SAOIRSE32

By Tim Healy

Wednesday January 21 2009

REAL IRA man Liam Campbell is wanted in Lithuania on charges of terrorism and trafficking weapons, the High Court heard yesterday.

He appeared in court yesterday on foot of a warrant from the Lithuanian authorities who are seeking his extradition claiming he conspired with three others, between the end of 2006 and 2007, to obtain weapons, ammunition and explosive substances in the Baltic republic and with being engaged in terrorism.

Campbell (46), of Upper Faughart, Dundalk, was convicted in May 2004 by the non-jury Special Criminal Court (SCC) of being a member of the the IRA.

Counsel for the State said yesterday a warrant seeking his arrest was endorsed by the High Court last week.

The court heard Campbell was detained by the gardai at a car park in Dundalk on Tuesday afternoon.

Warrant

When the charges contained in the warrant were put to him, Campbell replied: “Write this down, I am not guilty of that.”

The State applied for Mr Campbell to be remanded in custody in order to allow for discussions about the matter with the Lithuanian authorities.

His solicitor, James McGuill, said that the request to be remanded in custody on that basis was unsatisfactory, and asked that the gardai make contact with the Lithuanian counterparts.

Mr McGuill said his client, who was unemployed and would be seeking to apply for the legal aid scheme, would hope to make an application for bail sometime this week. Campbell would not be consenting to his extradition back to Lithuania, his solicitor said.

Mr Justice Michael Peart, remanded him in custody to appear again before the court this afternoon.

• Phone-tracking capabilities limited at the time of atrocity
• Report rejects claims vital information was not passed on

Henry McDonald and Richard Norton-Taylor
Guardian
Wednesday 21 January 2009

GCHQ lacked the technology to fully track the Real IRA unit on their way to bomb Omagh, intelligence sources claimed today.

Omagh bomb afermath. Photograph: Paul McElaine

In an effort to clear the UK’s secret listening post of failing to prevent the 1998 bomb attack that caused the biggest massacre during the Troubles, sources close to the security services revealed that they now have the capability to track mobile phones in cars being driven in rural as well as urban areas – technology they insist GCHQ did not possess a decade ago.

The sources’ claims emerged after an official report today rejected allegations that the security services held back vital information about the bomb team’s movements on the day of the attack.

But the families of some of the 29 victims of the bombing insisted today that Sir Peter Gibson’s report changed nothing. They said a public cross-border inquiry in Ireland into the circumstances of the Omagh atrocity was still needed.

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the explosion that devastated the Co Tyrone town, also criticised the British government’s decision not to make public the Gibson report. The report was ordered by Gordon Brown in response to a Panorama programme which alleged that GCHQ was tracking the bombers in real time. The BBC documentary also claimed that the surveillance intelligence was not passed on from GCHQ to special branch in the RUC.

Gallagher has claimed that no warning was given in advance about the Omagh attack because the security forces on both sides of the Irish border were more interested in protecting agents operating inside the Real IRA.

“We have very little facts of how this investigation was carried out,” he said.

In today’s report, Gibson said: “The portrayal in the Panorama programme of the tracking on a screen of the movement of two cars, a scout car and a car carrying a bomb, by reference to two ‘blobs’ moving on a road map has no correspondence whatever with what intercepting agencies were able to do or did on 15 August 1998.”

He added: “On the basis of evidence from an independent expert witness from a mobile communications service provider I am satisfied that, in 1998 it was neither possible to track mobile phones in real time nor to visualise the location and movement of mobile phones in the way that was shown in the Panorama programme.”

He said that information on the location of a mobile phone only existed in respect of “communications events” – when a phone was switched on or off, or during a call, for instance. Even then it would have been limited to information about the cell – the area covered by a particular mast in which the phone was active.

