Omagh families: Now find bombers

The jailing of Murphy was greeted by applause from victims' relatives

DUBLIN, Republic of Ireland -- Families of the 29 people who died in the Omagh bombing are pressing police to make further arrests after the jailing for 14 years of one of the bomb team.

Wealthy publican Colm Murphy, 49, the only person to be convicted in connection with the 1998 Real IRA bomb outrage, was sentenced on Friday.

His jailing at Dublin's anti-terrorist Special Criminal Court was followed by applause from relatives of victims of the atrocity in court to watch the final stages of Murphy's trial.

Outside the court, relatives, angry that nobody has yet been charged with murder, said they hoped Murphy's conviction and imprisonment would be the first of many.

"It was obvious from this court case that Murphy was working with many other known figures. Now the pressure is back on to bring these people to court," said Michael Gallagher, who lost his only son, 21-year-old Aidan.

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Another of the bereaved, Kevin Skelton, whose wife Philomena was among the victims, said: "I hope this is the start of bringing all the people that were involved in the bombing to justice."

Murphy was convicted earlier this week of conspiracy to cause the explosion in the County Tyrone town that claimed the biggest toll of deaths in a single incident over all the years of the Northern Ireland troubles.

The Real IRA is a dissident paramilitary group opposed to the provisional IRA cease-fire and the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland.

Married with four children, and with previous terrorism-linked convictions in Dublin and New York, he was described by Mr Justice Robert Barr, president of the three-judge, no-jury court, as "a long-time Republican extremist and member of a dissident group opposed to the peace agreement of Northern Ireland."

The judge stressed that Murphy was not among those who planned or put the Omagh car bomb in position more than three years ago, but added: "Those who planted the bomb -- and Murphy as a back-up or service provider -- must have realised that the operation to plant the bomb was fraught with danger and risked death and injury to many."

He added: "Anyone who participated in conspiracy relating to a major atrocity, which may have appalling consequences to many, is guilty of a serious crime."

Murphy, through his defence counsel Michael O'Higgins, maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming to be a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

He was found guilty on the basis of confessions he made while in custody in February 1999.

The judges also decided that he lent his own mobile phone and that of his unwitting foreman, Terence Morgan, to a man named Seamus Daly, who, in the judges' verdict, was "alleged to be a terrorist and a leading member of the Real IRA who the Garda believe had been involved in the Omagh bombing."

Murphy admitted supplying two mobile phones to Daly that police said were used as a 500-pound (225 kg) car bomb was transported to the centre of the prosperous market town on a bustling Saturday afternoon.

Police, responding to misleading phoned warnings, evacuated shoppers and workers towards the bomb, which killed mostly children and women when it detonated.

Daly was interrogated by police but released without charge. Unlike Murphy, Daly said nothing to his questioners.

The relatives of the dead are pressing ahead with a civil lawsuit, unprecedented in Irish legal history, to seek financial damages against Murphy reputed senior IRA dissidents.