result and to hold people to account for this crime.”

Not all the Omagh victims’ families supported the High Court action, with some claiming it was a waste of time that would not deliver a prison sentence.

At the conclusion of the original civil case, the families’ groundbreaking action had already cost them an estimated £2m, with more than £750,000 provided in the form of “special status” legal aid granted by the government.

They were supported in their efforts to raise funds for the court case by former US president Bill Clinton, former Northern Ireland secretaries Peter Mandelson and Patrick Mayhew, as well as musician Bob Geldof and boxing champion Barry McGuigan.

Mr Gallagher predicted the overall cost of the action, factoring in legal aid on both sides and the added costs of the appeal and retrial, was “tens of millions”.

“Certainly I want to know the total cost of this trial and all the subsequent appeals and trials,” he said.

“We think it is scandalous that so much money, it has cost so much money to get justice for the families.

“Every time we meet politicians and ask for a public inquiry they always cite the fact it’s going to cost too much money and take too long, well this process has now taken 11 years and has cost tens of millions of pounds.”

Background

Murphy, a builder and publican from Dundalk, Co Louth, and Daly, a bricklayer from Cullaville, Co Monaghan, were found liable along with McKevitt and Campbell in the initial civil judgment in 2009.

McKevitt, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for directing terrorism, and Campbell, who recently successfully fought extradition proceedings to Lithuania on arms smuggling charges, failed in their bids to overturn the Omagh civil judgment.

They are now seeking to have their case heard in the European Court of Human Rights.

Murphy and Daly’s appeals were upheld but both men were ordered to face another trial. The retrial started in January and finished last month, with Mr Justice Gillen delivering his reserved judgment today.

Neither defendant was in court for the judgment. Both men also declined to give evidence during the trial.

Mr Justice Gillen said the case against them, which was primarily based on mobile phone evidence, was “overwhelming”.

The one-month retrial had been shown data from mobile phone masts that essentially tracked calls made from two phones as they moved from the South to Omagh and back across the border ahead of the bomb attack on August 15, 1998.

One of the phones was registered to Murphy and he was alleged to have borrowed the other from a work colleague, while the court also heard evidence that Daly made a call on one of the handsets in the crucial time period.

The judge said he had drawn a negative inference from the men’s failure to provide any explanation in court.

“Given the strength and quality of the evidence, I have determined that both defendants were involved in assisting the preparation, planting and detonation of the bomb in circumstances where those involved in assisting those acts would be joint tortfeasors (individuals who committed a wrongful act injuring another person),” he said.

Mr Justice Gillen said time had not diminished the impact of what had happened in Omagh.

“The barrier of time has not served to disguise the enormity of this crime, the wickedness of its perpetrators and the grief of those who must bear its consequences,” he said.

“Even 15 years on, nothing can dilute the pulsing horror of what happened.”

Representing the families, Lord Brennan QC had asked the judge to make a ruling that would have prevented the defendants’ ability to appeal against his judgment, stressing the length of time the relatives have waited for closure.

Mr Justice Gillen said he had great sympathy with the families and acknowledged the stress the lengthy civil proceedings had caused them.

But he said he did not want to interfere with the fundamental right of appeal and granted the defendants six weeks to lodge one.

Lord Brennan said the bereaved relatives were determined that the damages would be paid.

“Enforcement will be pursued with vigour here and in other relevant jurisdiction,” he said.

Solicitor for the families, Matthew Jury, said the Omagh bombers had not furthered any cause.

“It was a massacre of the innocent that left a scar on families, their community and their country that has not healed,” he said.

“By bringing this civil action, their victims showed that they will not be intimidated and that justice will be done.”