Gibson also said there was no evidence before him that the Garda Síochána, the Irish police force, had warned the RUC of a likely attack. Gallagher and the Omagh bomb campaigners have always claimed that the Gardai had been tipped off about a Real IRA bomb attack in Northern Ireland on the weekend of the massacre but failed to pass it to the security forces in the north.

In a statement issued to the Commons today, the Northern Ireland secretary, Shaun Woodward, said the full Gibson report could not be published owing to “legal restraints” and reasons of national security.

Woodward said he would send the complete report to the parliamentary intelligence and security committee.

Sir Hugh Orde, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which replaced the RUC, backed the Gibson report’s findings.

“I also strongly endorse his view that none of that information could have prevented the atrocity,” he said.

By Richard Walsh - Republican Sinn Féin
Indymedia.ie
21 Jan 09

Three men have been detained in a cross-border operation targeting Republicans in Counties Monaghan and Fermanagh. Two men were arrested at their homes in County Fermanagh at around 7:00a.m. on Tuesday morning following the arrest of a man by the 26-County police in County Monaghan on Monday. They are being held under the provisions of the “Offences Against the State Act” and the “Terrorism Act 2000” respectively.

Seven carloads of RUC men arrived, along with a jeep and a transit van, at the home of one of the Fermanagh men this morning. At least some of these were based in Armagh. They brought equipment capable of forcing entry into the property as well as tools for lifting manholes.

RSF Director of Publicity, Richard Walsh, said that the operation once again showed the collaboration between the forces of both statelets within Ireland.

“It is ironic, though not surprising, that at a time when the Free State are falsely claiming continuity with the First Dáil – which came into being exactly ninety years ago to the day – they are collaborating with those who subverted Dáil Éireann, and locking up those who seek to secure the realisation of the high ideals expressed in the Mansion House in 1919.

“The operation carried out on both sides of the border, and indeed the very existence of that border, give the lie to the claim that the administration operating out of Leinster House is the linear successor to the First and Second All-Ireland Dáil.”

Breaking News.ie
21/01/2009

The assistant manager of the Northern Bank cash centre in Belfast described today how a man posing as a policeman called to his house late at night telling him his sister had been killed before going on to threaten the banker at gunpoint to play a key part in the crime.

Timothy (Ted) Cunningham (aged 60) of Woodbine Lodge, Farran, Co Cork, denies 20 charges of money laundering arising out of the robbery of £26.5m (€28.2bn) sterling from the Northern Bank in Belfast on December 20, 2004. His son, Timothy John Cunningham, aged 33, Church View, Farran, Co Cork, denies four similar charges.

Kevin McMullan was called as a prosecution witness in the trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court of the father and son charged with laundering over £3m (€3.2m) from the robbery.

Mr Mullan said he was the assistant manager and key-holder of the cash centre at Donegall Square West, Belfast, in December 2004.

“I was at home on the night of December 19, 2004 with my wife, Karen. A car came into the driveway of the house late in the evening. A man dressed as a police officer knocked at the door and asked me to confirm that I was Kevin McMullan. He said my sister had been killed and I was being asked to identify the body.

“This man followed me in. Other members of what turned out to be a gang took control of my wife, myself and my home. A gun was put to the back of my head, also to my wife’s head. We were both tied up with plastic ties to tie our hands.

“A man pulled a hat down over my wife’s face and tape around her head at eye level. They then led her away from the house. Two men stayed in the house with me. They went through a plan to be followed out the next day at work. If I didn’t comply fully or if anything went wrong my wife would be killed. They repeated that threat throughout the night.

“I was told I was to go to work. I had no choice because of the threat made against my wife. I feared these men would carry out the threat, if anything went wrong with the robbery that my wife would be killed. They said, “We’ll shoot her in the head, we will damage her beyond repair”, and that I would be killed,” Mr McMullan testified in Cork.

He said that he went to the vault, sent staff home and got £26.5m (€28.2m) for the gang.The case continues tomorrow.

