I had no prior knowledge of the Omagh bomb, and the security services could not have prevented it

CONTRARY to what your article says (“FBI’s spy warned Omagh was target, High Court is told”, News, February 5) and, apparently, what was represented in court, I had no prior knowledge of the Omagh bomb. As far as I know, it couldn’t have been stopped by any of the security services I worked with.

Someone has seized on a piece of information in a report I sent the day before Easter and the day after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. I reported to MI5 and the FBI (I sent reports simultaneously). Often, I would add geographical information, so the FBI could make an easier reference to place.

That Saturday, I rode in a car with a prominent republican from Bundoran to Letterkenny to make sure the way was clear of roadblocks for a car behind us carrying what I thought was a bomb. Several months later, I found out it was a rocket-launcher.

In any case, since we turned around in Letterkenny, and wherever the device was going was likely a staging-point for an attack on Easter Day by the Continuity IRA as an answer the Good Friday Agreement, I pointed out that Derry or Omagh could be the target.

This was only mentioned as a quick reference of geographical knowledge for my US handlers. As it turns out, my reporting that day led to a security operation by the Garda (I was told) that stopped the attack.

I support the Omagh families 100% in their quest for justice. I think that every person involved in this atrocity should be brought to justice in a criminal court.

However, the story above is simply not true. My report was four months and three days before the Omagh bomb, to be exact.

DAVID RUPERT By email