Dundalk man gets 8 years for 'RIRA' membership

A man being sued by relatives of the Omagh bomb victims was today jailed for eight years for being a member of the "Real IRA…

A man being sued by relatives of the Omagh bomb victims was today jailed for eight years for being a member of the "Real IRA".

Liam Campbell (42) was found guilty of two counts of being a member of an unlawful organisation styling itself the IRA.

The dissident republican denied the charges relating to two dates, October 3rd, 2000, and July 29th, 2001.

He was arrested in Bettystown, Co Meath, in July 2001 and jailed for five years that October.

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The conviction was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal earlier this year but Campbell was retried on both the original and a subsequent charge last week.

Justice Richard Johnson, presiding over the three-judge Special Criminal Court in Dublin, said he took into account Campbell's previous good record and the fact he was married with two young children.

He was jailed for four years on both charges to run consecutively with the final 18 months suspended. The sentence was backdated to May 1st, 2001.

Campbell, from Dundalk, is one of five men being sued in a landmark €10 million civil action by relatives of the Omagh bomb victims. The case is due to be heard in Belfast early next year.