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Google News

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) — Britain’s phone-tapping agency did not hear anything that could have stopped Irish Republican Army dissidents from devastating the Northern Ireland town of Omagh with a 1998 car bomb, an expert ruled Wednesday.

The report from Britain’s intelligence services commissioner, Sir Peter Gibson, followed claims in a BBC report that accused the British Government Communications Headquarters eavesdropping agency of withholding or mishandling wire-tap intelligence that could have helped police identify and intercept the bombers.

The Omagh blast killed 29 people, mostly women and children, and was the deadliest terrorist attack during decades of conflict over the British territory of Northern Ireland. While anti-terrorist agencies claim to know the identities of the entire bombing team, nobody has been successfully prosecuted for the massacre.

Relatives of the Omagh dead long have campaigned for a public fact-finding probe into intelligence-gathering failures in both parts of Ireland — a demand stoked by September’s broadcast by BBC investigative reporter John Ware.

He reported that the eavesdropping unit, known as GCHQ, was tapping the phones of key IRA dissidents on the day of the Aug. 15, 1998 attack — and could have traced their movements as they drove the 500-pound (225 kg) car bomb from the Repulic of Ireland across the border into Omagh.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown assigned Gibson to investigate.

Gibson confirmed that GCHQ staff were listening live to dissidents’ phone conversations — but their enemies knew this and spoke in code that concealed their own identities, to whom they spoke, and whether they were referring to bombing plans or more common activities such as cross-border smuggling.

He said GCHQ eavesdroppers never heard anything to suggest that Omagh was a likely target, or that Aug. 15 was the day planned for a car-bomb attack anywhere in Northern Ireland.

Gibson also dismissed a central claim in the BBC report that British and Irish police, if properly alerted by the phone-tapping unit, could have pinpointed the bombers’ cross-border journey by tracking the movement of their cell phone signals. He said such technological precision did not exist in 1998.

The British Broadcasting Corp. and Ware offered no immediate reaction.
On the Net:

* Gibson report: http://tinyurl.com/8mu48g
* Woodward statement: http://tinyurl.com/9qkcyk

easybourse.com
Wednesday January 21st, 2009

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AFP)–A Lithuanian court has refused to release an Irishman suspected of links with a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army, who was snared in a fake arms deal a year ago, officials said Wednesday.

The Vilnius court decided Michael Campbell, 35, must remain behind bars until at least March 22, the tribunal’s spokeswoman Kristina Kisieliene told AFP.

Campbell was arrested in Vilnius on Jan. 22 last year, while negotiating with an undercover police officer.

He risks charges of attempting to obtain weapons illegally, which carries a sentence of up to eight years, and supporting a terrorist organization, where the penalty is up to 20 years.

Defense lawyers have argued that Campbell, who reportedly has a criminal record in the Netherlands for tobacco-smuggling, was simply in the Baltic state to buy cigarettes. They allege he was set up by U.K. and Irish intelligence working hand in hand with the Lithuanians.

By William Graham Political Correspondent
Irish News
20/01/2009

THE Stormont assembly passed a DUP motion yesterday which said that the number of government departments should be reduced – in a bid to free up cash for front-line services.

An SDLP amendment, which said that a new Assembly standing committee should be set up to focus on controlling the cost of government, was defeated by 43 votes to 13.

The main DUP motion, which proposed cutting the number of departments from 11 to six or seven, was supported by the UUP and Alliance and passed on a voice vote.

The party said the move would “reduce duplication and release much-needed cash for frontline services”.

Sinn Fein abstained from both the amendment and main motion.

Introducing the debate the DUP’s Simon Hamilton said the number of departments, 11, was utterly disproportionate to the 1.7m population in Northern Ireland.

He pointed out that Scotland, with a much larger population of five million, had reduced their departments from nine to six.

Also Mr Hamilton contended that frustrated community groups are having to consult with as many as seven government departments before getting the go-ahead for projects here.

