Omagh bombing inquiry hears evidence of movements of car that carried bomb

The Omagh Bombing Inquiry has heard more pre-recorded video evidence from a senior Irish police officer about the movements of the car which carried the bomb to Omagh.

Det Supt Emmett Casserly of An Garda Síochána (Irish police) was questioned by the inquiry team about evidence gathered by the service.

Paul Greaney KC took the garda through the evidence held that related to the theft of the car and its known movements.

The inquiry heard that gardaí evidence did not show where the car was located after it was stolen in the early hours of the 13 August until 15 August 1998 when the bomb exploded.

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

It 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.

There was no conclusive eyewitness testimony of the route taken by the car, or where it set off from to journey to Omagh.

"There were a myriad of routes that could have been taken by the car."

The gardaí investigation following the bombing tracked the car route from county Monaghan and county Louth to Omagh and back.

An expert from the Garda Mapping Section setting out that the "most probable" route took in Castleblaney in county Monaghan and Aughnacloy in county Fermanagh.

The route was tracked using mobile phone data and cell site masts.

Garda Síochána worked with the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) so that the route taken by the car could be tracked cross border.

The inquiry also heard further evidence from data analyst Mark Safranauskas of Greater Manchester Police.

He was taken through the mobile phone activity of two "key individuals" in the enquiry.

Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly are linked to mobile phones that were tracked from the Republic of Ireland to Omagh on the day of the bombing.

The phones were purportedly given to them by Colm Murphy.

All three previously faced legal proceedings in connection to the bombing.

The inquiry heard evidence about the movement of two cars the maroon Vauxhall Cavalier which carried the bomb and another "scout car" which accompanied it on the journey and may have taken the two men back to the Republic of Ireland.

The court was shown CCTV from an army checkpoint at Aughnacloy in county Fermanagh.

But footage of the bomb car wasn't captured.

The footage from 13:30 to 14:00 BST on the day of the bombing was paused for a time meaning around 8.5 minutes of cars passing through was missed.

And it was likely that the car carrying the bomb could have passed through in that time.

The evidence of five eyewitnesses to the movement of the car in Omagh was also described to the hearing.

The witnesses placed the car driving into the town and parking.

Some of the eyewitnesses were able to give a description of the two men in the vehicle.

Later on Monday, a senior British Army officer gave evidence to the Omagh inquiry.

Col Peter MacMullan is the assistant head of operational legacy for the British Army and has served for 35 years, including on duty in Northern Ireland.

It was made clear he had no involvement in relation to the Omagh bombing while serving.

His evidence covered the British Army deployment in Northern Ireland in August 1998 and British Army arrangements at the Aughnacloy border crossing on 15 August 1998.

He was questioned about the structure of the Ministry of Defence and the Army and Army vehicle checkpoints in Northern Ireland.

MacMullan said that permanent vehicle check points (PVCPs) were a valuable source of information for gathering intelligence.

"It comes from a period of time when not all roads across the border were open. There was restricted access and so the check points were set along them in order to monitor that traffic."

The hearing heard that when the bomb car passed through Aughnacloy, the checkpoint was unmanned and managed remotely from the military base in Aughnacloy.

There is no information on record at the MoD as to the number of cameras or where they were located at the Aughnacloy checkpoint.

But the Vauxhall cavalier carrying the bomb was not captured on the CCTV.

Paul Greaney KC said that there was "no indication from the records of the Ministry of Defence of any deliberate human interference with the recording".

"None", said MacMullan noting that it was a "failing" of the system that not every car was recorded.

"It wasn't a perfect system but it was the leading technology of it's time."

Intelligence sharing between the British Army and the RUC was also addressed.

The inquiry was told there was no specific evidence that showed an arrangement between the Army and the RUC on sharing information gathered from checkpoints.

MacMullan said that there was nothing to indicate that the Army wouldn't share information with the RUC if requested.

"Where this level of crime has been committed information would be transmitted and shared".

The Army officer was also asked to research further on alternative routes into Northern Ireland that could have been taken by the car carrying the bomb.

He will be back at the inquiry in the coming days to provide more evidence.

The pre-recorded format has been met with criticism from the families of relatives who said the process eliminates the opportunity to cross-examine the witness.

Garda officers and other State witnesses were previously unable to speak to the inquiry due to concerns around national security.

In June, the Irish government brought in new legislation that allowed agreed questions to be put to the Garda and other state witnesses in an Irish court in front of a judge with the answers recorded for the inquiry.

The Irish government said it had "made clear its intention to do everything possible to assist the UK Omagh Bombing Inquiry and that is in the best interests of victims and their families".

They said the pre-recorded evidence was of a "factual nature and reflects the sequence of events in the days leading up to the bombing and on the day itself, as ascertained over the course of the Garda investigation into the bombing".

"This is an exceptional innovative measure put in place by the Minister to fulfil the desire of the Inquiry to set out all that is known in relation to the sequence of events in its first evidential hearing, in a manner that would aid the understanding of the public."