THE LENGTHY legal saga of Louth building contractor Colm Murphy continues in the Special Criminal Court tomorrow when his retrial on conspiracy charges connected with the 1998 Real IRA Omagh bombing opens in the new Criminal Court Complex.
The case is expected to take about six weeks.
Mr Murphy is charged with conspiring to cause an explosion between August 13th and 16th, 1998. He denies the charge.
Mr Murphy was arrested on February 25th, 1999, and charged with “conspiracy to cause an explosion” and with membership of the Real IRA, arising out of the bombing of Omagh four months earlier.
His trial on the conspiracy charge began in October 2001 but was adjourned because one of the Special Criminal Court judges became ill, and it concluded in January 2002 when he was convicted.
In January 2005 his conviction was overturned by the Court of Criminal Appeal and a fresh trial ordered, on the basis of alleged irregularities in Garda notes.
Mr Murphy later challenged the holding of a fresh trial, arguing that the delays breached his rights. The High Court ruled it could go ahead.
Last June, Mr Murphy, along with Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell and Séamus Daly, was found liable in a civil court in Belfast for the Omagh bombing and ordered to pay £1.6 million damages to 12 relatives who took the case against them. The outcome of the civil case can have no bearing on the case opening on Tuesday.