In addition he claimed that businesses and developers are also being entangled in reams of red tape due to the inflated size of government.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the DUP proposal was limited and claimed the issue of efficiency was not just about the number of departments.

He proposed an amendment seeking the establishment of a standing committee to examine the overall cost of government and calling on the First and Deputy First Minister to bring forward proposals to streamline the administration.

“We need to make sure that we are constantly controlling and curbing the cost of government itself to make sure the system isn’t consuming money and resources and dedicated time and talent that could be much better deployed on front line services,” he said.

The executive has already committed itself to the rationalisation of the departmental structure in the programme of government and the ongoing review of public administration.

Sinn Fein members abstained from the vote on the motion, with Caral Ni Chuilin claiming it was based on the premise that the number of departments should be reduced and therefore prejudged the outcome of a review on the government system.

Her party colleague Paul Maskey also contended that the DUP motion was like putting the cart before the horse.

Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy said, while his party backed efforts to cut bureaucracy, he questioned the timing of the DUP motion, coming as it did 24 hours before the Assembly is to debate DUP/Sinn Fein- backed proposals to create a 12th department for policing and justice.

“There is an apparent contradiction and it may well be an example of woolly thinking behind this motion because some may think that this motion is simply a headline grabber,” he said.

The Alliance Party backed the DUP proposal but Stephen Farry questioned how much it would actually save.

“Without doubt reducing the number of government departments will produce a degree of financial saving, I don’t think anyone will argue with that but I think the scale of the saving is overstated.’’

How the different parties voted

By Diana Rusk

MOST assembly members agree with a DUP proposal to cut the number of government departments in the Stormont Executive, according to the results of a survey.

The research by public affairs group Stratagem also shows elected representatives are prepared to dramatically reduce their own number in the Assembly.

Northern Ireland is currently being run by 11 government departments with 108 assembly members.

Of 41 members surveyed, over half (56 per cent) said they wanted the departments cut from 11 to six or seven – the number being mooted by the DUP.

Just under a quarter (23 per cent) agreed they should be cut but less dramatically to eight or nine departments.

The remainder of the respondents, 13 per cent, thought the present number was ideal.

Assembly members also appear keen to reduce their own number in Stormont meaning assembly elections would become more competitive.

Of those surveyed, 43 per cent said they wanted the number of members reduced to between 61 and 80 members. Around 39 per cent wanted the number cut to 81-100 members while just 16 per cent thought there should be over 100 elected representatives.

Mark Shepherd, of Stratagem, said the survey showed politicians had come to realise that Assembly was being hindered by unnecessary “bureaucracy” and was “over politicised”.

“It is appropriate to realise we are moving to a situation where there is less need for political representation from every group.”

Irish News
20/01/2009

After 62 days of evidence since November from more than 140 witnesses, the prosecution case in the trial of seven young Ballymena men facing charges arising out of the murder of teenager Michael McIlveen came to an end yesterday.

The 15-year-old Catholic teenager died in hospital from head injuries on May 8 2006, a day after he was bludgeoned with a baseball bat and kicked in an alleyway after being chased by a group of Protestant youths.

Since the start of the Antrim Crown Court trial, one accused – 20-year-old Meryvn Wilson Moon, from Douglas Terrace – has pleaded guilty to the murder, while another, a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been acquitted by direction of the court.

Defence lawyers, following any legal submissions to trial judge Mr Justice Treacy, will present their case starting on Thursday.

Yesterday a detective, who agreed that interviews of one of the accused were oppressive and sections of them can no longer be relied upon, maintained any wrongdoing on his part was a mistake.

The detective was being re-examined by defence QC Paul Ramsey about interview notes, thought to have been shredded, which were uncovered.

Mr Ramsey put it to the detective that the notes represented “the smoking gun” as to how his client, 18-year-old Christopher Andrew McLeister of Knock Crescent, Ballymena, was being interviewed and the case police were trying to make against him.

