Omagh victims win civil case

Victims of a deadly bombing in Northern Ireland by the breakaway terrorist group the Real IRA have won a landmark civil compensation case against four men. They launched the civil case after criminal proceedings failed to bring anyone to justice for the Omagh car bomb.

Michael Gallagher’s 12 year old son was killed. He said: “We have sent a message to terrorists that from now on you don’t only need to worry about the authorities, the families, the families of those victims will come after you.”

The four are Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Shamus Daly and Colm Murphy. McKevitt is serving a 20-year jail term for unrelated terrorism offences. Murphy’s criminal conviction for Omagh was overturned on appeal.

The 1998 bombing – in which 29 people were killed and more than 200 wounded – was the deadliest in Northern Ireland’s three decades of sectarian conflict. It came just months after the main IRA signed a peace agreement. The court awarded 1.7 million euros worth of damages.

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tags: Ireland, Terrorism