Omagh bomb conviction overturned

Dublin, Ireland, Jan. 21 (UPI) A three-judge panel in Dublin's Criminal Court of Appeal granted a retrial on grounds that two detectives may have given perjured testimony in his original trial, the BBC reported.

In his original trial before a Special Criminal Court there was a question about alteration of interview notes and police testimony about them, the appeals judges said. They also said the trial court brought in Murphy's past criminal history, depriving him of the presumption of innocence, IrelandOn-line reported. - UPI

Police received a telephone warning approximately 40 minutes before the blast.

But the location of the bomb was unclear and the wrong area was evacuated, with people being directed towards the danger zone. - BBC

Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:04 PM BST By Jodie Ginsberg

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Irish Republican Army formally ended its 30-year armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland on Thursday, in a potentially historic move that could take the gun out of Northern Irish politics for good. But, mindful of a string of previous broken IRA promises, politicians cautioned the pro-Irish members would need to match their words with action.

The IRA said in a statement it would cease all armed activity and pursue its aims through politics -- a crucial move to kick-start talks on a lasting political settlement in the violence-torn province. It said its units must "dump arms".

Some 3,600 people died during Northern Ireland's 30 years of "Troubles", half of them killed by the IRA.

"This may be the day which finally after all these false dawns and dashed hopes peace replaced war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland," Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters in London.

"If the IRA's words are borne out by verifications, it will be a momentous and historic development," Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said.

But others, including the United States and the province's main pro-British Protestant party, sounded a note of caution. "We understand that many, especially victims and their families, will be sceptical. They will want to be certain that this terrorism and criminality are indeed things of the past," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The U.S. government helped to broker the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that helped to ensure paramilitary ceasefires were upheld in Northern Ireland.

OBSTACLE

The IRA arsenal, used to fight for a united Ireland until a 1997 ceasefire, has long been the main obstacle to a political deal. Criminality also moved up the agenda this year after a high-profile robbery and murder.

Although the bombings and shootings that marked the "Troubles" have largely ended, violence continues to dog the province through beatings carried out by paramilitary groups seeking to control their communities.

But the IRA made no explicit reference to crime nor did it promise to disband, a move it sees as akin to surrender.

The IRA statement read in part:

"The leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann (IRA) has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign. "This will take effect from 4 p.m. this afternoon. All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means."

The IRA said it would engage with an independent arms decommissioning body to verify it had put its massive arsenal of guns and explosives beyond use, but gave no date for completion.

Its main Protestant opponents, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said this lack of transparency did not inspire confidence. "They have failed to explicitly declare an end to their multi-million-pound criminal activity and have failed to provide the level of transparency that would be necessary to truly build confidence that the guns had gone in their entirety," it said.

ASSEMBLY

Northern Ireland Minister Peter Hain said the British and Irish governments had asked the province's ceasefire watchdog to produce a report in January so progress could be assessed. And he said the sides now needed to concentrate on getting agreement on policing. The IRA's historic mistrust of the mainly Protestant police force has always been used to justify its armed presence in its Catholic strongholds and Sinn Fein has so far refused to take seats on the province's policing board. Talks on reviving an assembly, set up under the Good Friday agreement for Catholics and Protestants to run the province's affairs together, broke down in December after the DUP demanded photos of arms being destroyed. The IRA refused "humiliation".

But pressure on the outlawed group has mounted since then.

Political ally Sinn Fein called in April for the guerrillas to end armed struggle after crimes blamed on the IRA fanned calls for it to disband and sparked harsh censure of Sinn Fein from traditional supporters, notably in the United States. Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the statement meant the British and Irish governments now had no excuse not to re-establish the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.

"Republicans should not be surprised that our opponents will continue to try to defeat us," he told a briefing. "And in the short-term initiatives by the IRA are unlikely to change the attitude of those who oppose us whether in London or Dublin or within unionism. We can expect this to continue until we succeed in our endeavours." - Reuters

16/02/2006 - A member of MI5 tried to coax loyalists into launching a bomb attack on Martin McGuinness's home, he alleged today.

As the British government prepared to publish legislation enabling the transfer of policing and justice powers to a future devolved administration at Stormont, Sinn Féin's chief negotiator any lead role it may give to MI5 in running informers and agents in the North.

