Omagh bomb case: Man guilty

The Omagh bomb killed 29 people and caused extensive damage

DUBLIN, Ireland -- A suspected IRA dissident has been convicted for his part in the Omagh bombing, the bloodiest single act in 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland.

Colm Murphy, 50, of Dundalk, Ireland, the only person so far charged in connection with the attack, was found guilty on Tuesday of conspiring to cause an explosion by a panel of three judges following a 25-day trial at Dublin's Special Criminal Court.

Justice Robert Barr said Murphy, a publican, building contractor and father of four, was "a republican dissident terrorist of longstanding."

Murphy faces a maximum sentence of life in prison when is due to be sentenced on Friday morning.

Twenty-nine people were killed -- including a woman pregnant with twins -- and 200 injured when the Real IRA guerrilla group detonated a 500lb (225kg) car bomb in the Northern Irish market town on a busy Saturday afternoon on August 15.

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The bombing, which came just weeks after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement intended to end Northern Ireland's 30 years of bitter Protestant-Roman Catholic violence, was the single worst incident in a conflict that has left 3,600 dead.

Michael Gallagher, whose son was killed in the bombing, told Sky News that the verdict was "wonderful news for the families; this is hopefully the beginning of the end."

The families of Omagh victims have long been frustrated by the lack of progress in arresting and convicting those deemed responsible for the bombing.

Justice Barr, saying the court had given full consideration to issues raised by the defence such as alleged police tampering with statements, said the evidence against Murphy was overwhelming.

The panel ruled that Murphy had supplied two mobile phones used that day by the Real IRA. Murphy had testified that he had nothing to do with the attack, which he called "unjustifiable."

Experts told the court that Murphy's phone, and that of his foreman and second cousin Terence Morgan, were tracked travelling from Co Louth to Omagh and back again on the day of the bombing.

Morgan initially claimed that Murphy had asked to borrow his mobile phone because his own was not working.

But on the penultimate day of the trial, Morgan withdrew his evidence implicating Murphy.

He said Irish police pressurised him into making the allegations. Instead he said he had lost the phone over the weekend and found it in his van the following Monday.