The RUC officer appointed to oversee the investigation into the Omagh bombing atrocity said yesterday it was active and ongoing and had targeted specific identified people who were believed to be responsible.
Det Chief Supt Eric Anderson, acting Assistant Chief Constable, told the inquests hearing that a special review team established last April to examine the work done so far will report this month. He said there was still a large volume of work to be done, and close liaison with the Garda Siochana continued.
At the conclusion of the evidence, the coroner, who will deliver his verdicts on the deaths tomorrow, commented: "It's been a long, sad road."
After the hearing, representatives of the relatives of Omagh victims had a private meeting with Det Chief Supt Anderson and with a garda officer, Garda Det Supt Tadhg Foley, who attended yesterday's proceedings as an observer.
Mr Michael Gallagher said the meeting had been significant, and it was important that a garda officer involved in the investigation had attended. The relatives had been extremely disappointed last week when it was announced that gardai would not participate in the inquest.
Earlier, at the hearing Mr Anderson, outlining the course of the investigation to date, said 6,500 people had been interviewed, 3,500 premises or homes had been visited, 2,700 statements recorded and 5,200 actions generated from the inquiry.
A total of 81 arrests were made - 58 by the Garda and 23 by the RUC - "in an effort to apprehend the bombers and the godfathers who sent them out to do the bombing". Border crossing footage of security cameras had been examined, as well as 237 videos and several tourist films.
The two telephone boxes from which the bomb warnings were sent had been removed from south Armagh for specialist study. Some 90 tonnes of rubble had been removed from the scene of the bombing, as well as other debris, for forensic analysis.
The investigation was run jointly between the Garda and RUC, "with full and frank interchange of information, intelligence and joint co-operation," he said.
Mr Anderson noted the bombing had been claimed by the dissident "Real IRA" in a statement from Dublin which had claimed that three warnings were given, of 40 minutes each, and that at no time was it said it was near the courthouse. He agreed with counsel to the coroner, Ms Gemma Loughran, that the warnings recorded had mentioned the courthouse, the centre of Omagh, and "about 200 yards in 30 minutes' time".
One person had been charged, and papers had been sent to the DPP in the Republic in relation to another, concerning offences connected, albeit loosely, with Omagh and with conspiracy to bomb.
Mr Anderson, in reply to Mr Ian McGonagle, counsel representing the next of kin of two Co Donegal victims, agreed it was believed the bomb was constructed in Co Louth and transported across the Border. Asked if he believed that the persons who put it together and delivered it all resided in Co Louth, he said he had referred to 81 arrests by both gardai and RUC, and this reflected the belief that there was a Northern Ireland input into the bombing as well as a Republic of Ireland input, "and I wouldn't want to comment on that any further".
Asked what he meant by "godfathers" in his statement, Mr Anderson said: "In every terrorist organisation you have doers and you have organisers. This was no exception to that rule, and there were a number of people who sat in the background and who organised and gave instructions . . .
"Those people who are not involved and who do not get their hands dirty, as it were, are the godfathers."
Counsel put it to him that he knew the identities of a large number of these people, and Mr Anderson replied: "I think that that's a fact that's known - through our appeals in the past, yes, we do."
In advance of Mr Anderson's evidence, the coroner, Mr John Leckey, warned that he would regard it as unacceptable conduct for anybody to mention in cross-examination the name or names of any persons they believed to be responsible for the bombing. He thought everybody would share the view that it would be very unfortunate if the investigation or any subsequent proceedings were to be prejudiced in some way by the mentioning of names.
In further evidence, Reserve Const David McNally confirmed that while he was on duty in the communications room at the Omagh RUC station, he had been told there was a bomb scare ongoing in the vicinity of the courthouse. The courthouse, which had been attacked before, was mentioned in two of the warnings given.
RUC Sgt Martin Millar also said his understanding at the time was that the bomb was in the area of the courthouse, and he had tasked vehicles to clear the areas around it.
RUC Sgt Philip Marshall described clearing streets and public houses around the courthouse and said he was in High Street, which was clear of pedestrians, when the bomb exploded in Market Street.
He described seeing the body of the 20-month-old baby, Maura Monaghan, in the window of the Salad Bowl vegetable shop. He said he remembered this vividly, because he had a child of approximately the same age.
Sgt Marshall, in a personal statement, told the relatives of the victims that he had assigned uninjured officers and civilians to remain by the side of the badly wounded and to keep talking to them.