He also claimed a considerable amount of work on policing and justice would still have to be done before his party could participate on bodies designed to hold the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to account.

Mr McGuinness said: "We are totally opposed to any MI5 role in intelligence-gathering, let alone giving it the lead role. "In the circumstances of restored political institutions, we believe it should be the responsibility of the government in the North to deal with all of these matters. "Anyone who knows anything about the history of MI5 knows it has played a very negative role in events in the North over the past 25 years. "Indeed I was informed at one stage that a member of MI5 tried to encourage a leading loyalist paramilitary to throw 30lb of gelignite through the window of a house I was living in in Derry. "The experience of MI5 among republicans has been very bad and I have to say anyone who thinks it is acceptable for MI5 to have a role in intelligence-gathering is living in cloud cuckoo land."

MI5 is expected to take over the primary responsibility from the Police Service of Northern Ireland for running agents and informers in the North in late 2007. In preparation for its role, the organisation is believed to be preparing to move to a new base in at Palace Barracks in Holywood, Co Down.

The proposal has, however, been criticised by SDLP leader Mark Durkan who warned British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a meeting in London yesterday that his party would oppose any role for MI5 because it will be unaccountable to the Policing Board or an executive at Stormont.

PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has, however, defended the move, calling it a healthy split in responsibilities.

With Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain due to announce a new look Policing Board in April, there has also been considerable interest in whether Sinn Féin will take up the seats it has so far refused.

Republicans will not participate in the board because they argue police reforms have not gone far enough despite their endorsement by the Catholic Church, the Irish and US Governments and the SDLP. They have also accused elements within the PSNI of authorising and mounting politically-motivated policing operations against republicans.

Sinn Féin has long argued for legislation committing the British government to the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont.

However as his party prepared to debate 37 motions on policing and justice affecting members on both sides of the border at its annual conference in Dublin this weekend, Mr McGuinness said there was still considerable work to be done.

"In the negotiations that took place in December 2004 Sinn Féin outlined what was required," he said. "In the course of the coming days we are going to see the enabling legislation made public. That will have to be examined very carefully to see if it meets the needs of our constituents. "So there's still quite a lot of work to do. The publication of the enabling legislation on its own is not going to be enough to resolve differences."There will also have to be crucial discussions between the Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Féin and others about how we deal with policing and justice in the context of a restored Assembly. "There are a lot of ideas circulating as to how a department would work and how it would fit into the 10 ministries. We have our own ideas but we want to hear what the DUP and others have to say." - IOL

24 February 2006

The British security service, MI5, withheld vital anti-terrorism intelligence just months before the Omagh bombing in 1998, it has emerged.

According to security sources in Northern Ireland, MI5 failed to inform Special Branch of the threat about the bomb plot.

The details have only just emerged as part of an investigation into an FBI agent who infiltrated the Real IRA, which carried out the attack.

Relatives of some of the 29 people killed in the bombing have said they are astonished by the disclosure.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said: 'Allowing MI5 to have a lead role in intelligence in Northern Ireland would be like appointing Herod as children's commissioner.'

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan, 21, was among those killed, said: 'At best, this is criminal negligence. At worst, it's assisting a terrorist murder plot.'

Three dissident republicans were arrested and later released without charge at the time of the foiled April 1998 bomb plot four-and-a-half months before Omagh was attacked. - rte.ie/

01/03/2006 - MI5 did not deprive police of any anti-terrorism intelligence during their investigation into the Omagh bomb atrocity, the North's chief constable said today. But Hugh Orde resisted pressure to confirm if the agency held back information months before the Real IRA massacred 29 people. His public refusal could heighten uncertainty over whether the August 1998 outrage could have been prevented, a Northern Ireland Policing Board representative claimed.

The SDLPs Alex Attwood said: "The failure to answer that question will not reassure people. "The truth of the matter is there may have been intelligence prior to the murders that wasn't shared. "We will never know if that might or might not have avoided that awful tragedy."

The allegations that MI5 failed to inform Special Branch of the threat emerged during an investigation into an FBI agent who infiltrated the Real IRA, a dissident republican terrorist organisation opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.