The detective, who had already denied that at no time had he “set out to trick Christopher McLeister… it was an innocent honest mistake on my part”, finally said: “I did not wrongly interview Christopher McLeister. If I did do it, it was inadvertant”.

The court also heard about the 11

interviews of the last accused, 18-year-old Paul Edward David Henson of Condiere Avenue, Ballymena, who only faces charges of affray and criminal damage.

In the interviews Mr Henson admitted being in the alleyway with others and of attacking a garden gate and of taking away the bat used on Michael.

Those still facing the murder charge along with Mr McLeister are 19-year-old Jeff Colin Lewis of Rossdale, Christopher Francis Kerr (22) of Carnduff Drive and Aaron Cavana Wallace (20) of Moat Road, all Ballymena.

By Simon Doyle Education Correspondent
Irish News
20/01/2009

CHRISTIAN Brothers will today end more than two centuries of direct involvement in Northern Ireland education by handing control of their schools to lay people.

In one of the most significant changes in education, the order will hand responsibility for the educational ethos and operation of its nine schools to a charitable trust.

The change in ownership is a result of the continued decline of religious orders in the north’s schools.

Religious orders delivered tuition in convent and monastery schools for 200 years, helping teaching holy communities to prosper.

But the fall in the numbers entering vocations mean that clerical collars and habits have now almost entirely disappeared from classrooms.

The Christian Brothers in the Republic have already ended their direct involvement in education by switching control of schools to The Edmund Rice Schools Trust.

Today, the Edmund Rice Schools Trust Northern Ireland will be launched.

Kevin Burke, the former head of St Mary’s Christian Brothers Grammar School in west Belfast, has been appointed executive director.

The schools will continue to operate in the tradition of Edmund Rice, who founded the brothers in 1802, with an emphasis on principles of spiritual development, social justice and equality.

The brothers’ role, however, will be confined to the provision of back-up education services to schools and to an education office.

Four Christian Brothers arrived in Belfast in 1866 to form a community, having been offered a national school at Divis Street. A second school was opened shortly afterwards on Donegall Street.

Today there are no brothers left on the staff of schools and there are just two communities of brothers in Belfast.

Members of the order continue to offer support to schools in the greater Belfast area including St Aidan’s CBPS, Edmund Rice College, St Mary’s CB Grammar School and CBS Glen Road.

Education minister Caitriona Ruane, Cardinal Sean Brady and Brother Kevin Mullan, European Province Leader of the Christian Brothers, are expected to attend today’s launch.

Irish News
20 Jan 09

The top two floors of Divis Tower in west Belfast have been officially turned back into homes – 30 years after the British Army took over.

The Housing Executive has renovated the 18th and 19th floors of the Falls Road tower block into eight flats at a cost of £1.1 million.

The renovations come three decades after soldiers commandeered the top of the tower and built an observation post on the roof.

Soldiers took up permanent residence in 1979 when they took over the 19th floor to use as sleeping quarters, a gym and a canteen.

Ten years later, a move by the army to take over the 18th floor in the Housing Executive-owned building forced residents to make way, despite protests.

Secretary of State Peter Hain announced in August 2005 that the observation post monitoring the whole of west Belfast was to be dismantled.

Work began in March 2007 to turn the two floors back into social housing.

In the most noticeable change a roof garden has now been sited on the spot where the observation post once stood.

Paddy McIntyre, Housing Executive chief executive, said Divis Tower was now “entering a new era and the improvements will ensure that it remains a very popular place to live.”

By Marie Louise McCrory West Belfast Correspondent
Irish News
20 Jan 09

A POLICE report has found that the area around one of its own stations is a crime “hot spot”. The report – on a single district of west Belfast – identified 22 areas in the upper Springfield area where there was a greater likelihood of anti-social behaviour.

The area around New Barnsley police station, pictured, was surprisingly identified in the document as one of the crime hot spots.

