Colm Murphy who was found liable for Omagh bomb dies

A man who was found liable in a civil trial for the Omagh bomb in 1998 has died.

Colm Murphy, 70, originally from County Armagh, died at a hospital in County Louth on Tuesday, a family death notice said.

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

It was the biggest single atrocity in the Troubles.

Murphy was originally arrested over the bombing in 1999 in a joint Royal Ulster Constabulary-Garda investigation.

In 2002, he was jailed for 14 years after being found guilty by the Dublin Special Criminal Court of conspiracy to cause the Omagh bombing.

However, he was cleared in a 2010 retrial, after interview evidence from An Garda Síochána (Irish police) was ruled inadmissible.

In 2008, relatives of some of the victims began a landmark civil case, suing five men they claimed were involved, including Murphy.

The next year, a Belfast judge ruled that Murphy and four others were all liable for the Omagh bomb.

They were ordered to pay a total of £1.6m in damages to 12 relatives who took the case.

In 2011, Murphy won an appeal, but in a civil retrial in 2013 he was again found liable.

Last year, a judge in Belfast recommended the UK Government carry out an investigation into the bombing after finding "plausible arguments" that there had been a "real prospect" of preventing the attack.

The government ordered an independent inquiry into the bombing. in February.