THE OMAGH bomb civil action continued at the High Court in Belfast yesterday with taped interviews with detectives played in court.
Detectives warned the ex-wife of an Omagh bomb suspect that her eight-year-old son could be arrested, the High Court heard yesterday. Five men are being sued by relatives over the dissident republican massacre of 29 people.
The suggestion about the eight-year-old was allegedly put to Catherine Ann McKenna by officers questioning her about a phone call to her home they believed was made by her estranged husband Séamus less than an hour after the explosion.
Day nine of the case was dominated by evidence from detectives involved in questioning Mrs McKenna, who was later released without charge.
After one of the officers, John Gilmore, was questioned about transcripts from interviews he was involved in, Det Const Albert Hall returned to the witness box.
He was asked by Brian Fee QC, for Mr McKenna: "Have you ever heard of an eight-year-old boy being prosecuted for the offence of withholding information?" When the officer confirmed he had not, the lawyer questioned why his colleagues had suggested Mr McKenna's son could be arrested.
Although Mr Hall replied it was not a phrase he would have used, he also stressed how police had been involved in a rigorous and thorough inquiry in an effort to establish the complete truth.
Mr Fee challenged him: "Does that mean if you have an investigation into a very serious offence like 29 people being murdered, in those circumstances there's a bit more leeway with what you might get away with saying during interview?" But the detective insisted: "Everybody has a different style of interviewing."
Continuing his cross-examination, the defence barrister said Mrs McKenna had been so nervous and frightened that she could not sign or even initialise police forms.
Referring to passages where the woman appeared to be crying, Mr Fee also read out a section where the detective told her: "If you hadn't been telling so many bloody lies you would have been out of here long ago."
At one stage Mrs McKenna was heard on tape telling police how she found out on the news about the attack on August 15th, 1998.
She said: "The Real IRA was suspected of it. When I heard it I said, 'I hope he [ Mr McKenna] had nothing to do with it'." Mrs McKenna gave conflicting accounts during her detention in March 1999 on suspicion of withholding information about the bombing, the court heard.
She claimed not to remember anything about the 3.41pm call from a mobile phone allegedly used in the bomb car, then told police it had come from her ex-husband after all. She said that during the call Mr McKenna told her he was across the Border in Dundalk.
The case continues.