Officials for Omagh bomb families ‘threatened while serving papers on culprits’

REPRESENTATIVES of the Omagh bomb victims have been subjected to “intimidation and threats” while serving legal papers on the men found responsible for the bomb in a civil case, the High Court heard yesterday.

Barrister John O’Donnell also complained that former Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt has tried to delay the bomb victims’ lawsuit against him “at every turn” and he asked the court to put “a bit of pressure” on McKevitt to deal with the case.

The families of the 29 people and unborn twins killed in the August 1998 Real IRA bombing are trying to have four of the men declared bankrupt after they failed to pay a £1.6m judgment award to the families in Belfast in 2009.

The case to recover the men’s assets has moved to Dublin because their property and bank accounts are in the Republic.

The court previously heard that the men have refused to ac- cept service of documents in the case and one, Colm Murphy, has been accused of deliberately moving his assets around to thwart the lawsuit.

Mr O’Donnell complained to the court yesterday that “not one penny” has been paid to the victims since the men found responsible for the bomb in a civil case were successfully sued.

Michael Gallagher (below), who lost his son Aiden in the bombing, and Stanley McCombe, who lost his wife Ann, were among those in court for the hearing in Dublin yesterday.

“I should say judge that some of the victims of the bomb are here, they have travelled for this. It was the 20th anniversary of the bomb last year and the judgment was given in 2009. Not one penny has been paid to anyone. So this isn’t a situation where the proposed bankrupt is attempting to meet his debts,” Mr O’Donnell complained to Justice Teresa Pilkington.

Mr O’Donnell said he had already told the Omagh families that the court would likely have to “afford some brief period of time” for the men to prepare a statement of their assets.

He noted the men had since last October to prepare those statements but had failed to do so. He said this was causing anguish for the Omagh bomb victims’ families.

“You can understand their concern and anguish in relation to this matter and, obviously, they are anxious that they see a degree of closure,” he said.

The case yesterday was against three of four men found liable for the bombing. They include McKevitt, the former chief of staff of the Real IRA; his deputy Liam Campbell, and Continuity IRA leader Murphy.

A fourth man, Seamus Daly, whom the High Court in Belfast was found to have delivered the Omagh bomb, is being dealt with under separate proceedings.

Mr O’Donnell said that legal staff could no longer serve papers to the four men directly because of intimidation.

“Perhaps not surprisingly, there had been difficulties in effective service (of papers) on the proposed bankrupts.

“Some servers have complained of intimidation and threats against them. In those circumstances, liberty was given (by the court) to effect service not just of those documents but of other documents by prepaid post,” Mr O’Donnell said.

Justice Pilkington said she knew the background of the case and had read the files, but had to follow proper procedures “regardless of the horrific circumstances” of the case.

She said she appreciated that the families wanted the case concluded “but unfortunately the legal process is seldom rapid”.

She said that, while the case has been ongoing, it is the first time it was listed in her court and she had to allow the three men time to submit an affidavit, including a statement of their means, and a letter from a personal insolvency professional if they decide to declare bankruptcy. She said she would give them three weeks to prepare the papers and hand them to the Omagh families’ lawyers and would adjourn the case for a month.

None of the three men were in court for the case. From top: Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy