Murphy gets 14 years for role in bombing

By Andrew Bushe

DUBLIN — As a Dundalk businessman begins a 14-year sentence on the high-security Portlaoise Prison after becoming the first person to be convicted in connection with the 1998 bombing atrocity, gardai are expected to step up efforts to bring more of the bombers to justice.

Colm Murphy, 49, from Dundalk, Co. Louth, was found guilty by the Special Criminal Court of conspiring to cause the explosion that resulted in the worst atrocity in Northern Ireland since 1969.

The car bomb ripped through the busy center of the market town on a Saturday afternoon, Aug. 15, killing 29 and injuring hundreds more.

In their verdict after the 25-day trial, the judges said Murphy, a publican and builder, was a “republican terrorist of long standing.”

He has served jail terms for serious terrorist offenses dating back to the 1970s in Ireland the U.S.

The presiding judge, Justice Robert Barr, described Murphy as a “service provider” to the bombing team. He warned that any of those directly involved would be treated with the utmost severity and could expect huge sentences if they came before the court.

A father of four, Murphy is expected to seek leave to appeal. His lawyer said he had “no hand, act or part” in the bombing.

A large group of relatives of Omagh victims attended the sentencing of Murphy, sitting just above him in the public gallery. They applauded when he was led away to begin his sentence.

Michael Gallagher, who lost his son Aidan, said they were saddened the main members of the bombing team were still at large. He appealed for anyone who had information to assist the police on both sides of the border.

“We hope to be back here on many more occasions in the coming years. We hope it is the beginning of the end,” he said.

Kevin Skelton, who was injured by the bomb and lost his wife, Philomena, said he was delighted but he described Murphy as “very small fry.”

“We want the main people brought to justice and put away for a long time,” he said.

During Murphy’s interrogation in February 1999, Gardai claimed he was a member of the Continuity IRA Council.

Murphy has firearms and membership convictions in Ireland dating back to the early days of the Provisional IRA campaign in the 1970s and he was also jailed in the U.S. in connection with an alleged attempt to smuggle guns to the INLA in July 1982.

Responsibility for the Omagh blast was claimed by the Real IRA.

“In the light of that background and his membership of a dissident terrorist group in Ireland which is not on cease-fire, he is a person likely to be involved in terrorist activities of the sort charged against him,” Barr said.

The judges accepted Garda evidence that Murphy had confessed to them during the questioning in 1999 that he had lent two mobile phones to a Real IRA member knowing he was involved in bombing.

Murphy’s admissions had a “probative ring of truth” and Garda notes of them were accepted as accurate.

The Garda commissioner has launched an inquiry into what the judges described as “serious misconduct” by two gardai who were found to have falsified their interview notes with Murphy.

The gardai concerned had denied in court that notes had been rewritten, but a scientific test proved they had been. The court found one of the gardai involved had an “unimpressive” general intelligence. “No depth of thought was apparent,” it said.

The judges dismissed claims the falsification of one interrogation session had tainted the others or that there had been “dovetailing” of evidence from prosecution witnesses to ensure they were mutually supportive.

The judges also accepted expert evidence that tracked signals from the two phones as they bounced off mobile phone masts north and south of the border on the day of the Omagh blast.

The signals showed the phones had traveled from south of the border to Omagh and back again.

Evidence was also accepted that Murphy had previously lent his mobile phone and it was used during a similar bombing in Banbridge on Aug. 1, 1998.

There is a close connection between the Omagh and Banbridge bombings. In both cases a red Vauxhall Cavalier car was used for the explosives and the warning code words used were the same.