Omagh families demand handover of intelligence tapes
Thursday, 18 September 2008
by Emma Stewart.
Omagh families are demanding the handover of intelligence tapes, which are reported to contain covertly recorded mobile phone exchanges between those who perpetrated the August 15 bomb attack.
The trading of coded phrases from a mobile phone, identified by Special Branch as being involved in bombings, is believed to have been monitored by GCHQ as a car loaded with 500lb of explosives was making its way into Tyrone's county town.
Those campaigning for a full cross-border public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the 1998 tragedy say that the revelations, brought to light in BBC's Panorama investigation 'Omagh - What the Police Were Never Told', further justify their decade-long pursuit of the 'truth' behind the dissident republican car bomb attack.
If the information is not forthcoming in the next week, the families say that they will take legal action to force the intelligence service's hand.
The fact of the phone calls is currently a live issue in the civil action trial undertaken by some of the families, against those who they believe were responsible for the atrocity. These recordings could reveal the identities of individuals involved.
This evidence has never been made available for the purpose of a criminal prosecution nor the public even made aware of its existence. By law intercepts cannot be admitted as evidence, and to date no one has been successfully convicted of the atrocity.
Carol Radford, whose 16-year-old brother was murdered in the 1998 car bomb, has said she is "not surprised at all" by this week's revelations.
Suspected
“For many of the families we have always suspected that there was information that wasn't getting used, and we're relieved - sadly - that it has finally come out. We have always believed it was there."
She continued: "If the monitoring was live - and we know they came through Aughnacloy - they could have put up a checkpoint, and that probably would have been enough to deter the bombers.
“If the calls were being recorded, then why did they not pass them on to the police?
“They spent all that money on a criminal case that was never going to succeed as they didn't have the essential ingredients.
“It is hard to believe that people can sit back when the families have appealed for information for years. Mothers breaking their hearts and they sit with this sort of information? It makes you wonder if they could be human at all."
She continued: "If the murder of 31 and the injuring of hundreds doesn't justify removing the ban [on handing over or using intercepts as evidence], nothing will. Why gather this sort of intelligence if it is not used to put these people away?
“This is another piece of the jigsaw, and I am so grateful to John Ware [Panorama] for making this progress.
“This, in a sense, vindicates the families. So many people have insinuated that we are paranoid - but we were right."
Likewise, Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son was killed in the blast, expressed his devastation at this information being withheld for so many years.
Shattering
“This news is simply earth shattering for us.
“Putting aside the need for a public inquiry - were the recordings being monitored in real time in which case could the bomb have been stopped, if not in real time, why were the tapes not provided as intelligence to the investigators to advance their investigations, putting aside whether the law will ever allow these recordings to be used as evidence in a criminal prosecution - should they not be now conveniently destroyed, it is legally and morally imperative that the authorities provide this evidence to be aired in the civil action."
According to the programme, aired on Monday, the UK's electronic intelligence agency GCHQ recorded conversations between the Omagh bombers as they made their way across the border and into the busy shopping town. The atrocity was to claim the lives of 31 men, women and children - including unborn twins.
Ray White, former RUC and PSNI assistant chief constable, told the BBC that the Special Branch officer who requested GCHQ's assistance was 'adamant' he had asked for live monitoring of a mobile phone number being used by bombers operating mainly from the Irish Republic.
The question then left on everyone's lips remains, could the bombing have been prevented if GCHQ had been listening live rather than recording the exchanges?
Furthermore, although one of the sources interviewed by Panorama claims that transcripts of exchanges with up to five mobiles associated with the bombers were sent to Belfast "within hours" of the bombing, these were never made available to the detectives investigating in its aftermath.
Instead CID spent nine months trawling through 6.4 million telephone records until 22 suspects' phones were identified as having been active in Omagh and four other bombings.
‘Golden Hours'
Mr White said that sharing of the telephone numbers and identities of those using the mobiles in the immediate aftermath would have made arrests possible in the "golden hours period", giving investigators the best chance of securing evidence, forensic and otherwise.
In a damning indictment of the intelligence services' subsequent reticence, Panorama's John Ware concluded that the detectives involved in the Omagh investigation were "never given the evidential bullets to fire in the first place."
Families of some of the victims of Omagh reconvened at the High Court this week as their civil trial, launched in April of this year, continues. They are demanding that the government not only confirm the truth of Panorama's assertions but make relevant evidence immediately available to the Judge in this case.
Jason McCue of H2O Law, who acts on behalf of the bereaved families, said: "We are not in a position to comment on the case mid trial and we would ask the media to respect the ongoing trial in its reporting.
“Having not heard the recordings, it is not prudent to speculate on its content - however it is clear to state that such evidence is highly relevant. The families' civil action is the only remaining legitimate proceeding that relevant evidence should and can be laid before.
“If Panorama's evidence is correct, it is hard to imagine a more moral case for the authorities needing to make amends to the victims. Providing such evidence might go some way to achieving that. If relevant evidence is not voluntarily provided, we are instructed to issue subpoenas".
West Tyrone DUP MLA, Tom Buchanan, has likewise branded the withholding of such information a "travesty of justice".
Worst
Speaking on Tuesday, he said: "There can be no doubt in anyone's mind, that the Omagh bomb was the worst atrocity in all the years of the troubles in Northern Ireland, which saw 29 people and unborn twins lose their lives with hundreds more maimed, injured and scarred for life.
“Over the past 10 years, as the families have striven for justice, intelligence gathering and investigations have been clouded with controversy with the security forces especially the RUC coming under fierce criticism and accusations of mishandling the case and failing the victims of the atrocity.
“Now recent revelations that the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) withheld vital information which may have prevented this atrocity from ever happening, had it been passed onto the RUC, is astounding and raises serious questions about their actions."
He continued: "I have no doubt, this new information will again open wounds in the hearts of grieving families as they contemplate the fact that had the RUC been privy to this information then one road block could have prevented the past 10 years of grieving and search for justice. No doubt there will be countless other victims of terrorism, within West Tyrone, and across Northern Ireland who will have similar questions about the actions of the security services and whether information was also withheld which could have prevented their loss also.
“It is clear there are people and organisations who are still withholding vital information which if handed over to the relevant authorities would bring justice for the Omagh people and closure to the grieving families. I, therefore, re iterate my call for anyone with information, no matter how small to pass it onto the PSNI."