Based on a tip off from American trucking company boss, David Rupert, who was working undercover within the rogue paramilitary grouping, three suspected terrorists were arrested by police in the Republic in April 1998, but released without charge.

Rupert had warned that terrorists based in County Donegal were planning a strike on either Omagh or Derry, but most likely Omagh, security sources had disclosed. At the time police in the North, then known as the RUC, were aware that a planned terrorist organisation had been disrupted due to the MI5s tip off, it has been claimed.

But sources said no trace could be found on their records of any intelligence from the security services that Omagh or Derry had been targeted.

Police only became aware after detectives involved in the Omagh bomb inquiry spoke to Rupert and studied emails the agent had exchanged with his handlers in the FBI and MI5. He had been the central witness in the successful conviction of the Real IRA mastermind, Michael McKevitt, who was jailed for 20 years in 2003 for directing terrorism.

As the allegations ignited fresh controversy over Omagh, Orde faced questioning on the case at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board in North Belfast today.

Challenged by Mr Attwood to confirm whether MI5 information was passed to police before the bombing, the chief constable insisted he would not stand over the accuracy of some news reports of the allegations.

But he said: "It's the view of the Senior Investigating Officer (Superintendent Norman Baxter) who I spoke to only two hours ago that the security services did not withhold intelligence that was relevant or would have progressed the Omagh inquiry."

Orde also stressed that the dissident republican suspects investigated in April 1998 were from a different cell than those involved in the Omagh bomb plot.

"There's no evidence to link these two units, he said.

He also confirmed that senior officers had met with the Omagh bomb victims' families last week to brief them on the state of the inquiry.

A press report of that meeting drew a "starker conclusion" than what was actually discussed, Orde said.

One man has been accused of murdering 29 people in the Omagh atrocity. South Armagh electrician Sean Hoey, 36, denies any involvement in the attack.

Emphasising the levels of co-operation between his force and the Garda in the Irish Republic, the chief constable added that he was not prepared to go any further in public on the issue. "I will do anything that denies the families their right to a proper prosecution or those accused the right to a fair trial."

Mr Attwood insisted that Orde had not answered the question put to him.

"The chief constable did say that MI5 did share everything in respect of the murder inquiry, but the point of the question was their intelligence prior to the murders," he said. - IOL

By Sean O'Driscoll in New York - 13 March 2006

A British agent who infiltrated the IRA has claimed that his MI5 handlers sent him to New York to buy sophisticated bomb making equipment for the IRA. The agent, who goes by the pseudonym Kevin Fulton, makes his claims in next month's edition of the US current affairs magazine, The Atlantic. The magazine's reporter, Matthew Teague, said he was satisfied that he was telling the truth after checking some details with the FBI, who approved the operation.

The interview comes just after the Republic's government launched an independent public inquiry into the murder of two RUC officers in 1989, based partially on Fulton's claims that there was collusion between the IRA and at least one rogue garda.

Fulton's name also featured prominently in the public inquiry into the Omagh bombing in 1998, in which 29 people were killed in a Real IRA attack. Fulton claimed at the time that he had met some of the bomb makers as they were preparing the Omagh bomb and had alerted his British intelligence handlers.

In the new interview, which took place in London, Fulton claims that MI5 and the army wanted to keep his cover in the IRA by encouraging him to make more sophisticated and deadly explosives. He said that they arranged for him to travel to New York in 1993 to buy infra-red triggers for bombs and that they arranged for him to stay at the Murray Hill Inn in Manhattan.

The IRA had switched from wire fuses to photo-sensors for use as detonators but discovered that the photo-sensors could be detonated prematurely by bright headlights or the flash from a camera. To keep Fulton's cover, MI5 arranged for Fulton to fly to New York to buy infra-red flashes, which were much safer than regular flashes but could only be purchased in the US.

Fulton claims that an MI5 agent flew by Concorde to New York to arrange the trip and cleared it with US authorities. "This was a terrorist organisation operating in the United States. It was a pretty big thing," Fulton said. Fulton said he came to New York with several thousand dollars and purchased the flashes after meeting his MI5 handlers. "The IRA embraced the innovation, and it worked so well that other terrorist groups soon took notice and adapted the infra-red photo-sensor bomb," The Atlantic article claimed.

