Cost may prevent Omagh kin from filing civil lawsuit

By Anne Cadwallader

BELFAST — Plans by the relatives of some of the 29 victims of the Omagh bombing to take a civil case against those they believe responsible for the bombing may have to be shelved after a poor public response to appeals for aid.

It’s estimated the costs of taking a civil action through the courts could top £1 million — and so far only £160,000 has been raised, of which £100,000 has already been spent in legal fees.

Many of the relatives believe the police know who was responsible for the August 1998 bombing, and that they are the people named publicly in the media over the last year. There is not enough evidence for the police to prosecute them, however.

Nearly three years after the bomb devastated Omagh, the charity established to help the victims has raised more than £3 million, but this can only be spent on grants for the injured and the families of the dead, not legal fees in a court case.

The families have less than six months to raise the estimated £ 1 million required to take a civil action, as the law allows victims three years from the date of a crime to mount private actions against those held responsible.

Victor Barker, whose 12-year-old son, James, was killed, said he was saddened at the families’ failure to raise enough money to mount a civil prosecution. "It’s because it’s to do with Northern Ireland, and that is very sad", he said.

"The money we have got so far is nowhere near enough to fund our case in the Dublin High Court. It’s already taken £100,000 to pay for the research into the who, what and where of the massacre."

Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old-son, Adrian, was killed, said, "If we were to get these people into the dock, even if we didn’t get them jailed, it would send a message home that they cannot escape public scrutiny."

He admitted the legal fund’s failure to get near to the £1 million target was a "very, very severe setback" and added: "I hate to say this, but when the Real IRA put that bomb outside the BBC, a part of me was glad. Thank God, no one got hurt, but it is true that the bomb in London managed to focus English minds on what we have to put up with over here."

Senior RUC detectives, including the officer heading the hunt for the Omagh bombers, RUC Deputy Assistant Chief Constable Eric Anderson, have admitted that they are unlikely to charge anyone with the crime.

Officers believe they know the names of the Real IRA members who built, transported and detonated the bomb.