Colm Murphy - Omagh Bombing

Omagh Bombing

Murphy was arrested by the Gardaí on 21 February 1999 for questioning under anti-terrorist legislation. On 24 February Murphy became the first person charged in connection with the Omagh bombing, when he appeared before Dublin's Special Criminal Court and was charged with conspiring to cause an explosion under the terms of Ireland's Offences Against the State Act, between 13 August and 16 August 1998. Murphy was also charged with membership of an illegal organisation, the Real Irish Republican Army.

On 10 October 2000 the BBC television show Panorama named Murphy as one four people connected with the Omagh bombing, along with Seamus Daly and Liam Campbell. In 2001 Murphy undertook legal action against the BBC and Daily Mail publishers Associated Newspapers for contempt of court. The action against Associated Newspapers was settled on 31 July 2001, and the newspaper released a statement saying Murphy was entitled to be presumed innocent of the charges against him until proven guilty.

Murphy's trial began at Special Criminal Court in Dublin on 12 October 2001. The court heard that Murphy had supplied two mobile phones which were used during the bombing. One witness, Murphy's second cousin, retracted his evidence and the judge called the conduct of two detectives outrageous, saying they had persistently lied under cross-examination. Despite this, on 22 January 2002 Murphy was convicted of conspiring to cause the Omagh bombing, and on 25 January was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment with the judge describing him as a long-time republican extremist.

On 21 January 2005 Murphy's conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered, due to the invasion of Murphy's presumption of innocence, and alteration of Gardaí interview notes and evidence presented by two officers. A week later Murphy's legal case against the BBC was resolved, with the BBC issuing a statement that Murphy "was fully entitled to maintain his innocence of the charges against him and to test the evidence against him at his trial".

On 23 October 2006 two Gardaí officers were found not guilty of perjuring themselves during Murphy's trial. On 23 May 2007 it was announced that Murphy is suffering from short-term memory loss resulting from a car accident before his arrest. His lawyers attempted to prevent a retrial taking place, on the grounds that his condition interfered with his right to a fair hearing. The Court of Criminal Appeal was scheduled to hear his case again in October 2008. Following a retrial held in January 2010, Murphy was acquitted on 24 February 2010.

In 2009 Murphy was one of four men found by a civil court to be liable for the Omagh bombing in a case taken by relatives of the victims. On 7 July 2011 in Belfast High Court, Lord Justice Michael Higgins directed a retrial of the civil claims against Mr Murphy. He questioned evidence surrounding emails from US undercover agent David Rupert while overturning the judgment on Murphy. The paucity of the email evidence, the lack of consistency in the emails or at least ambiguity, the possibility of initials referring to someone other than Murphy and the fact that they refer on occasions to double hearsay considerably weakened the emails as evidence, he said.