Orde to face questions over Omagh

Northern Ireland Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde is to face questions today about the police handling of the Omagh investigation…

Northern Ireland Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde is to face questions today about the police handling of the Omagh investigation.

Sean Hoey (38), from Jonesborough, south Armagh, was acquitted last month of the 29 murders at Omagh and a series of other terrorist-related charges in the months before the bombing.

Mr Orde is to attend a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board in Belfast today where members will raise concerns about how the investigation was handled and criticisms from trial judge Mr Justice Weir.

The criminal justice system has failed the families, and there aren't many other options left
Michael Gallagher, father of Omagh bombing victim

Speaking in today's Irish News, Mr Hoey said: "People only have to look at the judge's verdict to see there was a concerted campaign of falsified police statements and discredited forensic evidence to try and make me a scapegoat for Omagh."

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Mr Hoey said: "I lost four years of my life sitting in a jail cell charged with something I had absolutely nothing to do with. I can never begin to understand the tragedy that Omagh families have gone through. All I can say is I have nothing to do with Omagh, and that I fully support their calls for a public inquiry."

The Omagh families have been pushing for a full cross-Border investigation, but it has been resisted in both Belfast and Dublin.

Mourners at the funeral of the Omagh bombing victims in 1998.
Mourners at the funeral of the Omagh bombing victims in 1998.

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the August 1998 bombing, said today: "How long can the British and Irish governments resist it? [a public inquiry] The criminal justice system has failed the families, and there aren't many other options left."