Omagh inquiry hears of police investigation 'shortcomings'

Police investigations into the Omagh bombing did not follow guidelines and "shortcomings" in the inputting of data may have lead to "missed opportunities", the inquiry into the explosion has heard.

Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, died in the Real IRA bombing in the County Tyrone town on 15 August 1998 - the biggest single atrocity in the Troubles.

Det Ch Insp Neil McGuinness from the Police Service of Northern Ireland was questioned about the systems in place at the time of the bombing for managing investigation data during the inquiry on Tuesday.

He said the usefulness of the database was limited by lack of training in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).

The bombing came less than three months after the people of Northern Ireland had voted yes to the Good Friday Agreement.

The inquiry, which opened last year with 14 days of testimony from bereaved families and survivors, was established to determine if the bombing could have been prevented by UK state authorities.

The incident room, which was set up immediately after the bombing, initially used a paper-based system and then typed up the information on a computer.

The computerised system was managed by the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System (HOLMES) - a database that police use to manage serious and complex crime investigations.

"The level of understanding computers and the capability of computers was, I would suggest, low at that time particularly with the demographic of more experienced officer at that time," McGuinness said.

McGuinness said there was a documented process for dealing with serious incidents called the Major Incident Room Standardised Administrative Procedures (MIRSAP).

But during the investigation the police were not acting in accordance with all aspects of MIRSAP.

"We fully accept that there were shortcomings in the compliance with both the sort of HOLMES procedures, the MIRSAP and processes that were supposed to be in place at the time," he said.

"It is fair to say that there is potential for missed opportunities, certainly either in diverting resources in saving time or missing lines of inquiry or ineffectively following lines of inquiry."

McGuinness said the the Omagh information gathering was vast in scale.

"I believe that any deficiencies or working practices that we have identified that require improvement would have been much more exacerbated in an an inquiry the size of Omagh investigation."

The Omagh Bombing Inquiry also heard evidence from journalist Greg Harkin who has worked on investigations into Troubles-related killings, collusion and paramilitaries.

His article in The Sunday People on 29 July 2001 triggered a Police Ombudsman's review into the police investigation of the Omagh Bombing.

That article headlined: "I told the cops about Omagh" was the focus of some of the Inquiry's questioning.

Harkin cited journalistic privilege and protection of sources as reasons for not answering a number of questions posed by the inquiry.

He said the article was triggered by concerns about the investigation which were outlined to him by confidential sources.

Harkin said he didn't write the "dramatic" headline which was in keeping with the "tabloid" style of the publication.

The article outlined that "the RUC's top mole inside the Real IRA says he warned three days before the blast that a huge bomb bound for Northern Ireland had been made in the Republic".

Harkin said he stands by his article, adding that he spoke to multiple "reliable" sources as part of his research "five, six, maybe more".

He would not be drawn on who they might be.

"It was a very difficult decision to publish but I felt, having met the families and knowing some of the families over the years, that it was my duty to publish," Harkin said.

"I know it opened a can of worms that some people probably didn't want to be opened but it did lead to the Ombudsman's inquiry which proved a number of other issues."

Harkin stated that he did not contact the police for reply before publishing the article that was heavily critical of the police investigation.

"Did I put it to them? No. Should I have done? I don't think so," he said.

"I had been the subject of a Ministry of Defence injunction the previous year over articles I had been writing about the security forces.

"I was also fairly confident as it turned out that the police knew I was writing this story anyway because they called me the day before."

Harkin then revealed RUC Ch Con Sir Ronnie Flanagan called him the night before the article was published.

He said he didn't know exactly how the RUC knew about his article but his suspicion is it was "covert policing means".

He had an off-record call with an "anxious and flustered" Sir Flanagan.

"He was very upset, I wouldn't say angry, probably too strong, but he was certainly animated. Basically told me I would be a fool to publish the article."

Speaking about the article triggering the Police Ombudsman report, Harkin said: "It was relief as a journalist and vindication to a certain extent that the investigation that I had carried out had had some legitimacy to it.

"I have no regrets whatsoever about publishing my article in July 2001 or about its contents.

"Had those allegations not been published I believe it's possible that many of the subsequent investigative findings and issues identified over the years might never have come to light."

He said the article was "a stepping stone" which helped establish this Omagh Bombing Inquiry.

Three days after the attack, the Real IRA released a statement claiming responsibility for the explosion.

It apologised to "civilian" victims and said its targets had been commercial.

No-one has been convicted of carrying out the murders by a criminal court.

In 2009, Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were all ordered to pay a total of £1.6m in damages to the relatives, but appeals against the ruling delayed the compensation process.