Families serve writs on Omagh suspects
The families of 29 people killed in the Omagh bombing got some measure of revenge today when writs for damages were served on two of the alleged killers.
Legal representatives backed by police surrounded the homes of Seamus Daly, 31, and Seamus McKenna, 46, in Dundalk in the Irish Republic and presented writs to start an unprecedented civil case against them.
Sean O'Callaghan for the Omagh Victims Legal Trust said: "McKenna and Daly didn't show their faces, but Daly's father came to the bedroom window when we shoved a writ through the door and he started cursing and shouting.
"There was no one home at McKenna's house, but his neighbour came out and started cursing and swearing at us too."
The three other alleged killers, Mickey McKevitt, 51, Colm Murphy, 49, and Liam Campbell, 38, were expected to be served similar writs later today in Portlaoise jail near Dublin, where they are being held on other terrorism offences.
Michael and Patsy Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Adrian was killed in the blast, planned to ask the prison governor if they could present the writs personally.
Mr Gallagher said: "I want to see these people who we believe killed our son. I want to show them the people we are and ask them what they think they achieved."
Murphy is the only one convicted of criminal charges for the 1998 bombing, believed to have been carried out by the Republican splinter group the Real IRA, and that was only for conspiracy. The civil action is the first time anywhere in the world that alleged terrorist killers have been sued for damages by their victims.
It follows a failure of a police investigation - which was conducted in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation of witnesses - to bring criminal charges against the main suspects.
Nine families representing 10 victims were named as 21 plaintiffs on the writ which demands damages for the " intentional infliction of harm, trespass to the person and-or conspiracy to commit trespass to the person and-or conspiracy to injure."
McKevitt and Campbell are specifically sued as representing the Real IRA as a terrorist organisation, the first time any variant of the IRA has been taken to court as an organisation.
The case is expected to start in Belfast in February or March. The five alleged killers may try to ignore the writs, but Mr O'Callaghan said that under civil law, which covers both sides of Ireland and requires a less exacting standard than criminal law, the case can go ahead without them.
Damages expected to run into the millions can be levied on them, meaning the men face losing all their personal assets, including their homes and businesses.
Mr O'Callaghan said that the civil case does not mean criminal charges are being abandoned. Indeed, it is expected to produce further evidence which could still bring such charges.
