Omagh families hit back after inquiry ruled out

Relatives made the defiant pledge to take judicial review proceedings after Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said she did not believe there were sufficient grounds to justify a state commissioned independent probe into the 1998 Real IRA bombing.

The dissident republican attack, which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured more than 200, was one of the worst atrocities of the Northern Ireland troubles and inflicted the greatest loss of life in a single terrorist incident.

The event is dogged in controversy with long standing allegations that intelligence and investigative failures allowed the bombers to both carry out the crime and get away with it.

Stanley McCombe, whose wife Ann was killed, said the anger he felt at the Government’s decision would drive him onward as the families proceeded with legal action.

“If they want to try and hide the truth about Omagh, they can,” he said. “But we’ll flush them out at the end of the day. There are no hiding places.

“It’s a democratic country and people have to know the truth.”

Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden died in the August 1998 blast, added: “We’ll do our talking in court.”

Omagh was bombed just months after politicians in Northern Ireland signed the historic Good Friday peace accord that led to power sharing at Stormont.

While no one has been criminally convicted of the crime, four republicans were found liable for the atrocity in a landmark civil case taken by some of the bereaved relatives and ordered to pay £1.6m compensation.

Last month families who belong to the Omagh Support and Self Help Group outlined details of an independent report they commissioned into alleged intelligence failings in the lead up to the atrocity and with the subsequent criminal investigations.

They had handed the document to the authorities in London and Dublin a year previously and complained vociferously at the length of time the respective governments had taken to respond.

Mr Gallagher said he was “disappointed but not surprised” that ultimately the Government had come back with a negative response.

Ms Villers said: “The fact remains that the Real IRA carried out the bombing in Omagh on 15 August 1998, murdering 29 people and injuring many more.

“Responsibility is theirs alone. I sincerely hope that the ongoing police investigation will bring to justice those responsible for this brutal crime.”