Mr Teague said he checked out details at the Murray Hill Inn where Fulton claims to have stayed, and also confirmed some details of the trip with an FBI agent. "I called the agent and he confirmed his involvement, although he couldn't discuss details or accuracy," he said.

The interview could offer some insight into Fulton's credibility, as his claims of garda collusion are partially the basis for The Smithwick Tribunal into the 1989 murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan, which opened in Dublin on March 3. - belfasttelegraph.co.uk

By Ian Graham [04/04/06]

THE North's chief constable yesterday told the families of those killed in the Omagh bomb that intelligence gathered by MI5 before the attack was only passed to police in the North earlier this year.

Michael Gallagher, whose son was among the 29 people killed by the Real IRA in August 1998, said if the intelligence had been passed on before the attack it might have made a difference. Mr Gallagher and others who lost loved ones in the bombing, together with a number of those injured, spent two hours in heated discussion with the chief constable. It was the first time they had met and Mr Gallagher described the discussions as "very long, at times difficult and sometimes very frank".

Speaking on behalf of the group, Mr Gallagher said: "We talked about the way things had been handled, the intelligence, particularly MI5. He confirmed that it was only earlier this year that the PSNI was aware of that intelligence for the first time. It was important for us to hear it from the chief constable. "That was something outside his control, but nevertheless we believe it could have made a difference and the police in Omagh had a right to know that intelligence so that they could at least have had a chance."

He said many other opportunities had been missed. "It may or may not have had a bearing on the Omagh bomb, but at least it would have raised the state of awareness that there was a bomb attack on its way."

The families left Sir Hugh Orde in no doubt at their dissatisfaction that nearly eight years after the bombing no one had yet been convicted of murder.

So far only south Armagh electrician Sean Hoey, 36, had been charged with killing those slaughtered in the car bombing. He is due to go on trial in September.

The families are planning a civil action against several men they believe to be responsible for the attack.

Mr Gallagher said that once the two cases were completed the families would be pressing for a full cross-border public inquiry. Mr Gallagher said the criminal police investigation must now be coming to the end of its active life and, once it and the cases were over, they wanted the inquiry. They will be pressing the British government to commit to one and local politicians to support them in their call.

Yesterday's meeting went ahead weeks after the families failed in a bid to have talks with the head of MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller. They had wanted to discuss allegations that the security service withheld intelligence months before the bombing that either Omagh or Derry were possible targets. - irishexaminer.com

By Paul Hoskins 4th April 2006 DUBLIN/LONDON (Reuters) -

A former member of Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein who spied for Britain was found shot dead on Tuesday, just two days before a fresh bid by London and Dublin to end Northern Ireland's political stalemate.

Police in the Republic of Ireland confirmed they were investigating the discovery of a man in his mid-50s in the northwestern county of Donegal. "The State Pathologist has been contacted and the scene is being preserved pending the arrival of the Garda Technical Team," the police said in a statement.

They did not name the man but a police source confirmed local media reports that it was Denis Donaldson who last year was expelled from Sinn Fein, which wants to end British rule in Northern Ireland, after he admitted spying for London. "I am satisfied that it is who it is reported to be," the source said, adding that it was too early to say whether he had been killed or taken his own life.

The Irish government issued a statement describing it as a "brutal murder." "The matter is now under investigation. We hope that whoever is responsible for this callous act will be brought to justice as soon as possible."

A spokesman for the Northern Ireland office said the British-ruled province's secretary of state, Peter Hain, was "appalled by this barbaric act" but declined to say if that meant he was treating the death as murder rather than suicide.

Donaldson was a convicted Irish Republican Army bomber who spent time in prison with Gerry Adams, now leader of the guerrilla group's political ally Sinn Fein. Donaldson was again arrested in 2002 and accused of spying for Sinn Fein at the Stormont parliament in Belfast but in a dramatic twist he was expelled from the party in December after admitting he had been a mole for the British for two decades.

The IRA took the unusual step of issuing a brief statement: "The IRA had no involvement whatsoever in the death of Denis Donaldson."

The IRA called a ceasefire in 1997 and pledged last July to down arms. An independent watchdog reported in October that the guerrilla group was keeping to its pledge.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, are both expected in Northern Ireland this week to unveil their latest plan to kick-start the province's mothballed assembly which collapsed in part due to allegations that Donaldson and others had been spying for Sinn Fein.