It found that overgrown shrubbery around the base and graffiti on its walls, did not “speak of a safe environment” and concluded that “such lack of control invites casual intrusion which may lead to criminal exploration”.

The report has recommended the fortified look-out post, which overshadows part of the station, be removed with community murals painted on the walls around the base. The findings are the result of a detailed architectural survey carried out by the PSNI at the request of the Upper Springfield Safe Neighbourhood Forum (USSNF).

Most areas of concern are alleys or paths between houses, such as an alley linking New Barnsley Crescent and Newhill, which were found to “undoubtedly create a crime risk” for homes which back onto it.

The aim of the survey was to identify the top anti-social hot spots in the upper Springfield area and offer recommendations on how a

redesign of the site might curtail anti-community behaviour.

Land to the right hand side of New Barnsley Police Station has also pin-pointed as a hot-spot.

The survey revealed the land, at the bottom of Springfield Park, gives “rise to stone throwing against the neighbouring police station and at traffic on Springfield Road”.

Other sites identified in the report are in the Gortnamona, Norglen, Moyard, Glenalina and Whiterock areas.

PSNI crime prevention officer Pete Connolly, who compiled the ‘Designing Out Crime’ report, said it was “not a paperwork exercise”.

“This was very much driven by the community,” he said.

“It’s about considering what simple changes can be made and about trying to get people to be creative about community safety solutions.”

Steven Corr, from the USSNF, said police had given the group £5,000 to redesign one of the areas identified.

He said the group would then apply to the Department for Social Development for further funding.

“This is an innovative way of tackling anti-social behaviour which exists in badly-designed areas as a result of poor planning,” he said.

Sinn Fein councillor Janice Austin welcomed the possibility that the sanger at New Barnsley Police Station could be removed.

BBC

An official report has rejected claims that vital intelligence about the Omagh bombing was deliberately held back.

Intelligence Services Commissioner Sir Peter Gibson said information on the bombers was shared with police, but could not have stopped the 1998 attack.

In his report, Sir Peter said details from telephone intercepts were passed on “promptly and fully” and in accordance with proper procedures.

Twenty-nine people were killed when a Real IRA car bomb exploded in the town.

A BBC Panorama programme had claimed that intelligence officers based at GCHQ had monitored the bombers’ phone calls, but had failed or refused to pass information to RUC detectives hunting the killers in the days following the attack.

‘I think there was a large amount of high-grade intelligence available.’
–Michael Gallagher

Following the programme last September, Gordon Brown commissioned Sir Peter to conduct a review of all intelligence material stemming from the bombing.

In his report, Sir Peter said: “I am satisfied that in the days surrounding 15th August and on the day itself, to the extent that any relevant intelligence was derived from interception, it was shared with RUC HQ and Special Branch South promptly and fully, and done so with the latter in accordance with procedures agreed with Special Branch South.

“No police witness before me was aware of any request to GCHQ being refused and there was warm praise from the head of Special Branch and the regional head of Special Branch South for the work done by GCHQ in Northern Ireland.”

Sir Peter also said there was no evidence before him that police in the Republic had warned the RUC of a likely attack.

He also dismissed the programme’s claims that intelligence officers had tracked the movements of the bombers’ car, saying technology was not advanced enough in 1998 to do that.

‘I commend Sir Peter Gibson for the thorough and exhaustive way that he has approached the task.’
–Shaun Woodward

He said: “The portrayal in the Panorama programme of the tracking on a screen of the movement of two cars, a scout car and a car carrying a bomb, by reference to two “blobs” moving on a road map has no correspondence whatever with what intercepting agencies were able to do or did on 15 August 1998.

“On the basis of evidence from an independent expert witness from a mobile communications service provider I am satisfied that in 1998, it was neither possible to track mobile phones in real time nor to visualise the location and movement of mobile phones in the way that was shown in the Panorama programme.”

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was one of the 29 people killed in the atrocity, said he did not accept that the Real IRA attack could not have been prevented.

