Four IRA dissidents were found responsible Monday for the worst terrorist attack in Northern Ireland in a landmark civil case brought by the families of the 29 people killed in the Omagh bombing. Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt was found liable for the 1998 car bombing in the market town of Omagh, according to Belfast High Court Justice Declan Morgan.
The judge said it was clear McKevitt was a senior figure in the dissident republican paramilitary group at the time of the bombing and was heavily involved in the procurement of explosives. The availability of materials to prepare the bomb used in the attack could only have taken place with McKevitt's support and approval, the judge said.
Also found liable were Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly _ as well as the Real IRA group itself. A fifth man, Seamus McKenna, was cleared of involvement. The case against him had been based on evidence from his estranged wife, who the judge considered an unreliable witness. Dissidents bombed several Northern Ireland towns in 1998 in hopes of undermining public support for the Good Friday peace accord achieved earlier that year.
This trial marked the first time that victims of Northern Ireland terrorism have sought justice through a civil action. It stems in part from the families' frustration with the criminal justice system _ which, more than a decade after the blast, has yet to produce any convictions able to withstand judicial scrutiny.
Civil suits in the United Kingdom have a lower threshold of proof than criminal cases. The suit was partly inspired by the successful US civil action against former football star O.J. Simpson, which found him responsible for the 1994 killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. In Monday's ruling, Morgan awarded more than 1.6 million pounds ($2.5 million) in damages to 12 named relatives who filed the suit.
It was less than the plaintiffs had sought. However, Michael Gallagher, whose son was killed, called the verdict a ``tremendous moral victory for the families.' Some of the victims' families expressed doubt over whether they would get the money. However, the relatives said they would pursue all legal avenues toward getting what is available _ including trying to seize property held by the defendants.
The ruling followed a yearlong civil trial. The lawsuit cost an estimated 2 million pounds ($3.2 million) and was partially funded through efforts by the Daily Mail newspaper and former US president Bill Clinton, among others. Stanley McCombe, whose wife died in the bombing, said he was pleased with the verdict.
``It is a result we hoped for but didn't expect. We didn't build our hopes up because we've been let down so many times before,' he said. The lead lawyer for the lawsuit, Daniel Brennan, has said it could open the floodgates for similar actions against reputed paramilitary warlords responsible for the bulk of the 3,700 slayings in Northern Ireland's four-decade conflict.