Reaction:The scene at Belfast Crown Court yesterday was one of anguish for the relatives of the victims of the Omagh bombing, of satisfaction and relief for the family and friends of Sean Hoey, and of dismay and, surely, embarrassment for those who tried to convict the south Armagh electrician of the biggest single atrocity of the Troubles.
PSNI Chief Supt Norman Baxter from Omagh, sounding uncomfortable if not distressed, said police accepted the court decision. "This is another devastating day for the victims of Omagh," he said, and, he added, "a very difficult day for the PSNI". Police would study the judgment in detail.
Police had been attempting to bring the killers to justice, he added. "The Omagh bombing was a murder without remorse. Those responsible have expressed no remorse. They showed no mercy to anyone, and they gave no thought to what they did."
Reporters threw questions, but he did not want to take them, apart from accusing one journalist of acting scandalously and heaping more "misery" on the victims by making "unsubstantiated claims" in asking if the judge's comments were a "devastating critique" of the police investigation.
Rather than Supt Baxter, English lawyer Victor Barker, who lost his son James in the bombing, blamed a former RUC chief constable for the collapse of the case.
"I think it points to the appalling inefficiency of Sir Ronnie Flanagan, who years ago said he would fall on his sword if anything was found to be wrong with his investigation. Well, I will give him the sword," he said.
Sean Hoey did not speak to the press, but his mother Rita said her son was an innocent man. "I want everyone to know that this is not a failure to bring those responsible to justice - Sean is innocent," she asserted. "The authorities, North and South, have held two separate trials, but one witch-hunt."
Mr Hoey's solicitor, Peter Corrigan, said: "Sean Hoey has always denied all the charges proffered against him. Today's judgment vindicates him."
Stanley McCombe, whose wife Ann was killed in the attack, said he was "flabbergasted" and "dumbfounded" by the decision. "I do not know what to think. All the resources over the last nine-and-a-half years have not got us anywhere. Hoey has done four-and-a-half years [ on remand] and I'm sure his compensation will be far greater than we had to fight and embarrass ourselves into getting."
Michael Gallagher, who lost his son Aidan, said the British and Irish governments must now set up a full cross-Border inquiry into the Omagh bombing. "They can no longer refuse to give families such an inquiry. This case has been a disgrace by any standards."
Stan Brown, chief executive of the Forensic Science Service Northern Ireland, said he recognised the pain of the Omagh families. "Where there are lessons to be learnt we will learn them, and where there are improvements to be made we will make them," he said.