The Stormont assembly, in which Catholic Nationalist and pro-British Protestant parties on either side of the Northern Ireland's sectarian divide shared power, collapsed three years ago after a police raid on Sinn Fein offices.

(Additional reporting by Michael Smith in Dublin and Adrian Croft in London) - yahoo.com

Wednesday, 5th April 2006, 16:58 - Category: Politics LIFE STYLE EXTRA (UK) -

The murder of Sinn Fein boss-turned-British spy Denis Donaldson was "inevitable", a former Cabinet intelligence analyst said today (Wed). Intelligence expert Crispin Black said Donaldson, who was gunned down in his home in Donegal yesterday (Tuesday), would have been offered a new identity by the British Government but must have refused. Black branded the 56-year-old spy, who worked for British intelligence for more than 25 years, "naive" for refusing British help and believing a guarantee of safety from Republicans.

He said: "This murder was always going to happen. This is a paying-off of old scores. "There is broad agreement that Mr Donaldson must have been offered some witness protection from the British Government. "It looks as though he refused this kind of help because he had done a deal to 'guarantee' his safety with Sinn Fein/IRA. They would have repeated in private the promises they made in public that he would not be killed. "However, few people who have been caught out as British spies would be naive or silly enough not to take on a new identity. "Mr Donaldson was not in hiding at all, in fact he was easily traced by an Irish journalist. He lived in a cottage in the village of Glenties, Donegal. "This is near to where many of the IRA bosses have homes. It is known locally as the Costa del Provos."

Black said Mr Donaldson would have been likely to lead a relatively "normal" life had he accepted the British Government's help. He said: "The classic witness protection works well. People can lead normal lives. It involves setting someone up with a new identity in a new country, such as New Zealand. You either take your family with or leave everyone you know behind." The intelligence expert added that leading a double life for so long could have had a destructive effect on Mr Donaldson's mind. He said: "There may have been psychological contortions in his head. He may have refused witness protection because he had a death wish."

A republican hit squad is believed to have killed Mr Donaldson after hacking off his right arm. Black said it would be "pretty impossible" to find Mr Donaldson's killers.

He said: "My guess is that there won't be any paper trail It may have been junior members who think he got off lightly for his 'betrayal'." He said he doubted the murder would have any effect on the Peace Process or that it would prompt the killing of other spies. He said: "I don't think this will derail the Peace Process. This is one of the last signs of terrorism within Sinn Fein/IRA. "They have stopped bombing London and Northern Ireland. This killing is the leftover of a terrorism mindset and more of a blast from the past than a sign of how things are going to be.

A neighbour found Mr Donaldson's body in his cottage, which had no electricity or running water. He had lived there since December when he escaped Belfast after admitting he had been a spy. - lse.co.uk

By Alan Erwin - Published: 17 April 2006

The driver of a suspected stolen car was shot dead by police in Northern Ireland yesterday. An officer fired several shots as the silver BMW reached a vehicle checkpoint in Ballynahinch, Co Down. Another three men and two women in the car were arrested and taken for questioning. Security sources said the man had been killed while he was seated in the car at about 11.30am, dampening speculation that he may have been shot as he attempted to flee from the area.

The driver was given first aid at the scene but by the time a priest from a nearby Catholic church arrived, he was already dead. The body was later removed after forensic experts had trawled the area for clues.

The BMW is believed to have travelled from Ballykinlar, about 12 miles away, and may have been heading for Belfast. Officers were alerted and set up a checkpoint in Church Street, outside Ballynahinch police station. Several shots were fired at the car but it remains unclear if the driver tried to break through the roadblock.

Jim Wells, a Democratic Unionist MLA for the area, said the officers had little time to weigh up their options. He said: "Police obviously had to make a split-second decision based on the information they had."

But the SDLP's Alex Attwood demanded answers from the police. "The use of lethal fire in the circumstances of this case is highly questionable and it is very hard to determine what level of threat existed," he said. The Northern Ireland Police ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, yesterday begun an inquiry to establish whether the shooting was necessary to protect lives. - news.independent.co.uk