“I think there was a large amount of high-grade intelligence available,” he said.

‘Monitoring’

‘’The fact that GCHQ themselves were monitoring - live or otherwise - demonstrates that.

“We had 27 attacks before Omagh, we had numerous amounts of warnings and one in particular to Omagh police station.”

The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Sir Hugh Orde, in a letter to the NI Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, said: “I agree with Sir Peter’s conclusions that such information, as was available to other agencies, was being passed to Special Branch promptly in line with agree procedures.

“I also strongly endorse his view that none of that information could have prevented the atrocity.”

Mr Woodward, speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday, said: “I commend Sir Peter Gibson for the thorough and exhaustive way that he has approached the task in looking at lessons to be learned in the sharing of intercept material on the day and around the time of the Omagh bombing.”

BBC

Two Antrim men have appeared in court charged with murdering a loyalist paramilitary leader in October 2000.

The charges follow a new investigation into the murder of Ulster Defence Association chief Tommy English.

Samuel Higgins, 32, of The Meadow, and Philip Laffin, 31, from Bridge Street, were remanded in custody, neither man having applied for bail.

A detective sergeant told Belfast Magistrates Court he believed he could connect both men with the charges.

Four other men, including alleged police agent Mark Haddock, have also been charged in connection with Tommy English’s murder.

Samuel Higgins faces further counts of hijacking, false imprisonment and membership of the Ulster Volunteer Force between 1996 and 2000.

The court was also told a charge of kidnapping against Laffin was being withdrawn.

Both men were arrested as part of inquiries by the Historical Enquiries Team - a specialist police unit set up to investigate unsolved killings throughout the Northern Ireland conflict.

Mr English, who had been part of a loyalist delegation which took part in talks at Stormont prior to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, was gunned down in front of his wife at their home on the Ballyduff Estate, Newtownabbey on Halloween night.

His killing was part of a feud between rival UDA and UVF factions which claimed seven lives.

Two brothers from Newtownabbey, David Stewart, 38, and and Robert Stewart, 34, who were originally charged with the killing have since pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting in the murder of 40-year-old Mr English.

It was claimed during a previous court hearing that they have implicated up to 10 men in the shooting.

Haddock, 40, a former leading north Belfast loyalist, and his one-time close associate Darren Moore, 39, of Mount Vernon Park in the city, have already been charged with the murder and UVF membership.

News Letter
21 January 2009

AN official report into the Omagh bomb atrocity has rejected claims that vital information was held back.

Intelligence Services Commissioner Sir Peter Gibson, who was commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to investigate the circumstances of the 1998 tragedy, found information on the bombers was passed to police but could not have prevented the atrocity.

Twenty nine people were killed in the Co Tyrone town, including unborn twins.

Relatives of the deceased had called for the independent investigation.

In his report, published on Wednesday, Sir Peter said: “”I am satisfied that in the days surrounding 15th August and on the day itself, to the extent that any relevant intelligence was derived from interception, it was shared with RUC HQ and Special Branch South promptly and fully, and done so with the latter in accordance with procedures agreed with Special Branch South.”

Mr Gibson also confirmed there was no evidence before him that police in the Republic had warned the RUC of a likely attack.

A BBC Panorama programme had claimed that intelligence officers had tracked the movements of the bombers’ car and a scout car on their way to Omagh from the Republic on the day of the attack.

This was denied by Sir Peter in his detailed report, saying technology was not so well advanced in 1998 to so so.

Omagh bomb relatives are due to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown next month. They are calling for a cross-border judicial inquiry into the attack.

Reacting to Sir Peter’s findings, Michael Gallagher, who lost a son in the atrocity, said: “We believe that mistakes were made and those mistakes should be examined and put right to give us a better chance of preventing any future attack and catching those responsible.”

Relatives are currently involved in a civil case in the Republic against five men they believe were responsible for the bombing.

No-one has yet been convicted for the outrage.